Would Gandalf stay the course?
By on Oct 17th, 2006 at 1:23 pm
Would Gandalf stay the course?
Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) explains the Iraq war by citing Lord of the Rings: “As the hobbits are going up Mount Doom, the Eye of Mordor is being drawn somewhere else,” Santorum told a newspaper editorial board. “It’s being drawn to Iraq and it’s not being drawn to the U.S. You know what? I want to keep it on Iraq. I don’t want the Eye to come back here to the United States.”
View Most Popular
Advertisement
Visit Our Affiliated Sites
What We're About
What We're Fighting For
What We're Fighting Against
Featured
Subscribe to the Progress Report
Got a hot tip?
Have a hot news tip? We'd love to hear from you. Use the form below to send us the latest.
Reports
In depth studies on select topics
Topic CloudView topics sorted by popularity
Afghanistan
Bailout
Big Oil
Bolton
Bush
Cheney
Civil Rights
Congress
Earmarks
Economy
Energy
Environment
Ethics
Fox News
Global Warming
Guantanamo
Health Care
Immigration
International Relations
Iran
Iraq
Justice
Kristol
LGBT
Lieberman
McCain
McClellan
Media
Military
O'Reilly
Obama
Palin
Politics
Race
Radical Right
Religion
Rice
RNC Convention
Rove
Terrorism
Third Bush Term
Torture
Veterans
Wiretapping
Women's Rights
ArchivesBlog Roll
Weird stuff.
October 17th, 2006 at 1:24 pmSo this is what the crack up looks like… nice.
October 17th, 2006 at 1:29 pmIf he is preaching to his whackos, shouldn’t he be quoting Narnia (religious movie) instead of Lord of the Rings (anti-religious movie).
October 17th, 2006 at 1:29 pmWait, Howard Dean says Yeaaarrrghh! and the guy is nuts, but Santorum gets to explain the situation in Iraq using a fantasy story featuring wizards, elves and dwarfs?
October 17th, 2006 at 1:30 pmAll you need to know is contained here, folks. Rick Santorum is our last hope.
Rick Santorum’s Latest Ad
October 17th, 2006 at 1:31 pmAnd one fool to rule them all . . .
The Eye will be on the destruction of The City, and brave FrodoBush will strike at the heart of Islamordor.
Let the Eagles soar!
October 17th, 2006 at 1:33 pmSo far the Republican party has a history of debating with fictional characters….Bart Simpson, Murphy Brown and now Gandalf. Total insanity.
October 17th, 2006 at 1:34 pmGiven that reliable analysis shows that Iraq is a breeding ground for terrorists, a better analogy is that the Iraq War has provided Sauron with the means to create a larger army of orcs.
October 17th, 2006 at 1:35 pmWell you’d be crazy to argue with that
Or…
You’d Be Crazy to Argue That !!!
October 17th, 2006 at 1:36 pmIsn’t Santorum a little cavalier about sacrificing Iraqi lives casually and mistakenly, as it turns out? That’s a real devotion to a culture of life - sacrifice the least of us in order to preserve our own skin. Whatever happened to “…the land of the free and the home of the brave…”?
October 17th, 2006 at 1:36 pmThough I hate to even give any merit to Santorum’s comment by posting a comment of my own here… are we serious? Is he concerned that people are actually going to start looking critically at the US? Wouldn’t that be a good thing! Maybe if people started being concerned with our actions at home then maybe it will start waking up the public.
October 17th, 2006 at 1:37 pmSpeaking of The Simpsons, this reminds me of one of the episodes where Principal Skinner was going into one of his Vietnam flashbacks, and Bart says “I broke his brain!”
October 17th, 2006 at 1:38 pmLord of the Rings isn’t an antireligious movie…read up on Tolkien a little more, as well as C.S.Lewis.
It’s interesting because the “eye of Mordor” epitomized all that was intrinsicly EVIL - EVIL. It makes you wonder if Santorum has seen the movie or even read the books by Tolkien. It’s evident he’s read the Cliff Notes version.
What really bothers me is this quote specifically:
It’s akin to Bush saying that the Iraqis are so in love with freedom that they don’t mind dying. So it’s OK to go into Iraq, destroy their country, kill their people - and for what again, I forget?
October 17th, 2006 at 1:39 pmHahaha,……..Well….,Jeb and George talk of their mystical warrior friend “Chang” so I’m not surprised by more of this Rightwing lunacy.
