Saruman: [talking to Gandalf] “Your love of the halfings’ leaf has clearly slowed your mind.” — Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Saruman: [talking about Radagast] “It is his excessive consumption of mushrooms, that have addled his brain and yellowed his teeth!” — The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Of course, Radagast cared for the land and ministered to defenseless animals. Gandalf gave his all to protect the people, including the littlest of folk on the fringes of society.
And Saruman, who cultivated political power, was too easily seduced by evil incarnate.
…
Just sayin’
I can tell you, as a student of the arts — people often fail to see parallels between that art and the real world.
Art is, in a phrase, the pinnacle of cultural commentary. In these modern times, one need look no further than the art a culture creates to find the value systems and ideals at work in that culture.
Sure makes contemporary America look bad though — we shun art that challenges us to think and embrace the material that is designed for mass appeal and is not a catalyst for real thinking.
A quick (and perhaps unrelated) quote from Vonnegut:
“Like so many Americans, she was trying to construct a life that made sense from things she found in gift shops.â€
I suppose that commentary is about America in general and not the drug war — or is it?
For an English major, I sure suck at making sense sometimes. I blame a lack of sleep.
“Did you paint that picture”, says Nazi. “No, you did,” says Picasso.
I noticed those two quotes by Saruman and made those same parallels. And in the books, Saruman subjugated the Shire until the return of the fellowship.
Someone must have gotten their copy of The Hobbit today.
Yep!
My role model is John W. Perry, a true American hero (may he Rest In Peace).
.. but with a Scottish temper, a complete lack of patience, and a burning desire to slowly strangle every last parasitic prohibitionist with rusty razor wire.
One of my role models was Fat Freddie followed closely by Phineas and Frank.
Fat Freddie’s cat…
Sir William Brooke O’Shaughnessy…
sauron is a completely misunderstood character. i dont want aragons prohibition monarchy. i prefer fire.
Wile E. Coyote. While his record of successes leaves something to be desired, he is relentlessly persistent. He has wild ideas he’s willing to try, regardless of whether they are likely to work. (he has yet to learn to stay away from dynamite, though. That always ends badly.) He knows what he wants and he’s going to try to get it.
There are a lot of similarities.
I almost got a tattoo of Wile E. at one point in my life.
My roll model is the Pillsbury Dough Boy.
My role model is Dr. Lester Grinspoon, for his career-long advocacy culminating in his recent coinage of the term “Cannabinopathic medicine” framing the innovations that will revolutionize medical practice and health care for the rest of this century. An American hero/prophet for our time!
wow… only one? damn… maybe that read-haired 3,000-years-dead anglo they found buried in China with his 2 lbs of kind bud? Nah… or are we talking litaraturely like role models? That’d be Jack Burns, in Edward Abbey’s Good News. Old, cranky, tells bad jokes, horny and a real nice guy, ’til he ain’t ’cause survival dictates otherwise.
And Tolkien is a great portrayer of the epic, the iconic struggles of humans. His books were as important to my young adulthood as any books have ever been in my life. He dwelt on the same wavelength as Joseph Campbell… able to see far, much and clearly. With a craftsman’s gift of wordsmithing that itself is a power beyond physics, he has touched (and will continue to touch) the hearts, minds and souls of generations.
Idea: Lord of the Rings screening with special focus on deeper implications of the plot/characters?
Extended versions, of course. And it would apply to other greater themes than just the drug war (e.g. industry, multicultural-ity, etc)…
If I am to be limited to one, I have to choose Thomas Jefferson, creating an maintaining freedom for all was what he devoted his life to.
Hunter S. Thompson. Who else can turn a quarantine for wild fleas in a luxury hotel floor at Hawaii into a large pot smuggling business?