Aragorn, Lord of Diversity? By Peter West

     Viggo Mortenson, who played the character of Aragorn in the movies Lord of the Rings, has expressed his displeasure about Spanish political party VOX, which apparently opposes mass immigration and pushes a traditionalist line, using the Aragorn meme:
  https://www.jihadwatch.org/2019/05/lord-of-the-rings-actor-upset-over-anti-immigrant-islamophobic-populists-using-his-character-aragorn-in-a-meme
  https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/05/09/lord-of-the-rings-actor-complains-after-spanish-populists-use-aragorn-character-election-meme/
  https://vdare.com/articles/said-in-spanish-immigration-patriot-vox-party-makes-breakthrough-in-spain-ends-the-spanish-exception

“It is even more ridiculous to use the character of Aragorn, a polyglot statesman who advocates knowledge and inclusion of the diverse races, customs and languages of Middle Earth, to legitimise an anti-immigrant, anti-feminist and Islamophobic political group,” he added. Warner Bros., who own the rights to the Lord of the Rings films directed by Peter Jackson, also released a statement saying they did not endorse the use of the images saying, “Warner Bros has not authorised the use of our intellectual property for any political campaign.” Since winning 12 seats and 11 per cent of the vote in the Andalusian elections in December, VOX has emerged as a new political force in Spain. In the Spanish national elections, which took place late last month, the party won 10.2 per cent of the vote and 24 seats in the Spanish parliament.”

     Yes, Aragorn the leader who called for “men of the West” to stand against the Dark Lords of Mordor, is really one of the boys. But, I do not think that this is the way Tolkien wrote it. J. R. R. Tolkien was a devout Christian and defender of the Western tradition, and he was as despairing as some of us here at the end of his life about the plight of the West. As I see it, the Mortenson version of Aragorn would have laid down his sword and accepted that the Orcs had a right to take over the world, otherwise this would have been racist against Orcs. Anyway, Viggo needs to step into this debate because he is a bit behind the times:
  http://theconversation.com/was-tolkien-really-racist-108227
  https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/orcs-show-tolkien-was-racist-w3t95nqtp
  https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/did-tolkien-have-a-racist-message-fng6ptt385x
  https://www.wired.com/2018/11/geeks-guide-lotr-orcs/

     Lord of the Rings fans need not worry since one just has to scratch one’s nose nowadays to be racist.

All Blog Posts Authorised by K. W. Grundy
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