Among the numerous mortifications of being an American currently is the way that members of the tech right and the conservative elite persistently objectify facets of nerd culture, while simultaneously exhibiting an utter inability to comprehend the underlying messages those very facets convey. While undoubtedly more critical concerns exist (such as white nationalism in the executive branch), the glaring absence of reading acumen from those who supposedly possess intellect does indeed prompt contemplation. To put it plainly, these individuals are inept nerds.
Arguably, the literary work they most frequently misconstrue is The Lord of the Rings. J.R.R. Tolkien’s cherished fantasy trilogy delves into the debasing impact of dominance and the essential role of mortality. Yet, the right continues to employ it as a story for justifying why influential figures ought to be granted amplified power and human beings should attain timelessness.
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Most recently, Elon Musk shared on his platform X that Tolkien’s serene hobbits could only enjoy peaceful lives in the Shire due to “their protection by the strong men of Gondor,” alluding to the human dominion entrenched in conflict against Mordor. England, Musk declared, must also unite with strong individuals — in this instance, the far-right anti-Islamic activist Tommy Robinson — to reinstate its own serenity and composure. Robinson is presently undergoing trial in the UK, accused of not complying with counter-terrorism law enforcement, and claims Musk is covering his legal expenses.
Following Musk’s example, the Department of Homeland Security disseminated an ICE recruitment advertisement utilizing a screenshot of Merry (portrayed by Dominic Monaghan), one of the hobbits featured in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films. Overlaid onto the image is a snippet of Merry’s discourse — “There won’t be a shire, pippin.” — succeeded by the URL join.ice.gov.
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The underlying notion here is that the unsuspecting hobbits embody the citizens of both the US and the UK, and unbeknownst to them, they are threatened by antagonistic entities: Muslim newcomers from the Middle East, purportedly encroaching upon both nations. The sole means of preventing this, the analogy suggests, is for the hobbits to form alliances with the “strong men of Gondor” — Islamophobic instigators for Musk and masked factions that assault unarmed inhabitants for the DHS — before their lifestyle vanishes entirely.
Nevertheless, one does not require extensive knowledge of The Lord of the Rings — and comrades, I am not one — to realize that this analogy collapses completely upon closer inspection.
Within Tolkien’s books, it is not the people of Gondor who repel the forces of evil and safeguard the Shire; it is those mild, peace-loving hobbits who accomplish the entire endeavor. They represent the singular species capable of bearing the One Ring of Power, owing to their inherently unpretentious nature. Their foremost desire is to lead tranquil, middle-class lives filled with tea, toast, and preserves, thereby enabling them to withstand the allurements of the ring and its promises of authority, ultimately conveying it sufficiently far to annihilate it. The utmost contribution the Gondorians can provide is to consistently abstain from touching the ring, recognizing that upon seizing it, they would succumb to its temptation.
To translate this into the analogy: If you embrace Tolkien as your manual, and you consider your homeland to be under assault by the forces of evil, the strategy does not entail endeavoring to solidify your dominance, toughen your temperament, and revel in superfluous barbarity. The approach lies in rejecting power whenever it is presented to you and in fighting from a position of humility.
The DHS and Musk are not the only members of the modern right to leverage Tolkien to legitimize their deeds. As David French communicated to Today, Explained earlier this autumn, Vice President JD Vance has depicted The Lord of the Rings as critical to his evolution into conservatism, so extensively that he christened his venture capital enterprise Narya, after one of Tolkien’s enchanted rings. Vance’s tutor, Peter Thiel, designated his own venture capital corporation Mithril, in honor of one of Tolkien’s magical metals. Another of Thiel’s companies — an AI platform Trump is utilizing to oversee and track Americans — bears the name Palantir, a mystical artifact employed by the Lord of the Rings antagonist Sauron to observe and deceive the inhabitants of Middle-earth.
The gloominess of that similarity is more or less anticipated for Thiel, who unfailingly seems to sympathize predominantly with Tolkien’s adversaries. During a 2023 interview with The Atlantic, Thiel proclaimed that he had perused the trilogy no less than 10 times, and that he had arrived at the conclusion that the solitary distinction between Tolkien’s elves and his humans is that the elves are deathless and do not perish. “Why can’t we be elves?” Thiel questioned, having discussed at length his aspiration to prolong his own existence, potentially to the threshold of immortality.
One of the constant storylines of The Lord of the Rings is indeed narratives concerning human beings who attempt to attain immortality akin to the elves and are tainted by that pursuit, resulting in the ruination of their lives. They evolve into the undead or the deranged; they latch onto grotesque mockeries of life. Within these texts, death is acknowledged as The Gift of Men. It endows human lives with their composition and import. Elves possess inherent immortality, but humans who endeavor to be deathless undergo corruption as inevitably as those who crave control. For Tolkien, mortality constitutes a gift, not something to be evaded in dread.
None of these principles are intricate to grasp. They are readily apparent. Children in secondary school routinely extract them from these literary works without difficulty. Nonetheless, for an unstated motive, a cohort of tremendously potent men who take pride in their own intellect and who also deem Tolkien’s philosophy to be fundamental to their perspective seem to be experiencing considerable adversity.
The Lord of the Rings presents a rather compelling metaphor for the consequences when influential figures opt to purposefully disregard the sagacity of individuals they profess to respect and determine that the exclusive avenue through which they can serve the world is by pursuing dominion for themselves. That is what transpires with Saruman the wizard, who ultimately encroaches upon the Shire himself. The men of Gondor do not impede him in any capacity.
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Source: vox.com
