It’s actually really funny because you’ve got 800 pages of dudes talking like they’re from Middle Earth and this dude shows up and starts spouting talking points like he’s a modern, career politician. Genuinely actually funny.
That’s usually described as distributism, a Catholic-libertarian kind of ideology, and I’m not sure how really progressive it is.
In the sense that it’s directed at implementing Catholic ideas of moral society - it is progressive (like other inherently Christian utopias directed at making the world into something more virtuous than it was before), but definitely not classist.
Ah, also it’s very explicitly “capitalist”, but, if we use the word “socialist” in its widest possible sense, it’s also that. Very much against common property and central regulation, but also very much for cooperatives, unions and all kinds of social activity to help each other.
you are right ofc. “relatively progressive” would have been more accurate. And I was thinking of the positive depictions of healthy (aka. non-toxic) masculinity as well the handling of gender roles
Less funny when you think what this means, but yes, and in general LOTR’s humor is slow-paced, not too persistent, but of caliber impossible to ignore.
Tolkiens humor is best described as subtle but mighty imo. I still chuckle a bit when thinking about the conversation between Bilbo and Gandalf at the beginning of the Hobbit. And even the prelude to the story has funny little details as well as the anecdote by Gandalf of how Golf was invented
I mean, in the book the Mouth of Sauron talks pretty much like a modern politician.
It’s actually really funny because you’ve got 800 pages of dudes talking like they’re from Middle Earth and this dude shows up and starts spouting talking points like he’s a modern, career politician. Genuinely actually funny.
Well, career politicians are only acting in the interests of the ruling class. I find that despite his catholicism Tolkien was quite progressive
That’s usually described as distributism, a Catholic-libertarian kind of ideology, and I’m not sure how really progressive it is.
In the sense that it’s directed at implementing Catholic ideas of moral society - it is progressive (like other inherently Christian utopias directed at making the world into something more virtuous than it was before), but definitely not classist.
Ah, also it’s very explicitly “capitalist”, but, if we use the word “socialist” in its widest possible sense, it’s also that. Very much against common property and central regulation, but also very much for cooperatives, unions and all kinds of social activity to help each other.
you are right ofc. “relatively progressive” would have been more accurate. And I was thinking of the positive depictions of healthy (aka. non-toxic) masculinity as well the handling of gender roles
Less funny when you think what this means, but yes, and in general LOTR’s humor is slow-paced, not too persistent, but of caliber impossible to ignore.
Tolkiens humor is best described as subtle but mighty imo. I still chuckle a bit when thinking about the conversation between Bilbo and Gandalf at the beginning of the Hobbit. And even the prelude to the story has funny little details as well as the anecdote by Gandalf of how Golf was invented