(no subject)
MSTing an idiot...
(Source Article)
The Racist Tapestry of Lord of the Rings !
By Lloyd Hart
I don't imagine that it was the intention of the director or the producers of the Lord of the Rings films to paint a racist stereotypical tapestry over what could be described as a basic set of principles of humanity's behavior in the natural environment and with each other.
And we're off to a fine start! Hardly any of that makes sense, but it sounds intellectual, so yay!
However, the fact is that the only people of skin color in the entire three part series of films are all associated with the Dark Lord Sauron, the destruction of the earth and all of its occupants. Not to mention the elephant riding mercenaries that resemble the cultures of the Arab world as well as Africa, Persia and East Asia and the fact that the Monarch of the land of Rohan, King Théoden a white guy yelled out "You great warriors of the West" in the final part of his speech to rouse the troops into battle in the third film.
oof. There's a lot to process there.
Elephant riding mercenaries - they aren't mercenaries, for one thing. Nor do they resemble the cultures of the Arab world as well as blah blah blah oppressed brown people unite blah blah kill whitey blah ::blink:: Where was I? The mere fact that some guy is riding on a war elephant doesn't make him the Archetypal Third Worlder (and please note the conflation of the Arab world, Africa, Persia and East Asia into one big elephant-riding monoculture).
"You great warriors of the West" is indeed racist code. That is, if you ignore the fact that the Rohirrim are great warriors and the other fact that they live in the West.
In these times when a homicidal maniac from Texas (the Texas capital punishment policy under Bush) has stolen the American throne and called for a "crusade" against the "evil doers" in nations that white people have been invading, terrorizing, raping and pillaging in for 5000 years with zero provocation, I think we could manage some cultural sensitivity in our popular culture which one must acknowledge has a powerful propaganda affect on the general population that participates in it.
This is my favorite line/paragraph. You don't often see this much idiocy packed into one space, even on Indymedia.
Okay then, children. Let's go through the looking glass. Supporting a popular policy of punishing murderers with the death penalty makes you a 'homicidal maniac,' winning the election means you've 'stolen the American throne,' not calling for a "crusade" means you did, people who crash planes into skyscrapers and the people who support them aren't actually "evil doers," and white people have been invading, terrorizing, raping and pillaging Arabia for 5000 years. (Ignore the fact that up until around 500 years ago, Europe was constantly invaded by Arabs and Asians - Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun, the Moors, the Arabs, the Turks, etc etc etc - only white guys have ever done anything bad. That's very important to remember.)
Can you imagine how people of skin color, of Persian, Arab and East Asian ethnic background feel when they come out of these films where all the heroes are white and all the "evil doers" are of dark skin.
I think they'd feel pretty stupid, since that's not true. The major villains of the saga are an old white guy, a demon, and a slimy grey mutant Hobbit; the minor villains are variously scruffy white guys, non-scruffy Maori-looking fellows, ghostly figures who used to be old white guys, or horrifying creatures with bad teeth and animal features.
Being married to an Asian American I watch people disregard my wife everyday while regarding me, simply because of her skin color. Being part of a European family that has lived on the North American continent for 400 years I've been lucky enough to gain perspective that when you create an evil character (Uruk-hai) that resembles native Americans as they have done in the Lord of the Rings films a great deal of cultural and racial alienation will occur.
::blink::
Even by leftist standards, that makes very little sense. How are the Uruk-Hai anything like Native Americans? Someone? Anyone? Bueller?
I am sure that once the filmmakers read this article there will be claims that they had to stay true to the story that J. R. R. Tolkien wrote, but the fact is, African and Asian cultures have always been a part of the European fabric whose ancient legends and fairy tales gave birth to J. R. R. Tolkien's epic portrayal of the battle between good and evil. And what about the Ancient Picts, a tattooed darker skinned cultured that once dominant in the UK.
Hm. I think he means the Picts once were dominant in the UK, poor man. Never mind that the Picts didn't actually dominate the UK, except for the northern parts of Scotland. And never mind they were probably no darker skinned than I am compared to your typical Celt. And never mind that African and Asian cultures have not always been a part of the European fabric - certainly not in the era and places that created the legends Tolkien drew upon for partial inspiration.
As someone who has grown up in one of the nation's of the Commonwealth of the British Empire, I know for a fact that J. R. R. Tolkien's generation were deeply influenced and thus deeply moved by all those people of skin color that fought alongside white members of the British forces in World War One and World War Two forming lifelong friendships and deep emotional ties.
Okay. Read that a few times. It's the last gasp of anything approaching sanity.
Now... brace yourself...
