For several months, on social networks, and even more so since the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel, numerous anti-Semitic messages have been published using the expression “Heavenly Dragon” to designate Jews. A term used to prevent automatic moderation tools on different platforms from detecting your messages.
This expression actually has its origin in One piece, the best-selling manga in the world, the work of Eiichiro Oda. In this piracy-themed universe, the “Celestial Dragons” or “World Nobles” are the hierarchically most powerful antagonists.
“Dog whistle”
The descendants of the founding kings of the “world government”, a political organization with authority in the world of One piece, the “Celestial Dragons” are considered the bourgeois elite, presented as untouchable, who can free themselves from all rules. Those who are not their peers are considered hierarchically inferior.
While Oda’s work in no way advocates anti-Semitism, the characteristics of the Celestial Dragons have been associated with frequently spread anti-Semitic clichés.
Since November 2022, sociologist Illana Weizmann has warned about this expression, which she describes as an “anti-Semitic dog whistle.” The term “dog whistle” describes an expression deviant to be understood by a handful of people, in this case those who are familiar with anti-Semitic speeches.
At Jeuxvideo.com
As for “Celestial Dragons”, it was initially in the Jeuxvideo.com forums, famous for being nests of hate speech, where the expression seems to have been born.
On JVCArchive, a site that is responsible for archiving the forum posts of the same name, we can see appearances of the expression used in this way since 2020. Like this Internet user’s message, finally deleted by the forum’s moderation.
If nothing indicates that he is at the origin of the use of the expression, it is the first appearance that we find in this context. The discussions go beyond anti-Semitism and draw analogies between powerful antagonists of the One piece and real-world figures, often associated with figures of the “new world order,” a conspiracy theory that suggests a handful of powerful people are plotting to take over the world.
Often cited by conspiracy theorists, we find, for example, the billionaire and philanthropist George Soros, the co-founder of Microsoft Bill Gates but also the president of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron.
To the question “What is a celestial dragon?”, a jeuxvideo.com user answers directly, in November 2022, “they are the Jews in One Piece.”
The expression was quickly exported to social media, and in particular Twitter, especially since the Hamas attacks against Israeli civilians on October 7.
Simple Twitter Searches Mixing the words “heavenly dragon” and “untouchable”, or “heavenly dragon” and “Jew” illustrates this tendency and shows a series of results that have no relation to One piece.
“Tenryubito”
In recent years, this anti-Semitism on social media has been illustrated by numerous keywords and expressions diverted to remain under the radar of the platform’s moderation. For example, during the Covid pandemic, other similar terms, like the “Who?” They were used to covertly deliver anti-Semitic speeches.
After several months of use, the term “Celestial Dragon” also seems to age: “decoded” and highlighted by Internet users and the media in early 2023, it is being progressively replaced by the expression of Japanese origin. tenryubito”.
Source: BFM TV
