Galadriel-la at home-mia
(media.kotakuinaction2.win)
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When an actually strong woman shows up, they hate her.
Based Hillary is happy for her.
When Meloni was first elected to cabinet in 2008, becoming Italy’s youngest-ever minister at 31, she vowed she would not be corrupted by the “ring of power” – a reference to the ultimate prize at the heart of Tolkien’s works. Later that year, she posed for a magazine profile next to a statue of Gandalf, the bearded wizard who roamed Tolkien’s fictional Middle Earth.
Fourteen years on, Meloni's right-wing coalition was on course to win a clear majority in a general election on Sunday, making her the favourite to become the country's first woman prime minister. True to form, she wrapped up her campaign with a nod to another Tolkien hero, Aragorn, whose fiery battle speech she referenced at her final campaign rally in Rome.
Meloni, 45, has made clear she regards the legends of the rings of power as a lot more than fantasy works: they inspire her worldview and politics.
“I think that Tolkien could say better than we can what conservatives believe in,” she told The New York Times, which investigated her lifelong fascination with Tolkien’s world in an article published this week.
(...)
In that respect, the adventures of Frodo the Hobbit were both a rallying cry for the far right and a “cultural reference they could share with others their age”, he said.
In the late 1970s, the far right’s Tolkien-mania inspired the creation of “Hobbit Camps”, where fans of the author gathered for book readings, political debates and far-right rock concerts, in what some described as a “fascist Woodstock”.
The camps ended in 1981, when Meloni was just 4 years old. Just over a decade later, however, she attended a revival of the festivals, dubbed “Hobbit 93”, in Rome. There she sang along with the far-right band Compagnia dell’Anello (Fellowship of the Ring), whose song “Tomorrow Belongs to Us” was an anthem of MSI’s youth wing.
https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20220925-inspired-by-tolkien-meloni-is-on-a-quest-for-italy-s-ring-of-power
Far… Right’s… Tolkien Mania?!
I think they’ve been smoking too much of the hobbits leaf!
For real. While Tolkien was an unapologetic right-winger and pretty much described himself as a monarchist of a feudalist/localist bent (which definitely sets him well to the right of the entirety of the modern political spectrum), his works were so undeniably awesome that they achieved record popularity with the entire political spectrum. Back in the day the hippies loved LOTR as much as their law-and-order opponents did and certainly as much as Meloni or the Royal Stuart Society do now, which is hilarious because Tolkien - being a devout Catholic - had nothing but contempt for them to the point of almost disowning his life's work after finding out said hippies were throwing Hobbit-themed weddings.
I came of age in the late 70s/early 80s so my interpretation of the LOTR popularity comes from it being universally-loved by the Hippies and Stoners (indeed I have several stoner/leftist friends who will still wax poetic about Tolkien). So I've always associated a center-left mindset as being open minded (not compared to today!)
Maybe I'm just "right enough" that I see Tolkien's works and rationale as universal truths (neither right nor left but pertaining to the human condition). If anything Christ was a classical-liberal of His day.
Regardless - "far right" is just a complete mis-definition. But then these are the same people who adore Harry Potter but will destroy Rowling for wrong-think. (Bring us Barabbas indeed!)
Believe in moral absolutes and truth is a far right idea to communists, as truth is the ultimate enemy of marxism.
Agreed - and these are the same people who will tell you that their current thing (tm) is absolute truth!
I consider Star Wars IV-VI to be sacred art.
The holy reels had been tainted and defiled over the years, but Harmy's Despecialized Edition came down from the mountain and brought us the original divine canon once more. Thus he spoke. "Han Shot First."
Well... IV and V...
It's always bittersweet re-watching the star wars trilogy. By the end of V I'm always thinking: golly, I could watch 100 sequels if it was like V
A damn shame. Haven't even watched most of the new Star Wars products, watched 1-3 once, Mando is good but only because everything else is crap.
To date it has the only on screen rendition of a bad ass Luke in the prime of his Jedi power.
>book about defending the realm from hordes of violent foreign savages is her holy text
Uh, based?
I expect AmazonRangz to grow even more insufferable in response.
I absolutely need to hear what an 'extremist folk band' sounds like.
https://youtu.be/mUjoPT2JEuM
Basically "italy is pretty cool isn't it, let's not fuck it up too hard"
The Wolfe Tones, maybe?
I know nothing of Italian politics, but any politician who understands the philosophical and theological underpinnings of Tolkien’s work is someone that I immediately view as being at least 50% more likely to be within acceptable levels of political corruption.
If she undarstands it well she knows she will fall to the Ring of Power if she takes it
Looks like meat’s back on the menu boys
She just keeps sounding more based.
They're taking the nazis to hobbit camp.
Camp camp camp camp.
This is called muddying the waters. They'll look for any piece of dirt, no matter how tangentially related, and air it like dirty laundry.
For examples, see: Trump since the nanosecond he said he'd run for president.
"Extremist folk band"? Is that even a thing?
In Germany we have tons of "medieval folk" bands. Subgenres of metal or rock etc. Examples are Schandmaul, in extremo, subway to sally, ...
I would not completely rule it out that some extremist bands exist, I know they do exist in other genres.
It's common in Europe. Often known as neofolk.
Death in June comes to mind. I know there's others but I'm drawing a blank
If her values actually align with Tolkien's she may actually be based.
"extremist folk band"
Right. Next it will be 'terrorist tap dancer' and 'jihadi jazz'.
What a dumpster fire of a government...
Your tears are my ambrosia.
Compared to what, exactly?