In fact all Europe's mathematics, reading and writing and technological advancements in transportation and warfare are all based on African and Asian concepts LIE. The reason that Western medicine has not advanced to the enlightened technological level as Chinese herbal medicine DOUBLE LIE and why most Western technology is diametrically opposed to all life on this planet LIE, poisoning our air and water and causing widespread disease and death is for the simple fact that the Freemasons and the Church have not yet let go of the death grip they have on each other's throats BIG FAT LIE. In other words, the enlightened knowledge that the church has attempted to destroy that the Freemasons attempted to save and capitalize on with Western patents has turned into a death struggle that has created destructive technological paradigms here in the West that are now being forced on the populations of the entire earth destabilizing life and bringing with them the pollution of the air and water that once existed only in Christendom.MORONIC LIE
::facepalm::
Where to begin?
Wait, I know. ::goes back to clarify the man's points::
Of course there are redeeming images and ideas portrayed in the films such as the Ents protecting the forests by destroying the industrial military complex as well as the fact that white people can be turned to evil to join forces with all the evil dark skinned man flesh eating Orcs and Uruk-hai.
The astonishing and novel idea that white people can become evil is redeeming?
"Industrial military complex" - tee hee. He can't even get that right.
It is important to understand that young people are impressionable and influenced by the symbols foisted on them by the popular culture.
That certainly explains him.
It would not have been that difficult to make a contemporary version of the Lord of the Rings that included the heroic symbols of people of skin color.
Sure. It'd be kinda silly, though.
I think J.R.R. Tolkien wouldn't have minded including people of skin color as heros in these films if he were alive today.
Oh, oh! And maybe he could make one or two of the members of the Fellowship women!
Especially after witnessing the rise of the civil rights movements in both the U.S. and the U.K.. I'm so glad that the Dwarfs, Elves and Hobits finally got their due but unfortunately this was washed away by the lack of heroic images of people of skin color.
And at this point, I have to wonder if this is a parody. Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits - finally getting some RESPECT!
After watching the Lord of the Rings films I thank the universe and Mother Earth for the Rap/hip-hop culture and the counterbalancing influence the Rap/hip-hop culture has on the youth here in America and around the world.
Um. Yeah. Simplistic and vulgar lyrics that often glorify violence and denigrate women, that's something the African-American community can be proud of. Thank the universe!! Martin Luther King's death was NOT in vain! Forget people like Ophrah Winfrey and Colin Powell - 50 Cent is the salvation of American - nay, world - youth!
http://dadapop.com
The mountains of madness!
(Source Article)
The Racist Tapestry of Lord of the Rings !
By Lloyd Hart
I don't imagine that it was the intention of the director or the producers of the Lord of the Rings films to paint a racist stereotypical tapestry over what could be described as a basic set of principles of humanity's behavior in the natural environment and with each other.
And we're off to a fine start! Hardly any of that makes sense, but it sounds intellectual, so yay!
However, the fact is that the only people of skin color in the entire three part series of films are all associated with the Dark Lord Sauron, the destruction of the earth and all of its occupants. Not to mention the elephant riding mercenaries that resemble the cultures of the Arab world as well as Africa, Persia and East Asia and the fact that the Monarch of the land of Rohan, King Théoden a white guy yelled out "You great warriors of the West" in the final part of his speech to rouse the troops into battle in the third film.
oof. There's a lot to process there.
Elephant riding mercenaries - they aren't mercenaries, for one thing. Nor do they resemble the cultures of the Arab world as well as blah blah blah oppressed brown people unite blah blah kill whitey blah ::blink:: Where was I? The mere fact that some guy is riding on a war elephant doesn't make him the Archetypal Third Worlder (and please note the conflation of the Arab world, Africa, Persia and East Asia into one big elephant-riding monoculture).
"You great warriors of the West" is indeed racist code. That is, if you ignore the fact that the Rohirrim are great warriors and the other fact that they live in the West.
In these times when a homicidal maniac from Texas (the Texas capital punishment policy under Bush) has stolen the American throne and called for a "crusade" against the "evil doers" in nations that white people have been invading, terrorizing, raping and pillaging in for 5000 years with zero provocation, I think we could manage some cultural sensitivity in our popular culture which one must acknowledge has a powerful propaganda affect on the general population that participates in it.
This is my favorite line/paragraph. You don't often see this much idiocy packed into one space, even on Indymedia.
Okay then, children. Let's go through the looking glass. Supporting a popular policy of punishing murderers with the death penalty makes you a 'homicidal maniac,' winning the election means you've 'stolen the American throne,' not calling for a "crusade" means you did, people who crash planes into skyscrapers and the people who support them aren't actually "evil doers," and white people have been invading, terrorizing, raping and pillaging Arabia for 5000 years. (Ignore the fact that up until around 500 years ago, Europe was constantly invaded by Arabs and Asians - Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun, the Moors, the Arabs, the Turks, etc etc etc - only white guys have ever done anything bad. That's very important to remember.)
