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Animalmother · 04-17-2008, 09:44 PM

Hickory, the Straw Man in L. Frank Baum's allegory, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," is crying "ouch" as Animalmother's respondent's beat him.

When quoting the Master's Foreword to LOTR on allegory, it's best to quote him in complete sentences:

"But I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history, true or feigned, with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers. I think many confuse 'applicability' with 'allegory'; but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author."

So, you have your freedom to read and to apply LOTR to your thought and experience, and I have mine. I have never argued that LOTR is allegory. I simply noticed that there are some striking similarities between Saruman's mind and the minds of modern leftists, viz.: pride, conceit, arrogance, fondnesses for moral relativism, for intellectual complexity, for political mediation, and for bamboozling the boobish masses with rhetoric; a dislike of moral absolutes, an itch to change long conserved social and biological groups such as nations and races, an itch to take political power from traditional nations and communities and to consolidate it in the hands of technocrats and experts, and a fascination with the kinds of mass production and heavy industry which can be easily controlled by government.

Since LOTR is fantasy history, not allegory, most experiences and characters (e.g., Tom Bombadil and Goldberry) will not resonate with contemporary political experiences and characters. But neither can one dogmatically assert that, in such a vast fantasy history as LOTR, no experience or character will ever resonate with our own political contemporaries. For this reader, the parallels between Saruman and modern multiculty Western European leftists and American liberals are too striking and too numerous to overlook.

A few minor notes:

1) Saruman's rejection of white for refracted colored light symbolizes his adoption of a new aggressive philosophy and his rejection of the ways of the gentle conservative, Gandalf. I could not resist observing that the rainbow, a kind of refracted light, is also the symbol of American leftist movements (gays; Rainbow/Push Coalition) which now attack our own, traditional Western ways.

2) The National Socialists and Fascists were leftists and also owned most of Saruman's characteristics listed above. That the Marxist left (the great majority of leftists) denounced them as "right wing" means nothing. Leftists usually denounce all opponents as "right wing." What else can they do?

3) Finally, the Left does not approve of baby eating, because babies are non-vegan, but at least in my country (Texas) the Left stoutly defends fetus killing.

04-17-2008, 09:44 PM	#35
Animalmother Pile O'Bones Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 14	Saruman, Pinko Hickory, the Straw Man in L. Frank Baum's allegory, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," is crying "ouch" as Animalmother's respondent's beat him. When quoting the Master's Foreword to LOTR on allegory, it's best to quote him in complete sentences: "But I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history, true or feigned, with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers. I think many confuse 'applicability' with 'allegory'; but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author." So, you have your freedom to read and to apply LOTR to your thought and experience, and I have mine. I have never argued that LOTR is allegory. I simply noticed that there are some striking similarities between Saruman's mind and the minds of modern leftists, viz.: pride, conceit, arrogance, fondnesses for moral relativism, for intellectual complexity, for political mediation, and for bamboozling the boobish masses with rhetoric; a dislike of moral absolutes, an itch to change long conserved social and biological groups such as nations and races, an itch to take political power from traditional nations and communities and to consolidate it in the hands of technocrats and experts, and a fascination with the kinds of mass production and heavy industry which can be easily controlled by government. Since LOTR is fantasy history, not allegory, most experiences and characters (e.g., Tom Bombadil and Goldberry) will not resonate with contemporary political experiences and characters. But neither can one dogmatically assert that, in such a vast fantasy history as LOTR, no experience or character will ever resonate with our own political contemporaries. For this reader, the parallels between Saruman and modern multiculty Western European leftists and American liberals are too striking and too numerous to overlook. A few minor notes: 1) Saruman's rejection of white for refracted colored light symbolizes his adoption of a new aggressive philosophy and his rejection of the ways of the gentle conservative, Gandalf. I could not resist observing that the rainbow, a kind of refracted light, is also the symbol of American leftist movements (gays; Rainbow/Push Coalition) which now attack our own, traditional Western ways. 2) The National Socialists and Fascists were leftists and also owned most of Saruman's characteristics listed above. That the Marxist left (the great majority of leftists) denounced them as "right wing" means nothing. Leftists usually denounce all opponents as "right wing." What else can they do? 3) Finally, the Left does not approve of baby eating, because babies are non-vegan, but at least in my country (Texas) the Left stoutly defends fetus killing.