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squire
Half-elven
Jul 14 2009, 9:39pm
Views: 577
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"Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it"
[In reply to]
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Can't Post
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That quote by Pitt the Elder, spoken in Parliament in 1770, precedes by a century the slightly better known variation by Lord Acton about power corrupting, and absolute power corrupting absolutely. Both quotes predate the yet little-known horrors of industrialized warfare.
I think Tolkien was more interested in the moral destruction that power causes, than in the physical. The Ring, after all, is not a weapon of physical destruction. Sauron does not wield any really advanced technologies by modern standards. The weaponry of World Wars I and II were indeed horrific to their generations because of their vastly increased power compared to earlier generations of weaponry. Yet I wager that Tolkien was more appalled by the uses to which the weapons were put: the destruction and enslavement of unarmed civilian populations rather than military forces - and potentially the corruption of all of Western Civilization by totalitarianism whether Communist, Fascist, or Democratic in guise.
Your thoughts about mass propaganda, in other words, strike me as most germane to an analysis of the One Ring's relationship to what was going on in Tolkien's time as he considered a sequel to The Hobbit featuring Bilbo's ring of invisibility. By setting his fable in a medievalized world he may have hoped to help people see that physical force - physical weaponry - is the thing we have least to fear when we think of the concept of a "Ring of Power."
squire online:
RR Discussions: The Valaquenta, A Shortcut to Mushrooms, and Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit
Lights! Action! Discuss on the Movie board!: 'A Journey in the Dark'. and 'Designing The Two Towers'.
Footeramas: The 3rd TORn Reading Room LotR Discussion; and "Tolkien would have LOVED it!"
squiretalk introduces the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: A Reader's Diary
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Subject
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User
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Time
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A Thief in the Night -- Part 4
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weaver
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Jul 10 2009, 3:53am
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here goes
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Twit
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Jul 10 2009, 10:10am
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Letter consistency
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Dreamdeer
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Jul 11 2009, 12:17am
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Thoughts.
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Curious
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Jul 10 2009, 2:19pm
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Letter
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Dreamdeer
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Jul 11 2009, 12:14am
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Bilbo makes them an offer they can't refuse
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squire
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Jul 11 2009, 5:24am
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Good for you to have done it!
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sador
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Jul 12 2009, 7:27am
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“Bilbo is not honest yet” - ??
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squire
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Jul 12 2009, 2:28pm
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Quite so!
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N.E. Brigand
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Jul 12 2009, 5:26pm
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Perhaps "find out" was too strong
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sador
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Jul 13 2009, 6:41am
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The Mind as Iceberg
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Dreamdeer
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Jul 13 2009, 6:36pm
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It may be in the author's mind,
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Curious
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Jul 13 2009, 6:45pm
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If Bilbo lied to his neighbors about his adventures,
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Curious
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Jul 13 2009, 6:47pm
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"His magic ring he kept a great secret..."
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N.E. Brigand
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Jul 13 2009, 7:15pm
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Oops!
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sador
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Jul 13 2009, 7:24pm
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Not lied?
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sador
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Jul 13 2009, 7:22pm
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As N.E.B. notes, there's no obligation to tell everything.
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Curious
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Jul 13 2009, 8:32pm
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Well, you know
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sador
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Jul 14 2009, 6:15am
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Bilbo told Frodo the whole story, but
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Curious
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Jul 14 2009, 8:55am
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The Quest for Power
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Dreamdeer
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Jul 14 2009, 6:56pm
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Tolkien wanted to put the genie back
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Curious
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Jul 14 2009, 7:46pm
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"Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it"
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squire
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Jul 14 2009, 9:39pm
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Or Capitalist or Colonialist
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Curious
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Jul 14 2009, 10:39pm
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Consensus is a matter of opinion.
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Dreamdeer
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Jul 15 2009, 2:53am
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You got my point
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Dreamdeer
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Jul 15 2009, 2:42am
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A few answers
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sador
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Jul 12 2009, 7:52am
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Ah, the "note-paper"!
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squire
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Jul 12 2009, 2:47pm
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Water-resistant ink
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Kimi
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Jul 13 2009, 1:14am
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Excellent!
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squire
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Jul 13 2009, 1:38am
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Fascinating!
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dernwyn
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Jul 13 2009, 3:19am
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I like Bilbo's style of taking care of business so much more
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grammaboodawg
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Jul 12 2009, 2:45pm
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