October 17th, 2006 at 1:40 pmAnd the troll’s that viset us daily say we are the crazy one’s…Shit….All these people in power are way over the edge..Lock their crazy asses up in the nut houses and give them the lithiom they need….Blessings
October 17th, 2006 at 1:40 pmI think Gandolf would do a better job running things.
No reference to the little Smeagol? Anyone?
October 17th, 2006 at 1:41 pmWow is he wayyy off base on this comparison, ask a true geek what the movie is about Rick, and how they kept the “eye” focused off of them, and instead on Mordor. What about the rings - the power/control issue there, the years and years of struggles of Middle Earth, etc. Not to mention, the overall theme of the series - a good versus evil issue - does not play out well using Rick’s comparison. Mordor in no way equates to Iraq in today’s world… nor do we measure up to the Hobbits, or anyone else on the side of right and good in the books. Not these days! Can’t this jerk do anything right? Rhetorical question… I live in PA, I experience his insanity via tv 24/7. He is lsoing it, seriously.
October 17th, 2006 at 1:42 pmFantasyland needs fantasy land references.
Rick, can we get a urine specimen please?
October 17th, 2006 at 1:45 pmYou all seem to know alot about this subject. I bet you played dungeons and dragons…hell, i’d bet you still do!
Bassturd out!
October 17th, 2006 at 1:46 pmSmeagol was misguided and confused, possessed even, because of the “one ring to rule them all”… what is the excuse for the Repugs, or Rick? I cannot believe a member of that party would even refer to Tolkien, after the way they demonize anything even remotely similar to D & D or “fantasy”… I was under the impression this was very “bad” “dark” stuff, as far as they are concerned? Gandalf would kick butt right now, if he were on Capitol Hill or at the White House, btw…
October 17th, 2006 at 1:47 pmWhat he means is that he doesn’t want anyone looking at what a crappy job the administration is doing on the home front, stripping away the constitutional rights of the public. He just wants us to focus on the war because it’s easier for them to maintain the illusion that we’re doing some good there.
I don’t know about you, but that pisses me off.
October 17th, 2006 at 1:49 pmGeorges favorite book:
“Harry W. Potter and the Weapons of Mass Destruction.”
October 17th, 2006 at 1:54 pmWhat the heck, is little Ricky channelling Jeb’s mystical warrior, Chang?
October 17th, 2006 at 1:55 pmmparker, Thank YOU! That was priceless!’
bassturd, I am a mother of four- 19, 18, 17 and 12, married to a total uber computer geek…. boy do you learn a lot about things you never dreamed of before! It is enlightening!
October 17th, 2006 at 1:57 pmProblem for Senator Rick… Gandalf was relying on the Men of the West (that would be, USA) to pull Sauron’s eye *out* of Mordor (that would — in his analogy — be Iraq) where his armies were spawning so that the black-ops team could sneak in and wipe him out.
Now, if he’d said “It’s being drawn to Iraq and not Afghanistan where we’ve just neutralized the top 9 AQ members — they were disguised as riders in black, don’t ya know? — so we’re making great progress with our covert ops strategy,” I might feel differently. But frankly it’s coming off more as “So long as evil is attacking Minas Tirith/Rohan/wherever and not attacking The Shire, then The Shire is safe and happy.” And that’s a pre-9/11 mindset if I ever heard one.
You’d think these people didn’t understand the meaning of “World War 3.”
October 17th, 2006 at 1:58 pmHis name is AssTurd.
JaneSchneider saw it first.
October 17th, 2006 at 1:59 pmFoley would be happy to look into your “eye” Ricky.
October 17th, 2006 at 2:04 pmSo Sanitorium says that the terrorists are this powerful overwhelming force and the only hope we have rests in the hands of one person with funny ears……wait is he saying that bush is a hobbit?
October 17th, 2006 at 2:13 pmAs A Pennsylvania resident the last two days have been quite …….enlightening???!!???
First Weldon balmes the FBI for a left wing bias, blames everyone from Clinton, Gorelick, CREW, and Socks the Cat
and now a sitting Senator uses a reference to Mordor in an interview….
Whats next some sort of single bullet theory from a PA Senator
oops Arlen Spector, Republican, has used that one already…
there must be something in the water here…..
