On Reddit, there are two ways to see Russian people: Brainwashed toddlers who have no idea what’s going on in Ukraine or hordes of viscous, evil orcs (the amount of Tolkien lingo I’ve seen to describe this conflict is disturbing. I don’t think he’d want anything to do with it.) that should be destroyed. On Twitter, it’s common to see Ukranian journalists, probably Nazi simps themselves, call for the average Russian civillian to be punished and equate their culture to some warlike barbarian tribe. And on Facebook, you can just say “Kill all Russians” and get away with it.
Like I always knew that the West was slowly sliding into fascism, but I did expect it to happen this quickly.
Libs 2002: “Yeah, LoTR is kinda racist, the bad guys are swarthy hordes from the East and all that, but the movies are cool anyway.”
Libs 2022: “KILL THE ASIATIC ORCS!!1”
Tolkien tried to reclaim nordic mythology from the nazis and instead nazis are claiming Tolkien.
Funnily enough, Tolkien actually regreted to make the orcs too evil looking, he said after the books where released that they where supposed to be modest and agricultural tribes who mainly lived around mordor not because they where evil, but becausr they used the fertile soil around that was filled with ashes so they could plant. It was from mordor farms that most of the food of the army came. And orcs where mainly bad soldiers because they where mostly untrained farmers, not because they where dumb. I really would have loved if he developed more on this side of the orcs.