02-22-2004, 06:28 PM
Actually, Tim, we all had this little bet going, on how long your expected and indignent response to my "Tolkien baiting" would be, and with the extra bit you added, I think I won!<br>
<br>
But I am glad you pointed out that great literary minds (which I never claimed to be), have come to basically the same conclusions about Tolkien as I have.<br>
<br>
One can be a 'rampant Germanophile' and not be a Nazi, and I believe I made this quite clear in the beginning that I knew Tolkien despised them, but his reasons for doing so, merely confirms the obvious, and is verified by his own words. The great motive of this LOTR story is clearly to pull his beloved Anglo-Saxon ancestors out of their real hovels of cow dung and twigs and put them in the ivory towers of his fantasy world. And it is to give his Middle Earth version of 'Europe' whole new races of subhuman, wanton destroyers of civilisation, which in fact, was the real role of those same ancestors of his (and yours, and mine). Yes, and why not make them good 'pre-Christian' Christians too, since he knew they really worshipped trees and pagan idols. The Orcs of Middle Earth clearly fill the niche of the Germans in 'historical earth', and now the Germans in his world are an advanced civilization. I can see why a lot of white people love this story, for there is nothing at all clever about their plots. The absurd circumstances that must be contrived in both Hobbit and Rings to pull off the proverbial 'happy endings' makes these nothing more than rather lame 'fairy tales', though ones unfortunately tainted by overtones of racial superiority, not that this would not have been commonplace in virtually anything written in those days.<br>
<br>
Most of the public does not recognize the obvious here, for it is subtly camouflaged by layer after layer of meaningless 'Tolkien trivia', whether it be appendices full of complex geneologies that though impressive, have no bearing on the story, or the grammatical rules and alphabet diagrams of his nonsense languages. This seems to confirm the old adage about "baffling them with bull@#$&*", and Tolkien is the unquestionable master at this art, so much so, that his writings have literally become a religion to those too ignorant to see the basic motive behind it all. I truly think he wanted it that way, for the Simarillion reads like a King James version of the Bible, almost to the point of seeming blasphemous.<br>
<br>
In my job, I have met and interviewed many American veterans of WWII. They were great men who fought and won a 'good war' against a genuine evil. Being largely 'Anglo-Saxons' of the same, first half of the 20th century as Tolkein, when intermingling with the 'modern' intregatrated army of today, their racial beliefs and views sometimes prove a great embarrasment. They are not 'evil' men by any means, nor was Tolkien, and they were predominantly Christian men, but they were brought up with a different set of values about race then most of us from the last half of that century. Ideals and notions that were commonplace and aceptable then have become evil now. This is clearly seen in his work, though not to the point of labeling him as a 'Nazi' to be sure. You can deny these basic truths but you are only fooling yourself. Accept it for what it is.<br>
<br>
Dan <p></p><i></i>
<br>
But I am glad you pointed out that great literary minds (which I never claimed to be), have come to basically the same conclusions about Tolkien as I have.<br>
<br>
One can be a 'rampant Germanophile' and not be a Nazi, and I believe I made this quite clear in the beginning that I knew Tolkien despised them, but his reasons for doing so, merely confirms the obvious, and is verified by his own words. The great motive of this LOTR story is clearly to pull his beloved Anglo-Saxon ancestors out of their real hovels of cow dung and twigs and put them in the ivory towers of his fantasy world. And it is to give his Middle Earth version of 'Europe' whole new races of subhuman, wanton destroyers of civilisation, which in fact, was the real role of those same ancestors of his (and yours, and mine). Yes, and why not make them good 'pre-Christian' Christians too, since he knew they really worshipped trees and pagan idols. The Orcs of Middle Earth clearly fill the niche of the Germans in 'historical earth', and now the Germans in his world are an advanced civilization. I can see why a lot of white people love this story, for there is nothing at all clever about their plots. The absurd circumstances that must be contrived in both Hobbit and Rings to pull off the proverbial 'happy endings' makes these nothing more than rather lame 'fairy tales', though ones unfortunately tainted by overtones of racial superiority, not that this would not have been commonplace in virtually anything written in those days.<br>
<br>
Most of the public does not recognize the obvious here, for it is subtly camouflaged by layer after layer of meaningless 'Tolkien trivia', whether it be appendices full of complex geneologies that though impressive, have no bearing on the story, or the grammatical rules and alphabet diagrams of his nonsense languages. This seems to confirm the old adage about "baffling them with bull@#$&*", and Tolkien is the unquestionable master at this art, so much so, that his writings have literally become a religion to those too ignorant to see the basic motive behind it all. I truly think he wanted it that way, for the Simarillion reads like a King James version of the Bible, almost to the point of seeming blasphemous.<br>
<br>
In my job, I have met and interviewed many American veterans of WWII. They were great men who fought and won a 'good war' against a genuine evil. Being largely 'Anglo-Saxons' of the same, first half of the 20th century as Tolkein, when intermingling with the 'modern' intregatrated army of today, their racial beliefs and views sometimes prove a great embarrasment. They are not 'evil' men by any means, nor was Tolkien, and they were predominantly Christian men, but they were brought up with a different set of values about race then most of us from the last half of that century. Ideals and notions that were commonplace and aceptable then have become evil now. This is clearly seen in his work, though not to the point of labeling him as a 'Nazi' to be sure. You can deny these basic truths but you are only fooling yourself. Accept it for what it is.<br>
<br>
Dan <p></p><i></i>