October 17th, 2006 at 2:15 pmwtf?
October 17th, 2006 at 2:16 pmWhatever happened to “…the land of the free and the home of the brave…�
Comment by PrahaPartizan — October 17, 2006 @ 1:36 pm
These days, those are just the words that signal the ump to yell “Play Ball!”
October 17th, 2006 at 2:17 pmSantorum’s metaphor is so bad that it actually works better backwards than forward - though still not well, I hasten to add. Sauron was the most powerful entity in Middle Earth. He was the one with the vast legions and the mighty engines of destruction. The good guys were the ones who used guerilla tactics (hello Faramir), tried to avoid direct confrontation, etc. Who’s the powerful entity with vast legions and mighty engines of destruction in the real world? Us, not our enemies. Who allowed themselves to be distracted from where their attention should have been? Us again. Santorum might want to stay away from that kind of imagery, huh?
October 17th, 2006 at 2:17 pmwhat an idiot
October 17th, 2006 at 2:19 pmYes. Thank you for equating our troops to an outnumbered, ragtag bunch of underequipped little people sneaking around in the dark, and guided through the wasteland by a treacherous mutant.
Wonderful morale booster.
October 17th, 2006 at 2:19 pm“As A Pennsylvania resident the last two days have been quite …….enlightening???!!???”
two different posts there - two different messages - don’t blend the two, thanks, you skew the meanings completely, for whatever reason you would even want to do that…
enlightening was in reference to learning about Tolkien, et al…
AS a PA resident, I am exposed to Santorum’s insanity 24/7 is WHAT I said… I have not lived here forever, only 7 years, BUT it has been actually been enlightening - for 7 years!!!! I have never before experienced what the PA politicans dish out, it is unreal. And that is not a compliment. They are garbage.
The bunch of politicans we employ in the State of PA are the worst in the nation, imho. Something in the water? I have no idea, but have wondered that one often myself… you have to experience this crew in action, they are a complete nightmare.
October 17th, 2006 at 2:35 pmHear that, Iraqis? We’re bringing you peace and freedom!
October 17th, 2006 at 2:39 pmNot only is that crazy son of a pig flighty and whimsical…
…he’s actually PROUD of the fact that AmeriKKKa has exported terrorism to the Iraqi people…
…he not only deserves to lose his senate seat…
…he and his family should be deported to…
…Iraq!
October 17th, 2006 at 2:41 pmMaybe he is trying to appeal to the LOTR segment of his population. You Know 14-17 year old boys….oh wait….crap they are too young to vote.
Uh Ricky boy….theres a flaw in the plan….
October 17th, 2006 at 2:42 pm“instead of Lord of the Rings (anti-religious movie).”
riiiiiiiiight.
October 17th, 2006 at 2:44 pmI find Santorum/Saruman’s works irinoc considering how much Bush is like Denethor.
October 17th, 2006 at 2:50 pmWhile we are on the weird-me-out trip, I cannot resist the urge to quote a Great American Author with no particular reason. In a sense, an Author that can only have come from America. Take it away, Phil:
“Once more the impression had begun to come over me by slow degrees that I was in Rome, not in Orange County, California. I sensed the Empire without seeing it, sensed a vast iron prison in which human slaves toiled. I saw as if superimposed on the black metal walls of this huge prison certain rapidly scurrying figures in gray robes: enemies of the Empire and its tyranny, a remnant opposed to it. And I knew, from a deep internal clock down within my own self, that the true time was A.D. 70, that the Savior had come and gone but would soon return. The gray-robed hurrying remnant, with a feeling of joy, awaited and prepared for its return. Overwhelmed with this, I experienced, too, a barrage of foreign words flooding through my head, words I did not understand but whose impression was clear in any case: I was in deadly danger from the spies of Rome, from those angry armed men who moved everywhere, detecting anything opposed to the imperial glory. I had to be alert, watch what I said, guard with sealed lips the secret that was mine […]
It was an ancient fight I was in, not a new one; it had been fought without cease for two thousand years. Names had changed, faces had changed, but the adversaries remained a permanent constant. The slave Empire against those who struggled for justice and truth - not freedom exactly, in the modern sense, but for virtues obscured today, buried under the bulk of an Empire that embraced both the United States and the Soviet Union as a twin, equal manifestations. The U.S. and the U.S.S.R., I understood, were two portions of the Empire as divided up by the Emperor Diocletian for purely administrative purposes; at heart it was a single entity, with a single value system. And its value system was the concept of the supremacy of the state. The individual counted in its scales as nothing, and individuals who turned against the state and generated their own values were the enemy. […]
