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[Order David Horowitz’s new book, America Betrayed, HERE.]
Immediately in the wake of the announcement at the Republican National Convention that JD Vance is Donald Trump’s pick for running mate, the leftist media predictably launched a fear-mongering campaign to demonize the young populist. The politics of personal destruction – it’s their go-to strategy, rather than addressing the issues. And one of the first scary red flags they warned about is the influence on the future Vice President of Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkien.
On Tuesday, MSNBC mainstay propagandist Rachel Maddow suggested that Vance and “his mentor,” venture capitalist Peter Thiel, were both inspired by “alt-right” and “Aryan” messaging in Tolkien’s vastly popular fantasy epic. Maddow stated,
Like Mr. Thiel, who has named his companies after things in The Lord of the Rings series of J.R.R. Tolkien books. Lord of the Rings is a, sort of, a favorite cosmos for naming things and cultural references for a lot of far-right and alt-right figures within Europe and the United States. Peter Thiel names things after Tolkien figures and places like his company, Palantir, for example.
Palantir, to be clear, is the crystal ball used by the wizard Saruman in Lord of the Rings. And for the record, “alt-right” is an absolutely meaningless smear label the Left throws around to fear-monger about a right-wing Threat to Democracy™. They call any and every conservative from Ben Shapiro to Steve Bannon “alt-right.” The more of a political threat someone is to the Left, the alt-righter they’re tagged.
Maddow added,
Mr. Vance also, when he founded his own venture capital firm, with help from Peter Thiel, named it after a Lord of the Rings thing, he called in Narya, N-A-R-Y-A, which you can remember because it’s “Aryan,” but you move the N to the front. Apparently, that word has something to do with elves and rings from The Lord of the Rings series, I don’t know.
Maddow doesn’t know, but more specifically, she doesn’t care to know. Her aim is not to understand or to help her audience understand, but to smear the political threat Vance as a neo-Nazi. In fact, Narya is the name of one of the Rings of Power in the Tolkien books; it inspires its bearer to resist tyranny, domination, and despair, which makes it a perfect symbol for resistance to the leftist agenda. It is not a dog whistle for Aryan racism.
Maddow also wouldn’t know this about Tolkien, because leftists despise culture that smacks of “whiteness,” but he was no closet Nazi. Newbusters, for example, reports that he “had no tolerance for such people.” Asked in 1938 to prove his Aryan ancestry by a German publisher that was considering translating The Hobbit, Tolkien replied,
Thank you for your letter. I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by arisch. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware none of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.
…
I have been accustomed, nonetheless, to regard my German name with pride, and continued to do so throughout the period of the late regrettable war, in which I served in the English army. I cannot, however, forbear to comment that if impertinent and irrelevant inquiries of this sort are to become the rule in matters of literature, then the time is not far distant when a German name will no longer be a source of pride.
Other left-wing outlets also jumped last week on Vance’s apparently alarming admiration of Tolkien. In an article titled, “How Lord of the Rings Shaped JD Vance’s Politics,” for example, Politico reported that in a 2021 podcast Vance was asked to name his favorite author, and he responded, “I would have to say Tolkien. I’m a big Lord of the Rings guy, and I think, not realizing it at the time, but a lot of my conservative worldview was influenced by Tolkien growing up.”
Of Tolkien’s colleague C.S. Lewis, another enormously popular Christian author, Vance added that he is a “[b]ig fan of C.S. Lewis — really sort of like that era of English writers. I think they were really interesting. They were grappling, in part because of World War II, with just very big problems.”
Politico went on to make the same point Maddow did about Thiel and Vance naming their companies from the Tolkien trilogy. As for “Narya,” the outlet quotes John Shelton, policy director for Advancing American Freedom and another Tolkien fan, who explains,
By the time of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Narya has been entrusted to [the good wizard] Gandalf to resist the corrupting influence of evil, preserve the world from decay, and give strength to its wielder. Gandalf, unlike the other great powers in Lord of the Rings, cared for the hobbits and other lowly people of Middle-Earth, and so it is unsurprising that Vance would see himself as a kind of Gandalf, caring for the forgotten people of his hometown, keeping a watchful eye on them against the corrupting effects of the world.
Politico also cites Catholic University of America professor Luke Burgis, who said he suspects
Vance’s appreciation of Tolkien is not unrelated to his conversion to Catholicism in 2019. Of the many ways that Tolkien’s work exemplifies the Catholic imagination, one is the relationship between the visible and the invisible. I think it’s fair to say that Vance believes there is real spiritual evil in this world, and it can become embodied in rites and rituals.
