Tolkien vs. the Nazis pt 2 » Stalin, Apartheid, South Africa, Churchill, Soviets, Russia, and Mordor

[@corrinflakes9659]

I still loved the quote on him regretting not being a descendant of that ‘gifted people’ referring to Jewish people. Tolkien really would’ve loved to have been Mr. Worldwide to both connect to all cultures AND spite Hitler.

[@ohno3736]

I love how this guy wrote so much that there's always a quote from him you can use to refute even the most absurd and desperate attempts to mischaracterise him

[@TolkienRoad]

I know - and I wish he'd written SO MUCH MORE!

[@br00talbr00skeez]

What else was there to do in early 20th century? Everyone acts like Tolkien was not extremely successful and relentlessly interviewed and even wrote biographical material that his sons still put integrity to adding today. Is that really so hard to believe?

[@JamesVideoCollection]

I love this quote from Letter 43: "Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament. There you will find romance, glory, honour, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves on earth."

[@TolkienRoad]

All time great Tolkien quote for sure!

[@Turin_Inquisitor]

Great points. Unfortunately NPCs can only think in two extremes so they will never understand him.

[@AriseInGondolin]

Finally, someone made a video on the topic. So many people out there outting themselves as illiterates. Politically, ethically, and otherwise. To make the claims they do online about Tolkien actually makes me question how far society is falling intellectually.

[@TolkienRoad]

Indeed, a lot of the comments on the first video blew my mind, for various reasons, but there were a lot of people speaking from a place of ignorance.

[@AriseInGondolin]

@@TolkienRoad This only really became a thing once Amazon got involved. Before that, hardly anyone knew much about Tolkien or spoke of him at all. Before Amazon, it was just people trashing the Hobbit films and some of the more obnoxious people claiming that Sam and Frodo were LGBT characters. Which shows the lack of depth in their understanding of masculinity.

[@ghandimauler]

Most couldn't identify the logical fallacies and insufficient thought that they are exhibiting. Then again, we're in a world when people specialized in a very difficult field and whom have devoted their life to the field are somehow villains and wrong while celebrities are good sources of health knowledge. It beggars the imagination but those same folk want the world to be a certain way, despite the fact the world will not actually conform to their wishes.

[@Aslans_Tame_Nightmare]

I love how level headed you are in these vids man. Just dropping the truth bombs and making dad jokes. Love it.

[@TolkienRoad]

Haha - “truth bombs and dad jokes” - you get me! 🙌

[@nancycrayton2738]

You have opened a treasure chest of information about Tolkien. Thank you so much for your analysis. I never imagined people would make such claims but I'm glad you are aware and have answered

[@TolkienRoad]

At your service!

[@brandonf.6495]

Thanks for making this, John! Too many people today really seem to be lacking in both charity and the capacity for rational thought... JRR Tolkien, pray for us!

[@TolkienRoad]

At your service!

[@eekee6034]

I'm blaming the pandemic of mental health problems. Mental health problems have been on the rise for decades.

[@gmansard641]

It is so good to see JRRT receive so much acclaim. When I first read Lord of the Rings at 16, now 45 years ago, I was thoroughly captivated. It only intensified after I read the Silmarillion, which remains my favorite. I then re-read Lord of the Rings, and was astounded at the depth and details I did not notice the first time. A few years later I went off to university, and was appalled at the low regard in which the established academics held him. Kept my enthusiasm to myself, though I happily devoured every "new" book that Christopher Tolkien published over the ensuing years. I am now a professor myself (history), and I refer to JRRT quite often, in reference to the Great War, or when discussing comparative mythology, or Beowulf, or any time I manage to include something about the Kalevala.

[@TolkienRoad]

Very cool!

[@JohnyG29]

4:18 Churchill was a great man. The "he was no better than the nazis" argument is so wrong and ignorant.

[@mountainking1166]

Ever since my Dad read me the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings as a kid, Tolkien has had an impact on my life. Learning more about him as a person has only made me respect him more.

[@TolkienRoad]

He was a shining light of a human being, IMHO.

[@thisplaceiscursed]

I do wish people would let it be. People can't stand he was not a scum bag. Imagine sending your children off to a war that is sacrifice.

[@TolkienRoad]

Yeah, it's like folks WANT him to be a bad guy. But the truth is, he was a great man.

[@gmansard641]

Never thought of that, how he must have felt at the coming of another war. He did say something about how "to be caught in youth by 1914 was no less hideous than 1939."

