NYTimes: Hobbits and the Hard Right

[LagunaD2]

I guess it shows better intellectual taste than QAnon...

Giorgia Meloni, the hard-right leader who is likely to be the next prime minister of Italy, used to dress up as a hobbit.

As a youth activist in the post-Fascist Italian Social Movement, she and her fellowship of militants, with nicknames like Frodo and Hobbit, revered “The Lord of the Rings” and other works by the British writer J.R.R. Tolkien. They visited schools in character. They gathered at the “sounding of the horn of Boromir” for cultural chats. She attended “Hobbit Camp” and sang along with the extremist folk band Compagnia dell’Anello, or Fellowship of the Ring.

All of that might seem some youthful infatuation with a work usually associated with fantasy-fiction and big-budget epics rather than political militancy. But in Italy, “The Lord of the Rings” has for a half-century been a central pillar upon which descendants of post-Fascism reconstructed a hard-right identity, looking to a traditionalist mythic age for symbols, heroes and creation myths free of Fascist taboos.

“I think that Tolkien could say better than us what conservatives believe in,” said Ms. Meloni, 45. More than just her favorite book series, “The Lord of the Rings” was also a sacred text. “I don’t consider ‘The Lord of the Rings’ fantasy,” she said.

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This "gift" link should allow anyone to read the full article for the next two weeks.

[Bothketbog]

“There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.” -- John Rogers

[LagunaD2]

Heh. I'm glad I read the right one when I was 14!

[alwaysbroke]

Hard-right LARPer of the Brothers of Italy.

I understand when she was little. Italy recovering from war. Bout's of fantasy among children wouldn't be surprising.

Growing up to an adult, who in typical fashion, coopts someone else's ideas into their own deranged LARP.

Now, in modern day, Italy is still recovering. This time from economic devastation, and completely reliant on EU bailouts. No wonder she changed the name from Hobbit Camp. You can't LARP your way around that hypocrisy.

[TesalionLortus]

So someone liked Tolkien... so what? Couldn't get through this entire article because it clearly has an agenda and, even if not outright says it, exists to support a "certain" narrative being spread around now in the aftermath of RoP's premiere: to connect Tolkien's name (and his works and version of the universe he created) to far right, racists and other such nonsense. I guess Hitler might have liked the tales of Brothers Grimm, or plenty of other things, maybe he would enjoy Tolkien too. Does it matter? Do you need to do something about these things? Does this mean the authors were evil Nazis? No. It's disgusting what the media and "influencers" are trying to do right now with Tolkien's name. Not just the media, some of the younger insecure fans who don't know any better are on it too.

[Cordovan]

We are not having discussions about political factions on these forums, even if it is in regard to an article relevant to tolkien.