Burgis reportedly told Political that Vance likely took away from Tolkien “an apocalyptic frame of mind” about “a final and all-encompassing battle between good and evil.” Politico added that “at a closed-door speech in September 2021, Vance said, ‘I believe the devil is real and that he works terrible things in our society.’”
Well, he ain’t wrong. It’s very difficult to look at the degenerate state of our culture today, a culture that has been shaped and dominated for over half a century by the Left, and not see satanic influence everywhere, from demonic drag queens to the gender-ideology rejection of biological truth to the Left’s sexualization of children. But the Marxist Left denies this Christian worldview of the world being a battleground of Good and Evil.
Unlike MSNBC, Politico refrained from smearing Vance as an “Aryan,” but it did claim lamely that “Vance’s love of Lord of the Rings is of a piece with rightward nationalists abroad.” Rightward nationalists, by the way, is a leftist dog-whistle for “deplorables who resist surrendering national sovereignty to globalist authoritarians.” What is Politico’s evidence that rightward nationalists unite over Lord of the Rings? The outlet notes only that “Italy’s Giorgia Meloni used to cosplay as a hobbit.” Wow, that’s damning.
Former senator Rick Santorum, whom Politico calls “a fellow Tolkien-pilled Catholic,” apparently told the outlet he “believes that the message of Tolkien is that evil must be confronted. And so the idea is that well, we can wait until it comes to the Shire, but that is not a very good game plan. You gotta go to [the evil realm of] Mordor.”
Politico concludes by citing conservative author Rod Dreher, who stated that ever since Vance’s conversion to Catholicism, the rising star has been “thinking broadly about how all must join in the great struggle against darkness — there is no avoiding the struggle — and how God can use the humble and the lowborn to do great things.”
The Left is unsettled – terrified, actually – by conservative opponents who acknowledge, as Tolkien and C.S. Lewis did, the eternal conflict of Good versus Evil, who understand the very real nature of spiritual warfare, and who are prepared to arm themselves with the full armor of God. Judeo-Christian morality and spirituality are obstacles to the Left’s utopian schemes and lust for worldly power, and JD Vance is a threat to the Left not only as a politician, but as a spiritual warrior – a potentially greater threat than Donald Trump himself.
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“Judeo-Christian morality and spirituality are obstacles to the Left’s utopian schemes and lust for worldly power”
Not at all, it’s just the opposite, the Judeo-Christian morality and spirituality of self-sacrifice are the basis and the moral KEY to the Left’s utopian schemes and lust for worldly power.
Christianity prepared the ground for modern totalitarianism by entrenching three fundamentals in the Western mind. In metaphysics the worship of the supernatural, in epistemology the reliance on faith, and in ethics a reverence for self-sacrifice.
Socialism comes from Christianity. In Christianity the individual is the property of Almighty God, and the individual is the servant of Almighty God. In socialism the individual is the property of Almighty Society, and the individual is the servant of Almighty Society.
Christianity, ultimately and logically, leads to theocracy, it’s as simple as that.
“All rights rest on the ethics of egoism. Rights are an individual’s SELFISH possessions—his title to his life, his liberty, his property, the pursuit of his own happiness. Only a being who is an end in himself can claim a moral sanction to independent action. If man existed to serve an entity beyond himself, whether God or society, then he would not have rights, but only the duties of a servant.” – Leonard Peikoff
“Christianity, ultimately and logically, leads to theocracy, it’s as simple as that.”
Really? Where in this country? Where in the EU?
It didn’t lead to theocracy when Christianity was actually a force in this country, until the ’60s.
“Please sir. Can I still have my Christmas and Easter holidays. I promise I won’t make too much noise.”
I think the reason you are so desperately afraid of a Christian Theocracy is because you are incapable of fighting it. But don’t worry. The atheists and Communists are currently in command and you fit right in with them.
When people get fed up enough with the Leftist atheist faux-Objectivist B.S. they generally rebel. Hopefully, if Trump wins, there will be the beginnings of a Great Awakening that could rekindle Christianity in this country. You will be miserable. But then you are already miserable.
Objectivism is an irrational religion in which good is defined as reason springing from the mind of man. It inevitably leads to the elimination of those who are “less rational” and therefore less than human. It perverts science into scientism. It is a plague upon humanity, belonging to the silly idea of utopia (which means “no place”).
