[Defiant]

I want to be careful when I say this, but it seems clear to me that Tolkien would have looked upon the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center as symbols of a form of tyranny to which prosperous and free Western man is susceptible.

What a load of crap this is. They were office space, nothing more, built tall so that they could fit more square footage in a place where real estate is precious, and, like any building designed by any architect, made with an eye to appearance. If Tolkien would have looked on them as symbols of tyranny, then Tolkien's would have read too much into them. I think the authore is the one making a few leaps of logic.

Otherwise, an excellent article.

[aristeides]

Tyrannical or not, the Twin Towers were certainly making a statement, like the earlier skyscrapers that preceded them. You must not be a New Yorker if you don't see that.

[Eala]

They were office space, nothing more, built tall so that...

Although generally I'm inclined to agree with you, despite recalling the hoopla when they were built, I will observe that the symbolism needn't be in the mind of the creator in order for it to be valid to others.

That the Islamists perceived the buildings as a symbol of something evil and tried to destroy them on that basis, in '93? and '01, is at least evidence of that

[don-o]

They were office space, nothing more,

Nope.

Maybe before they got knocked down, with people jumping out of the top floors you could make such a statement. But, now, such seems a little...cranky(?)

[ovrtaxt]

"I think the authore is the one making a few leaps of logic."

I have to disagree. The tyranny that he's talking about is the choice before any of us in the modern West. Will we serve profit? Will we enslave our life for the acquisition of wealth for it's own sake? I see people everyday who chase dollars because of greed. Some days I do it myself!

Now, please don't flame me! I'm a full on capitalist, and I believe one of the most potent forms of power is economic power. You can do a lot of good with money. But I'm speaking of people who sacrifice their family, their service to God, their sanity, their allotment of time on earth for something that won't last. It's not a forced enslavement, but a voluntary one, a choice made in the heart of the individual. Money is not intrinsically evil, but there is a deception of wealth that is. So, in that sense, the towers could be seen as a symbol of tyranny to the cynical eye.

[The Iguana]

What a load of crap this is. They were office space, nothing more, built tall so that they could fit more square footage in a place where real estate is precious, and, like any building designed by any architect, made with an eye to appearance. If Tolkien would have looked on them as symbols of tyranny, then Tolkien's would have read too much into them. I think the authore is the one making a few leaps of logic.

Frankly they were ugly, staid slabs of modernist crap.

As such they did represent the leveling sterility of rapcious capitalism - something Tolkien cared little for.

Obviously this does not justify in any sense whatsoever vile acts of terrorism like 9/11. There's no question whose "side" we are on or should be on or whose side Tolkien would immediately identify himself with.

It's just a warning to us to be aware of the corrosive elements in our own culture - as Dreher points out.

[Oberon]

They were office space, nothing more...

I beg to differ. Muslim extremists didn't give up their lives for the cause of destroying some office space, or even the people who worked in those offices. They took out the towers in order to assault what the towers stood for.