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Posted on 12/06/2003 10:11:34 AM PST by Willie Green
Edited on 04/13/2004 2:35:25 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
A couple of weeks ago I was sitting through the obligatory stream of coming attractions to which movie theaters subject their patrons. It was the montage of gratuitous violence, sex and inanity that make up the standard fare from the factories of Hollywood.
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
I'm not going after Tolkien, just this guy using his work to tell his own message.
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Are all of these ministers born stupid, or do they perform lobotomies at the seminary?
Bush has done a great job in the War on Terror. But he has been too unwilling to imply any sense of sacrifice for the War on Terror. Personally I'm sick of sending petrodollars to the Islamist Gulf Kleptocracies every time I fill up my car.
And obviously universal health care is very expensive, which is one reason why I am not interested in it.
The arrogance of this guy is frightening.
From the article: "Our modern cultural ethos proclaims that we can have our cake and eat it, too. We truly believe we can be victorious without giving up anything. We believe we can have a consumption-driven economy and preserve our environment. We believe we can have universal health care and low income taxes. We believe we can win the war on terror and not reduce our dependence on foreign oil."
I'm not going after Tolkien, just this guy using his work to tell his own message.
How is this any different from people on this site who want to highjack Tolkien's message to support their own particular "pro-war on (some) terror" biases? Everyone seems to have their own axe to grind when it comes to "interpreting" Tolkien.
Anyhow, taken at his word he isn't wrong: you can't have these "goodies" and low taxes, too, etc. You can't have a "good" without paying for it in some way. It is entirely another question whether you think these "goodies" are in fact "good" or not.
He isn't. But this guy is so transparent that he owes me a new keyboard! :-D I'd rather people argue their own points, too, without using Lord of the Rings, or any other story, as their crutch. NOR as the story as the object of a diatribe against something or other.Anyhow, taken at his word he isn't wrong: you can't have these "goodies" and low taxes, too, etc. You can't have a "good" without paying for it in some way. It is entirely another question whether you think these "goodies" are in fact "good" or not.
I _do_ take issue with what he's saying on the points quoted. If people ate a proper diet and excercised, their own healthcare costs would be minimal and there'd be no need to foist it on taxpayers. As for consumption and the environment, an efficient economy can consume more and pollute less. His third point is lost on me. Winning the war on terror isn't necessarily tied to who we buy oil from. In other words, he presents his case as a zero-sum game. It ain't necessarily so, IMO.
So I see no problem with his example - we can't have our cake and eat it too. I think maybe what is bothering you in this case is that you really do want to have your cake and eat it too, like most of us do (whether we admit it or not). The disease of modernity cuts across the political spectrum. FR "conservatives" perpetuate most of the sins they denounce in others.
Since there is no hope in asking people not to politicize Tolkien, I take "a curse on both their houses" course by disdaining them all. But I don't see this particular writer's sin to be any worse than most of the dreck printed on this forum politicizing Tolkien for allegedly "conservative" causes. Hence my disdain for the wailing about politizing Tolkien. It's not the politicization of Tolkien that is really bothering people here, it's just what kind of politics that bothers people.
Wow. Terrorists hate America because she buys Arab oil. That's a new one on me. I suppose, by your logic, if we supplied our own needs for oil and remained an ally of Isreal, the terrorists would be okay with that.
I know you can't have something for nothing. But plenty is taken from us already and I suppose we should at least be thankful we don't get all the government we pay for. I could do with a lot less, personally, and I imagine you feel the same way. (Or maybe not.)
At any rate, this guy thinks we're too greedy and not giving nearly enough. Whatever. I disagree, whether he crutches along on Tolkien or not.
I think it's important for FR LOTR fans to keep in mind that just because J.R.R. Tolkien was not the hippy pacifist of leftists' imaginations, that doesn't mean his views would go over well on FR either. The fact is that Tolkien was not an American-style republican "conservative," but a reactionary monarchist. He distrusted all forms of the modern state, not just the totalitarianism of the Nazis and Soviets but also Western democracy. He even once expressed doubt as to whether Americanism was really preferable to Communism.
While he never would have used the word, Tolkien's antipathy to government would today best be described as "paleolibertarian," not unlike the views often found at websites such as LewRockwell.com. He was not a pacifist and definitely believed that there were things worth fighting for, but that does not mean that he would have been cheering on Bush and Blair in the "War on Terror."
I'll give Tolkien the last word:
"My political beliefs lean more and more to Anarchy (philosophically understood, meaning abolition of control not whiskered men with bombs) – or to 'unconstitutional' Monarchy ... Give me a king whose chief interest in life is stamps, railways, or race-horses; and who has the power to sack his Vizier (or whatever you care to call him) if he does not like the cut of his trousers." (1943)
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