Your long rants about Christianity only reveal the parasitic nature of objectivism. Christianity brought western civilization to its greatest heights, giving us the worth and dignity of the individual, science as a tool to explore the natural world, hospitals, orphanages, universities, and the knowledge of the gospel of Christ throughout the world.
You think it is reasonable to place your faith in the theology of atheists who 1) do not believe God exists, and 2) hate Him. What rational person hates what does not exist?
“What rational person hates what does not exist?”
Good one Kiddo. Cogent, short and sweet. Like a hot blade through butter.
I can only imagine his lame response.
Yeah, lefties are renowned as devout Christians. DERP.
Marxist collectivism comes from Christian collectivism but cannot survive more than a century without the SUPERNATURAL claims of religion.
In order for the people to tolerate and endure all the misery, poverty, and death of the tyranny of collectivism they need to truly believe that all their misery here on earth will be rewarded with a Supernatural Eternal Utopia after their dead.
“I believe that the medievals understood much better than the moderns on what basis to build a totalitarian society that would last and not collapse in less than a century. They did it and the people in the rising religious movement today know that full well. They’re the ones who have millions, upon millions, upon millions, of followers and a real insight into the fact that economics is not the crucial factor, but philosophy and culture are…. Religion has been the root of [totalitarianism] from the beginning, it has ruled in disguised forms, and still is, and now the disguise had to be stripped off… What socialism is doing is really helping religion, the bigger the statism, the more people grow accustomed to government rule over everything, the more people are ready for religionists to take over the lead from the more secular side… The socialists are building the basis for totalitarianism but only the religionists are going to cash in on it and take over.” – Leonard Peikoff
I guess you expect everyone to prevent that inevitable “theocracy” while you sit on your assets fulminating about the theocratic boogie man at the door.
The theocracy is from the left. Marxism is a religion
I’ll give you one thing. You’re persistent and consistent. Consistently missing the point of Christianity. We do not ignore life on earth. Misery is to be consoled and, through charity and love, remediated. Here and now. We do not throw up our hands and say” well it sucks here, but we have heaven, so just ignore evil”. On the contrary. Many of us have tried to explain this to you. But you are persistent in your willful ignorance. “Religionist”, what a crock.
The persistent willful ignorance is on your part, not mine.
The vast majority of Christians today practice a very diluted kind of Christianity, a Cafeteria Christianity. They pick and choose what parts they want to believe and disregard, evade, ignore what they don’t want to believe. They practice a very loose interpretation of Christianity.
Today’s Christians are so implicitly secularized they can’t even imagine what hardcore, fundamentalist, theocratic, Christianity was like and is like. The closest thing we have today in America to hardcore, fundamentalist, Christianity are small sects like the Amish, and even they are very much influenced by the modern, secular, world.
It WAS it is NOT like that anymore, please move on.
What the hell do you know of practicing Christians. Do you know any? How can you possibly know what the vast majority believe. When was the last time you actually visited a church?
You have all these assumptions and ideas about Christians that you have gotten from your simplistic arrogant heroes like Puke-off, Binswanker, Salsman and the few other “literary losers” that still write about this B.S., and you simply and mindlessly regurgitate their bile. When was the last time they visited a church?
You actually believe that by practicing “hardcore, fundamentalist, theocratic Christianity”, as you snottily and derisively call it, one will somehow turn into a person who burns people at the stake. You are, of course, an ignorant nutcase.
Has it occurred to you that you are practicing an intolerant hardcore, fundamentalist, theocratic Objectivism. That is how broken and propagandized you are. So how is your failed puffed up crusade to rid the world of Christianity coming along?
You know nothing of Christians and Jews and your ignorant, immature hatred is displayed daily. You are a failure and will always be a failure.
Christianity does not believe in totalitarian collectivism, but in community characterised by mutual submission, which is its polar opposite. Christians are also not called to unconditional altruism, which produces enablers, not benefactors. Paul said that those who do not work should not eat – not that they should be supported by the self-sacrifice of others.
“Christianity does not believe in totalitarian collectivism, but in community characterized by mutual submission, which is its polar opposite.”
What a contradiction, some people just can’t think.
No irony there, Islam means submission — submission to others. Christian altruism means submission to others too.
Freedom and independence mean freedom and independence from others.
