[davem]

In my view, he is most certainly wrong in that, although I wonder whether the fact that many have misinterpreted them to reach similar conclusions (those of Hari's ilk and the Stormfront types alike - strange bedfellows indeed) would have given him pause to reconsider some things within the Legendarium.

Perhaps - maybe we could do that now, for him? I mean, the Victorians put fig leaves on statues for reasons of propriety. Enid Blyton books & the Biggles stories have been 'updated'. But where do we stop - shall we re-write Pride & Prejudice because that handsome, charming Mr Darcy's money was built on the profits of the slave trade?

After all, its only Art....Why shouldn't an Artist re-write, overpaint, re-model his or her work just to make sure its not misused or misinterpreted by the willful or the ignorant. Except....they'd probably do that with the art in whatever form they found it.

You seem to be implying that Tolkien was writing to a plan, that he was in control of his work to such an extent that he could change it as he wished in order to make it 'safe' from misuse. He couldn't. He wrote 'what really happened'. That's why it moves us, why its 'real'.

I suppose it all comes down to what the books mean to you. If they are merely a 'thumping good read', entertainment, an escape from the daily round, then they can be changed, made 'politically correct'.

On the other hand, if the books mean more than that to you, if they indeed offer a 'glimpse beyond the Circles of the World' then do you want to risk losing that merely to pacify the ignorant (Hari, Greer, et al) & disarm the vicious (Stormfront). Actually, even if the books had been re-written (by Tolkien or 'well-meaning' followers of his) neither of those things would have happened. The ignorant & the Vicious (like the poor) will always be with us - casting your pearls before swine never works.

What we're dealing with in the cases of Hari & Shapiro is the modern face of the 'Anti-racist' movement, where its not enough to merely treat everyone with equality & respect - one has to 'prove one's credentials' by demonstrating one's anti-racism. One must DENOUNCE racism wherever one finds it - & look damn hard till one does find it (even if you have to 'find' it in a place it never actually was). Its our current version of McCarthyism:

Are you now, or have you ever been a racist?

Me sir, no sir - why I was one of the ones who stood up & showed the world what a racist psycho that JRR Tolkien was.....but - that person over there actually likes Tolkien - he must be the racist - let's get him!

We are at risk of being tarred with the same brush as the loonies and the white supremacists.

Only by narrow minded bigots who are looking for scapegoats - & in order to be safe from people like that we'd have to surrender to them, do only what they find acceptable, read only what they tell us, think only & how & when they wish us to.

Look at Hari's final words in that article:

sign me up for Sauron’s army while you’re at it.

(Oh, btw, both Shippey's books on Tolkien are well & cogently argued. He's a wise man & knows what he's talking about)