However much I hated Rome, I feared it more. My memory had become elongated, stretching out over a span of two thousand years, but what it encountered was a dreadful sameness: Rome lay spread out everywhere across the ages. What a giant entity it was, to extend that far in time. There lay no relief from it either in the past or the present, although in a sense I experienced no past, just a continual present of vast immensity. So this was the antagonist … or, rather, the physical manifestation of the antagonist. This was the corpus malus, the evil body; but within and behind it lay an evil spirit which had made the Empire what it was. Once it had been benign, but those days, when it had been a Republic - those had been swallowed up when free men had been swallowed up by the presence of oppression. How very much it weighted. Rome weighted down the world, armored as it was, huge with its black iron walls and cells and streets, its chains and rings of metal, its helmeted warriors. It seemed surprising that it had not sunk through the crust of the earth. […]
And now, in our midst at this latter time, the old battle continued on, the oppressor lying behind the iron body, striking at those who were not expressions of the Empire - ourselves, who served a King and walked other ways. We wore no armor, no metal, only the robes, sandals, and perhaps a golden fish in bracelet or necklace form. Our steps were lighter than those who complied with Roman customs, but we were vulnerable to death; we had no physical protection. Many of us had fallen already, to awaken later when the King returned. How soon would it be? Soon, but not yet. And when he returned he would not teach at the periphery of the Empire but would strike at its source, its heart; he would drive into its center and pull it down; this appearance of the King would be quite a surprise, quite a shock to the tyrant; quite different.”
October 17th, 2006 at 3:04 pmRightwing Rhetoric:
What Gimli would say:
“In the Language of Orthanc help means ruin, and saving means slaying, that is plain.”
What Theoden would say
“Even if your war on me was just - and it was not, for were you ten times as wise you have no right to rule me and mine as you desired - even so, what would you say to the torches of Westfold and the children that lie dead there?”
And finally, what Gandalf would say:
” I do not counsel prudence. I said victory could not be achieved by arms. I still hope for victory, but not by arms.”
October 17th, 2006 at 3:08 pmI just had to laugh! What on earth is he talking about?
If you have to explain your analogy to people before they understand what you’re saying it can’t be very effective.
And what on earth does this mean “As the hobbits are going up Mount Doom, the Eye of Mordor is being drawn somewhere else.†This sounds like something a stoned teenager would come up with!
Who are the Hobbits here? How is this going to work? WTF?
Clearly 3 weeks from total defeat has left Santorum delusional.
He needs to get some sleep and stop taking drugs that make him gibber like a derranged speed freak.
October 17th, 2006 at 3:09 pmSorry dude, but you are the one who needs to read up on both Tolkien and Lewis. I have read most things from both authors. Including shit you have probably never heard of.
Just because a republican moron wants to highjack a couple of popular movies to make a point doesn’t mean he know anything about the books.
Since you don’t know the underlying subtext of these books means you haven’t read much of them either.
October 17th, 2006 at 3:20 pm“guided through the wasteland by a treacherous mutant.”
Replace “through” with “to” and it actually does fit. Unfortunately, we’ll have to settle for throwing the bum out of office instead of watching him sink into a river of molten lava.
October 17th, 2006 at 3:29 pmNow I know that Ricky Rooster Santorum has lost touch with reality when he compares Iraq to Mordor. Ricky Rooster Santorum is going to need that majic ring if he wants another term in the Senate because he is going down on November 7.
October 17th, 2006 at 3:30 pmSpudgeBoy
You will note that in LotR Mordor is the world superpower with iffy enviromental standards. The West is made up of a losely, largely non-allied group of smaller, weaker nations.
October 17th, 2006 at 3:30 pmWWGB
Who Would Gandalf Bomb?
October 17th, 2006 at 3:33 pmSantorum is probably just frustrated that liberals can’t understand what is going on, so he’s trying to use references that you might be able to comprehend.
October 17th, 2006 at 3:44 pm#35 kat
Vote for a change in the PA legislature in November. There are many Progressive Democrats running for State Legislature in November. If you want to make positive changes in PA government, vote Democrat in November.
