Respectless ignorance!

[Iris Alantiel]

If not for the confrontational tone of the article, I would actually feel really sorry for this journalist. I feel sorry for anyone who just dismisses Tolkien without giving him a chance, because they'll never know what they're missing. As you've all pointed out again and again, this person has clearly not delved into the books at all and didn't even really pay a lot of attention when he/she was watching the movies. So sad. But it's the journalist's choice to make, not mine, so to each their own.

However, what bothers me about this article isn't that it bashes Tolkien - everybody's entitled to their own opinion, and I'm aware that some people just don't understand him the way we hardcore fans do. It's the way the journalist puts so much hostility into his assertion that the movie AND the books are "soulless creations". It's fine for journalists to argue whatever they want in an opinion piece, but it seems to me that this kind of vitriolic attack isn't going to convince anybody. A better strategy would be to bring out arguments and evidence to support the article's point. When reading an article that contains this much fire and anger, I usually reach the conclusion that there's not much evidence to back up the writer's claims.