David Brin On LOTR

hprotagonist0 writes "Salon has posted an article by sci-fi author, scientist, and essayist David Brin (The two Uplift trilogies, The Transparent Society) with his thoughts about LotR. A technophillic optimist, he warns against waxing too Romantic about feudal, good vs. evil fantasy. Instead, he says, we should look ahead to the future. Thought-provoking."

Comments

Re:What a maroon... what a ta-ra-ra-boom-deeyay!

[TopShelf]

a good guess, but actually a Bugs Bunny quotation!

/. cynicism proves its Romantic Demographic

[Logos]

Reading through the comments here, there are two themes: "I liked the LOTR, so back off" or "Brin's full of shit."

All of these comments have "proven" is that the /. crowd is made up of Romantics.

Guess what folks? Brin's absolutly right. Romanticism was Tolkien's worldview (by his own admission). Brin didn't create the terms, or this view of Tolkien. Its not even an insult. Its just a description of a perception. The problem is, it hits too close to home for many /.'rs.

From the article:

the Romantic elitism of many who share the same cause. Enlightenment's child -- suspicion of authority -- often comes paired with the quintessential romantic image: a smug loner who despises the masses. They get mixed together, even though they arise from different traditions. One way to tell them apart is to observe whether a character sneers only at power-abusers -- or at everybody: Is his or her ire aimed solely upward, toward some cruel elite, or downward too, despising fellow citizens and neighbors as clueless sheep?)


Sounds like the /. crowd to me. Hell, it sounds like me -- except I have been losing my snobbish elitism, but maybe I am just becoming a sheep.

But don't take my word for it, look around. How often do we see elitism, and disgust for the masses here? Lusers? RTFM? Everything on ESR's site? /.'rs think in terms of rank, which makes them Romantics.

So, its not surprising that the cynical comments should fly:

"Democracy was invented in ancient greece"

Yup, for male citizens of a certain age, and economic standing. Hardly egalitarian.

"Its just a fairy Tale"

All fairy tales are moral plays, this is a cop out.

"The world is going to hell in a hand cart"

Romantics always see the world this way, this is a tautology. The world has alway been improving, and always been getting worse. Its a matter of perspective.

I loved Brin's comments. And I love TLOTR. The two can be seen together, if you don't commit the classic Romanticist mistake of reserving your scathing critcism for everyone "out there" and instead turn that keen insight inward.

I have read all of Tolkien's works at one time or another, written papers, and taken classes on them, and can quote much of TLOTR from memory, so I am not really interested in how LOTR is not Romantic, it is, that's why I like it. Just because there are problems with that world view doesn't mean there isn't good in it too, or entertaining, but it is essentially fantastical, in a true feudal world, we wouldn't be lords, we would be serfs -- or at least you would be, I of course would be king. :-)

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