October 17th, 2006 at 3:44 pmpaul - what are you talking about in comment 49?
I would rather be called a Liberal than an selfish, mean Conservative like Ricky ‘Rooster’ Santorum. By the way “Rooser” was Ricky nickname in college.
October 17th, 2006 at 3:50 pmOK, I just couldn’t resist. After seeing George W. Bush compared to Gollum, I got some pictures of both and ran them through a face-morphing program. The result is creepy indeed.
October 17th, 2006 at 3:55 pmDamn, not only does Bush look like Gollum, he talks like Gollum, a constant mumbling nonsense. Bush must be talking to the voices in his head.
October 17th, 2006 at 4:05 pmOh I understand that guy. We should burn Iraq to keep US safety? So stop lie for Iraqis freedom.
October 17th, 2006 at 4:28 pmWha-buh-huh?
October 17th, 2006 at 4:30 pmOH MY GOD…
If we were only to consider what Tolkien would have said about the situation today… Tokien who fought in the Battle of the Somme in WWI… He would be aghast.
Anyone who doubts this should read “Akallabeth” in the Silmarillion. That was his story of how the Numenoreans became to arrogant and militarized and eventually declared war on the gods… They were swallowed up and destroyed for their hubris.
October 17th, 2006 at 4:41 pmSick Rantorum strikes again!
October 17th, 2006 at 4:43 pmIs it Cheney or Rumsfeld that is Wormtongue?
October 17th, 2006 at 4:56 pmWorst. Analogy. Ever.
October 17th, 2006 at 5:08 pmSantorum has lost his mind and this helps to prove it > lol.
October 17th, 2006 at 5:53 pmStupid remarks like this piss me so bad I can just spit because they just tend to be stupid.
I have most of Tolkien’s books beyond those of ‘the triology’ I stand by what I said originally. I would venture that it is you who doesn’t know the “underlying subtext of these books” whichever ones they may be.
I also knew that Tolkien fought in the Battle of the Somme (WWI), which was one stunning and horrific mess. Granted, I do know less about C.S. Lewis than about J.R.R.Tolkien, but I still have every damned book either of them wrote. We had professor in one of my religious studies classes who loved Lewis, who I actually tend to find tedious.
October 17th, 2006 at 6:10 pmWordsmith,
Whether you like it or not, the Lord of the Rings and other Tolkien books are anti-religious/anti-government. The Narnia and especially Lewis’ later works are very religious. I don’t give a crap if it makes you mad enough to spit.
But then again, you can’t see through the crap Fox and Santorum tell you anyways, so why should I think you can read underlying text in a very indepth storyline?
October 17th, 2006 at 6:24 pmWordsmith,
Spudge is correct Tolkien was anti religion and anti government. Lewis’ stories are religious based, christianity in fact.
I have read all of Tolkien’s work. Lewis I had to read in high school because the English teacher was a nutty babtist who made us read nothing but religious authors. Nothing worst than having to go to school in a bible belt state, with a bunch of chisto-fascist teachers, yuck =P
research a bit….
October 17th, 2006 at 6:41 pmSay what you will, I don’t think you’re correct. Other of Tolkien’s books are definitely anti-government. I’m not a particular fan of CS Lewis.
I don’t watch Fox, and I find Santorum creepy.
Your thought processes need some work….dude.
October 17th, 2006 at 6:51 pmWasn’t the LORD OF THE RINGS banned by the Catholic Church? If so did his kids watch it. I hope they don’t go to …. Ah, the hell with it.
October 17th, 2006 at 7:29 pmPsssst Rick Santorum
I think BUSH has the RING. What with hes invasion of MIDDLE EARTH. I mean middle east
October 17th, 2006 at 7:41 pmIt doesn’t matter what YOU “think” Tolkien was anti-religion and anti-government. It is not what I think, it is what is called a fact.
American Library Association list of banned books:
http://www.ala.org/ ala/ pio/ piopresskits/ bbbwpresskit/ bannedchallenged.htm
You will find Lord of the Rings at #40. Do you think that it was banned because it is pro-government and pro-religion? Get a grip. It is okay to be wrong every now and then.
