LOTR vs. Scholars, or Academics Can Kiss My As-taldo.

[the phantom]

One is general prejudice toward medievalism, another is the Catholicism of the author. A humorous suggestion that many academics cannot take Tolkien seriously because he was happily married was mentioned as well.

A Catholic, and happily married?! Egad! Get him out of here!!

Well, I attend an urban university, so there are, of course, plenty of "scholars" and "academics" here. My little sarcastic outburst above, sadly, represents most of them fairly well. Anything that so much as hints at morality, anything that mentions that there is right and wrong, anything that seems to support standard moral beliefs (eg marriage), and anything that is not controversial to the mainstream crowd is looked down upon.

Academia seems to be, from what I've seen all my life, controlled by individuals who are so far out to the left side of things that they are mere specks on the edge of sight. I think the acceptance of Tolkien would be greatly accelerated if some folks who were a bit more level headed filled the ranks of the academic elite.

But until that time, I'm with Lush. They can kiss my As-taldo.