“All rights rest on the ethics of egoism. Rights are an individual’s SELFISH possessions—his title to his life, his liberty, his property, the pursuit of his own happiness. Only a being who is an end in himself can claim a moral sanction to independent action. If man existed to serve an entity beyond himself, whether God or society, then he would not have rights, but only the duties of a servant.” – Leonard Peikoff
“
“Freedom and independence mean freedom and independence from others.”
One of your most stupid and desperate statements ever.
Why not just sing John Lennon’s Imagine.
It is obvious you have submitted to the thoughts and statements of a dead woman from the ’50s.
Why do you quote Piekoff so often? His ramblings are obviously anti intellectual.
It’s pretty much all he knows except for his long dead girlfriend.
My grandfather fought in Europe in WWl. He was a blond haired blue eyed farm boy from Missouri with the last name of Reinhardt. He got hit with mustard gas that affected him his whole life. I once asked him if he had trouble with his comrades in arms for looking like the enemy. He simply said “ no, they knew whose side I was on”. When it comes to good and evil. It’s important to know what side you’re on. The left is clueless.
The problem is the Left has a non-objective, non-rational, definition of what is the good. So does Islam. So does Christianity for that matter.
The Left, like the Muslims, really do believe that they are on the side of the good and of the moral (that’s why 16 Muslims got on those airplanes and went to their deaths), the problem is their definition of what is the good and what is the moral.
What is the good and what is the evil, rationally and objectively speaking? That is the question.
Not really. I think that even you and I could agree on some specifics.
Precisely. Yes, religion can serve as resistance to evil. But tragically, it can serve as a rationalization for evil.
A relationship with the living God can never serve as a rationalisation for evil – but the many cheap alternatives certainly can.
Of course you, who believes in nothing beyond the abstractions of your moribund religion think you are on the side of good.
You are a cowardly, little narcissist who has deluded yourself into thinking selfishness is somehow noble. The idea of risking your life to help someone that is in desperate need is loathsome to you because you see your life as infinitely more valuable than that of anyone else, regardless of how much they are suffering. You are the personification of meritless pride and delusional self-worth. All of your Randian nonsense is a cloak for concealing your truly worthless nature.
But Mark were they the enemy – or were they his brothers he was fighting against and killing? Genesis tells us that we are all brothers and sisters, all the damaged children of disobedient Adam, with an even closer common ancestor in Noah.
It was a simple calculation for my grandfather in the trenches of France. They were trying to kill him. If that doesn’t define an enemy, I don’t know what does. Was the war just? That wasn’t his concern while trying to survive. Was my grandfather a killer? For the next 60 years he lived in peace and was a devout Christian. Mankind has been fighting each other since Cain and Abel. Hasn’t abated since. Not likely to anytime soon.
I don’t think they’re clueless. Remember Alinsky’s dedication in rules for rads. They embrace the dark side.
True. But, Useful Idiots are ubiquitous.
I just had a PR brainstorm. It’s a bit offbeat, but here goes: First, Vance should not back away from his attraction to Tolkien. He should own it. Then he should launch a national tour and call it “The American Fellowship of the Oval Office.” And he should schedule stops at every Comicon event in the country, making his appearances dressed as Gandalf. Hey, that can’t be any more outrageous than “Biden, Here and Gone Again,” or the “Chronicles of Kamala.”
OK, I’m returning to my cave now.
Quote: “If I were to speak your kind of language, I would say that man’s only moral commandment is: Thou shalt think. But a “moral commandment” is a contradiction in terms. The moral is the chosen, not the forced; the understood, not the obeyed. The moral is the rational, and reason accepts no commandments.
My morality, the morality of reason, is contained in a single axiom: existence exists — and in a single choice: to live. The rest proceeds from these. To live, man must hold three things as the supreme and ruling values of his life: Reason — Purpose — Self-esteem. Reason, as his only tool of knowledge — Purpose, as his choice of the happiness which that tool must proceed to achieve — Self-esteem, as his inviolate certainty that his mind is competent to think and his person is worthy of happiness, which means: is worthy of living. These three values imply and require all of man’s virtues, and all his virtues pertain to the relation of existence and consciousness: rationality, independence, integrity, honesty, justice, productiveness, pride.”
“GALT’S SPEECH”
Ayn Rand: For the New Intellectual, 128
But somehow he doesn’t think what Putin is doing in Ukraine is evil? He thinks it’s none of our business? How does this make sense?
As for describing the Left I believe the most accurate description is “Beyond the Pale”.