I agree with all of you that this guy has NOT really read the book or understood it's message. But I think he was not speaking particularly about Lord of the Rings, but about childrens literature in general. As a liberal professor, you can imagine how he lives in his own little world of unreality while the world moves around him. He does not want to think about all the "yucky" stuff that abounds in the world. It's much better to touchy-feely-dream your way through life believing we can all hold hands, light candles and wish away the evil in the world. I think what he saw in LOTR is that perhaps we don't have to gather an army and fight, we can just find a "frodo" who can carry our woes to the edge of Mordor and toss them in the fire and all will be well again. Of course that was NOT the message of the Tolkien’s books. We know that the Frodo's journey took great courage, the backing of his friends, "divine" intervention.... I like to think that Frodo represents all of us who would do what it takes to oppose evil. And remember that there were parallel journeys going on... while Frodo was doing his thing, others in the Fellowship (by the 2nd book) were fighting their way past Sauron’s army.
Did any of you catch any of the Michael Jackson interview on TV last night? He has the Peter Pan syndrome, doesn't want to grow up, lives in own little carefully constructed world where he believes all is pure and good.... Just like the "nutty" professor who wrote this article, they are both Whacko!
The most popular children's books of all time are the Harry Potter series. I suggest you read the last chapter of book four and tell us what it says about appeasement. Although I think the author had Hitler in mind, it tracks the current world situation perfectly.