[@crusader2112]

Some people just want to do nothing but deconstruct our heroes and the great men who created them and offer nothing in return but spite and envy.

[@donweatherwax9318]

3:30 "video of Tolkien parachuting into Berlin, _Mission Impossible_ style, at the age of 50, ready to personally decapitate Adolf Hitler." Thank you for this wonderful image. But I don't understand the reference to "parachuting". Couldn't the Eagles just drop him off on the top of the Reichstag? With Angrist in his teeth, unseen (and warm) in his elven-cloak, his victims would have no warning before the end (apart from a faint whiff of pipe smoke).

[@juliaalexander5788]

Thank you for your patience when addressing these, um viewpoints? I wonder if the people posting these arguments have actually read Tolkien? Maybe they got him confused with Tolstoy (even Tolstoy was antiwar though) ?

[@jimdale9143]

Thank you for the good work you put into making this. Dispelling some of the nonsense and foolishness one finds online, though a small thing in itself, reminds me of Gandalf's words to Frodo about the importance of small simple acts. Be well and keep up your good work.

[@TolkienRoad]

At your service! Thank you for your encouraging words! 🙌

[@Callisto_Arcas]

I remember using what I learned from your 1st video as a reference. And, I'm glad to see you expand on it, as well as confront some of the ignorant pushback you received from that video. Well done again!

[@TolkienRoad]

At your service! I’m so glad you found it useful, and I very much appreciate the tip! 🙌❤️👍😃

[@columbmurray]

The same people who bear false witness against Tolkien are also those who did the same to Pope Benedict 16 . And for the same reason.

[@TolkienRoad]

BXVI is my "theological Tolkien". I adore that man so much, God rest his soul.

[@eekee6034]

Excellent arguments! It's difficult for me to see the big picture and steer clear of hatred, but I try very hard and so I very much appreciate straightforward, unassailable evidence such as that presented both here and in the previous video.

[@TolkienRoad]

At your service! Thank you!!!

[@eekee6034]

@@TolkienRoad At yours and your family's! ;)

[@weldonwilson]

Hope this one does better than the first one!

[@TolkienRoad]

🙌

[@cheezemonkeyeater]

People reading his work as allegorical and therefore trying to apply it to the real world geography and his view thereof need to remember what Tolkien once said: "God damn, I hate allegories." I'm paraphrasing a bit there, obviously.

[@TolkienRoad]

Haha - well, the words may not be precisely accurate, but the sentiment certainly fits.

[@cheezemonkeyeater]

@@TolkienRoad It was *sort of* what he said.

[@jls4382]

I enjoy and appreciate your work!

[@TolkienRoad]

I appreciate your tip! Hannon le!

[@balsamon69]

Truth be told, i'm not big on Lord of the Rings. I read the first book, it was good, had a lot of great, memorable moments, but it wasn't my thing. Maybe i'll go back to it, some time. I recently read the first Song of Ice and Fire book, which some people like to view that series and GRRM as sort of a rival to LOTR, and liked it more. However, i always respected Tolkien. Even before accidentally stumbling on videos such as this, and the previous one, the first part. I mean, yeah, it can be easy to make fun of the guy for unintelligible speech in some of the recorded interviews, but he pretty much single handedly created one of pop-cultures most popular and beloved settings. But that's not nearly important to what i'm trying to say here. I watched the first part of this series, around a month ago. And by the end of that video, hearing what he said, i couldn't help but think of him as a gigachad. Now, i'm from Russia. And hearing him so ruthlessly tear apart an idealogy i lived in and hated my entire life, all the way back then, was really impressive. Yeah, it's easy to see now how bullshit both fascism and communism are, but keep in mind the fact that people didn't have as much access to information as we do. You couldn't find a video on KZbin debunking why communisn/fascism is bad. These idealogies appeared practical in that environment and fooled many people around the world. To see through the bullshit all the way back then, is really impressive. I respect his intelligence and contributions to the world of fiction, even if i'm not big on his work

[@TolkienRoad]

Hi, thanks for your comment. I understand that Tolkien is not for everyone (in theory, at least 😉), but I'm glad you see the bigger picture for what it is.

[@Egill2011]

Tolkien was anti-Soviet, of course. His works were effectively banned in the Soviets. Tolkien was almost unknown to the Soviet public until the decline and fall of the Soviet Empire. It is only understandable: the Scouring of the Shire is open and clear satire against socialism and bolshevism. We who have lived for the decades on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain can unmistakably recognize the antisocialist and anti-Soviet messages of the last chapter of the Lord of the Ring. And remember, that the Shire was turned into a kind of Animal Farm or a totalitarian prison camp by no-one else but Saruman of Many Colours himself. Quite telling IMO.