Can you imagine how people of skin color, of Persian, Arab and East Asian ethnic background feel when they come out of these films where all the heroes are white and all the "evil doers" are of dark skin.
I think they'd feel pretty stupid, since that's not true. The major villains of the saga are an old white guy, a demon, and a slimy grey mutant Hobbit; the minor villains are variously scruffy white guys, non-scruffy Maori-looking fellows, ghostly figures who used to be old white guys, or horrifying creatures with bad teeth and animal features.
Being married to an Asian American I watch people disregard my wife everyday while regarding me, simply because of her skin color. Being part of a European family that has lived on the North American continent for 400 years I've been lucky enough to gain perspective that when you create an evil character (Uruk-hai) that resembles native Americans as they have done in the Lord of the Rings films a great deal of cultural and racial alienation will occur.
::blink::
Even by leftist standards, that makes very little sense. How are the Uruk-Hai anything like Native Americans? Someone? Anyone? Bueller?
I am sure that once the filmmakers read this article there will be claims that they had to stay true to the story that J. R. R. Tolkien wrote, but the fact is, African and Asian cultures have always been a part of the European fabric whose ancient legends and fairy tales gave birth to J. R. R. Tolkien's epic portrayal of the battle between good and evil. And what about the Ancient Picts, a tattooed darker skinned cultured that once dominant in the UK.
Hm. I think he means the Picts once were dominant in the UK, poor man. Never mind that the Picts didn't actually dominate the UK, except for the northern parts of Scotland. And never mind they were probably no darker skinned than I am compared to your typical Celt. And never mind that African and Asian cultures have not always been a part of the European fabric - certainly not in the era and places that created the legends Tolkien drew upon for partial inspiration.
As someone who has grown up in one of the nation's of the Commonwealth of the British Empire, I know for a fact that J. R. R. Tolkien's generation were deeply influenced and thus deeply moved by all those people of skin color that fought alongside white members of the British forces in World War One and World War Two forming lifelong friendships and deep emotional ties.
Okay. Read that a few times. It's the last gasp of anything approaching sanity.
Now... brace yourself...
In fact all Europe's mathematics, reading and writing and technological advancements in transportation and warfare are all based on African and Asian concepts LIE. The reason that Western medicine has not advanced to the enlightened technological level as Chinese herbal medicine DOUBLE LIE and why most Western technology is diametrically opposed to all life on this planet LIE, poisoning our air and water and causing widespread disease and death is for the simple fact that the Freemasons and the Church have not yet let go of the death grip they have on each other's throats BIG FAT LIE. In other words, the enlightened knowledge that the church has attempted to destroy that the Freemasons attempted to save and capitalize on with Western patents has turned into a death struggle that has created destructive technological paradigms here in the West that are now being forced on the populations of the entire earth destabilizing life and bringing with them the pollution of the air and water that once existed only in Christendom.MORONIC LIE
::facepalm::
Where to begin?
Wait, I know. ::goes back to clarify the man's points::
Of course there are redeeming images and ideas portrayed in the films such as the Ents protecting the forests by destroying the industrial military complex as well as the fact that white people can be turned to evil to join forces with all the evil dark skinned man flesh eating Orcs and Uruk-hai.
The astonishing and novel idea that white people can become evil is redeeming?
"Industrial military complex" - tee hee. He can't even get that right.
It is important to understand that young people are impressionable and influenced by the symbols foisted on them by the popular culture.
That certainly explains him.
It would not have been that difficult to make a contemporary version of the Lord of the Rings that included the heroic symbols of people of skin color.
Sure. It'd be kinda silly, though.
I think J.R.R. Tolkien wouldn't have minded including people of skin color as heros in these films if he were alive today.
Oh, oh! And maybe he could make one or two of the members of the Fellowship women!
Especially after witnessing the rise of the civil rights movements in both the U.S. and the U.K.. I'm so glad that the Dwarfs, Elves and Hobits finally got their due but unfortunately this was washed away by the lack of heroic images of people of skin color.
And at this point, I have to wonder if this is a parody. Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits - finally getting some RESPECT!
After watching the Lord of the Rings films I thank the universe and Mother Earth for the Rap/hip-hop culture and the counterbalancing influence the Rap/hip-hop culture has on the youth here in America and around the world.
Um. Yeah. Simplistic and vulgar lyrics that often glorify violence and denigrate women, that's something the African-American community can be proud of. Thank the universe!! Martin Luther King's death was NOT in vain! Forget people like Ophrah Winfrey and Colin Powell - 50 Cent is the salvation of American - nay, world - youth!
http://dadapop.com
The mountains of madness!