Originally posted by Morthoron:
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I have acquaintances who dislike the Lord of the Rings, but can give you the batting averages of every starting player from the 1984 World Series;
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In all fairness, my friend that know's baseball was drafted as a pro, but lost his chance due to an abusive father (ruptured kidneys from his father weilding my friend's favorite bat in a drunken rage.) Let's not get too serious in a literary discussion, however.
But your point about perspective is well taken. What is the difference, really, between putting on a Hobbit outfit for a convention of some kind, or a movie premier, and donning a Cheese-head at Lambeau Field. Both are costumes that invoke enthusiasm for that particular passion.
I should mention here that as a Wisconsinite, I have done both, and frozen my butt off at the second.
My point was that, following Tolkien, or J. K. Rowling, or Literature in general or sports or extreme sports or anything else, ties us to a group that has a common interest in that particular passion. As much as we would like it to be otherwise, politics and religion, for the most part, don't give us that sense of community that we would probably prefer to find in patriotism, or faith. As much as I respect these feelings, I would prefer to spend more time arguing Balrog wings than arguing about whether Obama or McCain should be the next President. Whether that's right or wrong is simply not an issue for me on this particular website. I'm here (on the Barrow Downs) to talk about Tolkien, because I love (yes, LOVE) his skill with language, his mastery of mythic sensibility, his grasp of simple human emotion in clearly impossible circumstances (how would YOU feel, if you held in your hand the power to shape the world?)
Hello. My name is Craig and I'm a Tolkein geek. My best friend is a baseball geek. My next-best friend is a Madonna geek. I've never met anyone who wasn't a geek of some kind. It's not an insult. It's just a fact.