[@ghandimauler]

Some folks see everything as political or ideological. Not everything is. And coincidence or random choice can leave a weak whisp to grasp at if you see the world in those ways without considering that there may be no meat on those bones. The appearance of a thing is often mistaken by the shallow thinking as being the same as the thing itself and thus they inaccurately assert, with their own surety, this or that thing that could have an easier explanation. The 'Well, he hates Hitler, so he must like Stalin' is like saying 'Well, he didn't want to be killed by fire and therefore he must want to freeze to death'. That thinking exemplifies the logical fallacy of false dichotomy. If more people sought fact and primary sources before trotting out a pet theory, there'd be less misinformation filling our daily lives.

[@DarthPreamp]

This is an excellent video❤

[@TolkienRoad]

thanks! 🙌

[@jacykeenan9916]

I do wish we had a little more info on Tolkien's political opinions. They seem to be very nuanced. Maybe some more information will come out in the future? I sure wish I could have a conversation with him!

[@josephcampbell2400]

So do we all

[@jeremiefeigner9802]

That's because both the Third Reich and Soviet Union are the same animal just different identity politics.

[@jacobitewiseman3696]

The Soviet union is really not identity politics. They both are bad but Stalin was about economy while Hitler was about racial supremacy.

[@crusader2112]

@@jacobitewiseman3696 It was about identity. Classic identity and classic warfare.

[@Commie-Comrade]

I've heard that Tolkien supported Francos fascist nationalists in the spanish civil war, is that true?

[@TolkienRoad]

I'm not sure "supported" is the right word, but considering that Communists were burning churches and raping nuns, the devout Catholic Tolkien probably didn't like them very much. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Civil_War#Republicans_2

[@garywells9478]

So, Tolkien didn't like the Soviets. What about his view of Russia and Russians? Britain had been ant-Russian through most of the nineteenth century.

[@TolkienRoad]

I’m sure he viewed the Russian people with sympathy, while despising their leadership. That seemed to be his modus operandi.

[@jamesdavey9690]

I think if you look into people trying to paint Tolkien as a villain, you'll find they have one thing in common: they're all socialists of one stripe or another.

[@cuebj]

What an astonishingly stupid comment - in line with the illiterate squawkers he refuted in the video

[@ianb9028]

Socialists??? That cannot be supported I would probably fit your definition of "socialism" yet I consider him to be one of the most important writers of all time. Tolkein is not a left v right author. LOTR is not allegorical and Tolkein said so himself. Tolkein was badly scarred by WW1 and that shows in his writings. I do not read too much into his writings, I prefer to read and enjoy them, not cogitate on every word and second guess the man beneath.

[@baneofbanes]

Nazis aren’t socialists.

[@ryanparker4996]

​@@ianb9028 The most important thing about writing clear allegories is NOT ADMITTING TO IT. LOTR is dripping with allegory. He was trying to get nosy journalists off the scent when he said that. Its obviously nonsense. Only gullible people believe this quote. Those who know, know hes making fun of the person who asked.

[@nosotrosloslobosestamosreg4115]

How went for Whites in South Apefrica after the country was handed to blacks? Forget not there was no black until they started to puor in SA when all the work was done.

[@jannepeltonen2036]

As conspiracy theories go, this one is even wackier than the one claiming my home country doesn't actually exist :D

[@nosotrosloslobosestamosreg4115]

@@jannepeltonen2036 so according to you, the Bóers destroyed wakanda.

[@jacobitewiseman3696]

Well while there were no Zulu, there was the bushman and one other tribe there.

[@baneofbanes]

@@nosotrosloslobosestamosreg4115black people have always been present in South Africa.

[@br00talbr00skeez]

All these ignorant comments must have been some MAGA trolls or bots. I love how people want to challenge and gaslight with lliteral ignorance.

[@br00talbr00skeez]

By love: I mean loathe.

[@marioceva7163]

So Tolkien was very wrong.

[@TolkienRoad]

About what?

[@marioceva7163]

@@TolkienRoad About who are the Orcs.

[@TolkienRoad]

Let me get this straight: you're saying that Tolkien is wrong about what he wrote about the Orcs. How exactly does that work?

[@burner555]

​@@TolkienRoad "death of the author" trope