October 17th, 2006 at 8:05 pmBush signs torture bill; Americans lose essential freedom. October 17, 2006
George W. Bush got what he wanted, ostensibly as a tool in his unfocused “war on terror”: By signing into law the Military Commissions Act of 2006, Bush has made it legal for the C.I.A. to continue operating torture facilities in undisclosed, foreign countries, and for the writ of habeas corpus to be suspended for individuals who are designated “enemy combatants” against the U.S. (Designated by whom? That question remains unanswered.) The law also “establishes military tribunals that would allow some use of evidence obtained by coercion [that is, torture], but would give defendants access to classified evidence being used to convict them.” (Reuters)
The provisions of Bush’s new torture law mean that Americans have lost the key, constitutional right on which Anglo-American criminal law (and criminal-law procedures in true democracies in general) is founded; that’s the basic right of an individual to know why he or she is being apprehended and detained. Now, technically, as in Stalin’s Soviet Union, Hitler’s Germany, Mao’s China or Pol Pot’s Cambodia, anyone labeled an “enemy combatant” - again, by whom; by Bush? - can be whisked away and never heard from again. That kind of authority, in the hands of corrupt or untruthful politicians, may or may not be an effective tool in some kind of “war on terror,” but it certainly can be a useful tool when it comes to silencing their opponents.
In an Orwellian pronouncement dutifully reported by Voice of America, the taxpayer-funded “news” service that acts as a mouthpiece for the administration, Bush said: “The United States does not torture….It is against our laws and it is against our values. By allowing the C.I.A. program to go forward, this bill is preserving a tool that has saved American lives.” Bush’s claim flies in the face of numerous reports of torture conducted by American officials at U.S. military prisons or secret locations overseas.
October 17th, 2006 at 8:41 pmSmeagol hates-sez Santorum, he hates-sez him…
October 17th, 2006 at 8:47 pmIt’s a fact!? Whose fact? Define what you mean by anti-religion. Tolkien was a practicing Catholic. Anti-government?
I don’t mind being wrong or saying I don’t know. It doesn’t bother me, really. I’m too old to mind either. As for LOTR being banned; it’s not because it’s allegedly anti-religion, anti-government. It’s because it is FANTASY, filled with elves, orcs, hobbits, magic, wildly violent warring scenes, and a few wizards. It’s on a list of banned books for the same reason some people want to ban ‘Harry Potter’ - though there is no comparison storywise of course.
My favorite book (and movie), Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ is #4. Kinda makes you wonder.
Oh and another thing, the name Gandalf is from a Norwegian mythologic tale. My grandfather is from Bergen. He read all kinds of stuff to us when we were kids, as did my father. Tolkien is from the era as my grandfather - although mine was a bit younger - so alot of the Icelandic, Norwegian, Germanic stuff myths, epics, poetry, etc., we were exposed to as kids.
October 17th, 2006 at 8:55 pmdoes anyone have any links on the latest Casey-Santorum poll?
October 17th, 2006 at 10:16 pmI do love how every online mention of Tolkien (or Trek, or Star Wars) eventually devolves into a geek slap-fest.
October 17th, 2006 at 11:16 pm#72 We’re talking Santorum here. It started as a geek slap-fest.
October 17th, 2006 at 11:37 pmI love the fetus so much that I brought it home so my kids could spoon with it.
October 18th, 2006 at 12:04 am“Maybe he is trying to appeal to the LOTR segment of his population. You Know 14-17 year old boys….oh wait….crap they are too young to vote.”
but they ARENT too young to be pages!
October 18th, 2006 at 1:06 amLotR is not really anti-religion or goverment. What it is anti is rudeness, hatred and fascism. Read the scouring of the Shire and look at what is actaully happening in the chapter, it is not exactly anti-goverment, it is anti-fascist.
For the most part Tolkien hated Allegory, so I doubt there is any anti-religious or anti-goverment message in LotR. The only god who plays a really prominent role in the story is Sauron, and he is more of a fallen archangel, for the most part gods go unmentioned.
October 18th, 2006 at 3:45 amIn actuality, Bush is the Eye focused on what, I am not sure. The Eye first focused on Afghanistan, then on Iraq and bloody battles have ensued wherever it focuses. Now it has eliminated habeas corpus.
October 18th, 2006 at 11:20 amAnd it’s Rick as Smeagol crawling up Mount Doom, craving that ring of re-election, with the final conflict with Frodo (progressives) on Nov. 7. And you Rings fans know what happens next …
May the Shire soon be scoured!
