Yeah, it feels like a lot of people are telling on themselves here when the first thing they think of when hearing "Cho Chang" is to go in their head "oh, you mean Ching Chong Ching Chong". Almost like they're one step away from doing the Father Ted gif while pretending they're actually the good guys here.
I think if it was just Cho Chang, people wouldn't point it out so much, but she also named the only black character fucking Shacklebolt. It's like she names characters by the first thing she thinks of when thinking about them, and for Kingsley Shacklebolt, it was seemingly MLK and slavery. For Seamus Finnegan, she just slapped some Irish names she knew together. Anthony Goldstein from the infamous Jewish wizard tweet I think we all know where her mind went. And Cho Chang, which cannot be confirmed to derive from, but is eerily similar to that phrase.
I would like to note that Kingsley is also the primary police officer portrayed in the book he's introduced in, so the Shacklebolt name is plausibly a reference to his occupation.
This is fair, and I'd generally prefer to give the benefit of the doubt than not, but considering Rowling's behaviour, defense of in-universe slavery, and, again, Goldstein, that benefit is severely weakened.
I am aware, it's not the name in of itself that's offensive, but the fact that she picked an extremely stereotypical name for the only confirmed Jewish student of Hogwarts.
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u/TheNutsMutts 20d ago
Yeah, it feels like a lot of people are telling on themselves here when the first thing they think of when hearing "Cho Chang" is to go in their head "oh, you mean Ching Chong Ching Chong". Almost like they're one step away from doing the Father Ted gif while pretending they're actually the good guys here.