Culture

What Would Frodo Do? JRR Tolkien and Political Economy

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I recently posted on Tikkun Daily the following quote on JRR Tolkien vs Ayn Rand:
“There are two novels that can transform a bookish 14-year-kld’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish daydream that can lead to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood in which large chunks of the day are spent inventing ways to make real life more like a fantasy novel. The other is a book about orcs.” – John Rogers http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2009/03/ephemera-2009-7.html
It’s been somewhat of a hit with Tikkun Daily readers (as I write this, it’s ranked #5 on our “most read posts of the past 7 days” list). This led me to wonder: Did Tolkien have a view on political economy?

Culture

A Great Quote on JRR Tolkien vs Ayn Rand

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“There are two novels that can transform a bookish 14-year-kld’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish daydream that can lead to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood in which large chunks of the day are spent inventing ways to make real life more like a fantasy novel. The other is a book about orcs.” UPDATE: I’ve written a post here at Tikkun Daily looking more closely at JRR Tolkien as an alternative to Ayn Rand– see here. UPDATE 2: John Rogers, screenwriter, film producer, comedian and comic book writer, is the original author of this statement.

Gender and Sexuality

Pro-LGBT Rights Muslim Wins Primary

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June 8 witnessed perhaps the most unusual political campaign battle connected to the same-sex marriage debate: a Muslim state legislator vs an ordained Christian minister. The Muslim, Ako Abdul-Samad, had the backing of a pro-LGBT rights organization, while his opponent Clair Rudison, Jr. got his biggest donation from a social conservative political fund. My report on the story is at ILLUME Magazine, a Muslim American news magazine that’s doing ground breaking work in bringing a Muslim American perspective to professional journalism. You can read the story here. Here at my nest at Tikkun Daily, a comment on the significance of this story:
Islamophobes try to pit gays against Muslims. In their effort to present the religion of Islam as a demonic monolith out to destroy Western civilization, they claim that Muslims who take their religion seriously are necessarily a danger to LGBT people, and must oppose equal rights for gays, lesbians and bisexuals.

Inter-Culturalism

Minarets and the Conversion of a Swiss Politician: Separating Facts from Fantasy

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A member of the political party that pushed for the minaret ban announced that he had become a Muslim. Outside of Switzerland, the mainstream media has ignored this. Muslims around the world, however, have picked up on this story, circulating it on blogs and on Facebook. In the process, however, the story has become distorted into a fairly bizarre shape, and so creating some confusion. Meanwhile, at least one anti-Muslim blog has picked up on the story. Looking at the comments it appears that some opponents of Muslim immigration want to dismiss the fact of his conversion all together.

Inter-Culturalism

Member of the Swiss Political Party that Pushed for Minaret Ban Converts to Islam

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Daniel Streich was a member of the Swiss People’s party (SVP), the political party that pushed the minaret ban initiave. Streich is a military instructior in the Swiss Army and a local politician in the commune of Bulle. Formerly a devout Christian, he converted to Islam–and kept it a secret for two years. Streich has left the SVP, made his conversion to Islam public, and has denounced the SVP’s anti-Muslim campaign as a witch hunt.

Christianity

Launching my blog posts: A Sufi Look at Genesis, with a Tribute to King James

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When a couple gets married, they traditionally have a wedding. When a child is born, people usually throw some kind of celebration. When a ship sets out on its maiden voyage, it is customary to break a champagne bottle against its bow. A position as a blogger is, of course, nothing compared to those things. What are the opinions of one pundit, compared to a marriage, a new human life, or the ocean-crossing journeys of a ship?