(I don’t think LOTR was banned by the Catholic Church. Tolkien was Catholic himself, I believe.)
I would love to know what the hobbits represent.
President Bush’s secret plan to win the Iraq war? Santorum creeping his way toward the election? An uber-elite Special Forces squadron who have been sneaking up carefully — one inch at a time for the past five years — on Osama bin Laden? Jack Bauer approaching the secret master “OFF” switch that will remotely shut down all the radical Islamists in the world?
October 18th, 2006 at 1:13 pm[…] Anyway, have at it, you orcs! […]
October 18th, 2006 at 2:32 pmScaredy cat.
October 18th, 2006 at 3:05 pmIt doesn’t matter what YOU “think†Tolkien was anti-religion and anti-government.
Tolkien was a DEVOUT CATHOLIC, dude. It’s kind of hard to be “anti-religion” and a massgoing Christian, at least in this universe. He ALSO considered himself a nonviolent anarchist, ultimately, in that he rejected the worship of ANY government/state/political entity and elevating it over the rights of human beings, whether it was an official tyranny like Prussia/the Iron Curtain or a “soft” one like the Cold War/pre-war Imperialist west.
But the ideals of self-government and minimal interference/limitation on freedom are hardly being “anti-government” in the general philosophical sense. You don’t see the governments of Rohan and the Shire and Gondor or Laketown or the Little Kingdom getting *eradicated*, after all, even when demonstrably in need of reform.
You don’t have a right to your own facts, sorry.
October 18th, 2006 at 3:31 pmhttp://www.crisismagazine.com/november2001/feature7.htm
Checkmate? Seriously, google “tolkien religion”. There’s more at the link.
October 18th, 2006 at 4:28 pmI’m surprised that nobody mentioned that our hero Stephen Colbert mentioned (and viciously lampooned) Santorum’s analogy on the most recent Colbert Report. :-)
October 19th, 2006 at 3:34 am[…] Posted without comment. […]
October 20th, 2006 at 5:09 pmInteresting parallels from fantasy to historical:
Middle Earth Middle East and Mediterranean
New Numenoreans North and South Americans (USA)
Black Numenoreans Caribbeans and Central Americans
Dunedain Original 14 Colonies (Virginians and Canadians)
Easterlings China, India, South Asians, etc.
Elves Europeans
Vanyar Scandanavians, Baltic, Polish
Noldor Germans
Teleri French
Sindar Spanish
Avari Mediterranean
Dwarves Balkans, Slavs
Rhorrim Russians
Rhohan Russia
Rhun Russia/Siberia/’Istans
Hobbits
Frodo England
Sam Wales
Merry Scotland
Pippin Ireland
Gondor Western Roman Empire Remanants
Arnor Eastern Roman Empire Remanants
Eriador Central Europe
Mordor Middle East
Minas Tirith Rome
Osgilliath Jerusalem
Cirith Ungol Syria
Ithillien Iraq
Baradur Tehran
Morgoroth Iran
Gandalf Pope John Paul II
Saruman Osama Bin Laden
Isengard Pakistan
Afghanistan Westernfold
Annuminas Constantinople
Rivendell Paris
Lorien Geneva
Umbar Libya, Egypt
Mirkwood Transylvannia
Numenor Americas (albeit bigger)
Valinor Australia (albeit smaller)
Tirion Sydney
Tol Eressea New Zealand
Rhovanion Russia (to the Ural)
and Rhohan
Haradwaith Sahara, Arabia
Forodwaith Northern Russia
Shire/Bree UK
Greyhavens Norfolk/Suffolk (southern England) Ports
Anfalas Iberia (Spain and Portugal)
Cities of Numenore
Romenna New York
Armenelos Washington, DC
Eldalonde Los Angeles
Meneltarma Denver
Andunie Seattle
February 6th, 2007 at 6:27 pmUs Bankruptcy Court Pa
I have to say, that I could not agree with you in 100%, but it’s just my opinion, which could be wrong.
April 1st, 2008 at 12:49 amSibilla
People are as happy as they make up their minds to be.
April 2nd, 2008 at 2:22 amTerresa
The difference between school and life? In school, you’re taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson.
April 8th, 2008 at 12:24 amSex Gay Sex Anime Sex
I can not agree with you in 100% regarding some thoughts, but you got good point of view
April 10th, 2008 at 1:53 pm