I Know Everyone Is Clowning On Kanye Rn (fucking Rightfully So) But Please, PLEASE Be More Aware Of Subtle

i wish down with cis bus was real

Adding the idea of ‘investing’ in a post at low notes to see if it will later get big has left the tumblr economy in shambles

Race in Tolkien Masterpost

I have compiled a list of some of the resources available on the topic of race and racism in Tolkien. By no means is this list exhaustive, and I welcome anyone to include their own additions which I will include and update on the original post when more resources are made available. 

If you are having any trouble accessing any of the links listed below, please shoot me a DM and I can either send you the PDF if it is an article, or a working link if available. 

Last updated 17/09/2022

Tumblr

@diversetolkien​ — The whole blog honestly, but these posts on Galadriel in particular as Ayesha, and the personification of Manifest Destiny. Her very important take on Eöl is linked below. 

@askmiddlearth​ — now defunct, but they have a downloadable guide on racism in Middle-Earth here. 

@tolkienillustrations’ post 

@itariilles’s post and follow up on my personal experience of racism at a fan event, and the systemic problem of racism in fan spaces. I am looking to write more media interpretation/personal Tolkien essays in the future so keep your eyes peeled! 

@chutzpah-haver’s post on Tolkien’s antisemitism in his portrayal of dwarves. 

Twitter

This thread by Helen Young explaining Tolkien the anti-nazi, but not anti-racist. 

@diversetolkien‘s twitter linked here. 

My twitter here. I will occasionally post about race and Tolkien, but the focus is more generalised on Tolkien fandom, media and reception. 

Youtube

(N.B. searching “Tolkien racism” or any variant will produce… interesting results to say the least. Lots of white people coming to the age-old “ToLKiEN WaSN’T rACIsT He hATEd nAziS AnD WAs A prODuCT oF hiS TiME” arguement. That or it’s the silly SJWs and cultural marxism/relativity yada yada yada.) 

“The Source of the Rings” series by Moth’s Audio and Videos. 

@visibilityofcolor‘s video essay on the “Brute Caricature Trope and its prevalence in media”. Eöl and Aredhel are touched on briefly in the video, but it points out how prevent this trope is in fantasy fiction overall. 

Marlon James, “Our Myths, Our Selves”. The seventh annual J.R.R Tolkien Lecture on Fantasy Literature, Pembroke College, Oxford, 26th February, 2019. https://tolkienlecture.org/

The Prancing Pony Podcast, “114 - Race, Tolkien and Middle-Earth”.

Podcasts

Dani Holtz and Craig Franson, American ID Episode 1 “Eye of Sauron: Rings of Power” touches on the American right’s obsession with Lord of the Rings and the far-right trolls that have flooded Rings of Power with waves of racist and misogynistic hate.

Other blog posts

Echo-Hawk, Roger. “Tolkienland.” Would highly recommend reading all of his blog posts. Link to his book “Tolkien in Pawneeland” listed below! http://tolkienland.wordpress.com/

Fimi, Dimitra. “Was Tolkien Really Racist?”. The Conversation, 2018, https://theconversation.com/was-tolkien-really-racist-108227.

Fimi, Dimitra. “Revisiting Race in Tolkien’s Legendarium: Constructing Cultures and Ideologies in an Imaginary World”. Dimitra Fimi, 2018, https://dimitrafimi.com/2018/12/02/revisiting-race-in-tolkiens-legendarium-constructing-cultures-and-ideologies-in-an-imaginary-world/.

Yatt, John. “Wraiths and Race” The Guardian, 2002, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/dec/02/jrrtolkien.lordoftherings

Crossley, Laura. “Stand, Men of the West! The Battle for Middle-Earth (and Britain)” Film International, 2015, http://filmint.nu/stand-men-of-the-west-the-battle-for-middle-earth-and-britain/

Crossley, Laura, “Multicultural Middle-earth: Constructing “Home” and the Imaginary in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings” Film International, 2014, http://filmint.nu/multicultural-middle-earth-constructing-home-and-the-post-colonial-imaginary-in-peter-jacksons-the-lord-of-the-rings/

BNP, “No 2,110″ The Guardian, 2012, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2002/dec/20/thefarright.lordoftheringsfilms

Perry, D. and Young, H. “HOW CAN WE UNTANGLE WHITE SUPREMACY FROM MEDIEVAL STUDIES? A conversation with Australian scholar Helen Young”. Pacific Standard, 2017, https://psmag.com/education/untangling-white-supremacy-from-medieval-studies.

No Alternative. “Lord of the Rings and structural Orientalism” No Alternative, 2012, https://noalternative.org/2012/09/14/lord-of-the-rings-and-structural-orientalism/

Hodes, J. “Orcs, Britons, And The Martial Race Myth, Part I: A Species Built For Racial Terror”. James Mendez Hodes, 2019, https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/2019/1/13/orcs-britons-and-the-martial-race-myth-part-i-a-species-built-for-racial-terror.

Stone, Ryan. “‘The Daily’ Transcript: Interview With Former White Nationalist Derek Black”. The New York Times, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/22/podcasts/the-daily-transcript-derek-black.html. The use of LOTR to recruit white nationalism is mentioned. 

Lopes, Reinaldo José. “In the skin of the elves: to what extent is “The Lord of the Rings” tainted by racism?”. Super Interessante, 2022,  Original portuguese: https://super-abril-com-br.translate.goog/cultura/na-pele-dos-elfos-ate-que-ponto-o-senhor-dos-aneis-e-contaminado-pelo-racismo/?fbclid=IwAR2A3DZlYsn56Esr9iWUkfHDGI57b_mBUZj7aFxvfl692A310lf69mKx1ek&_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp English Translation: https://super-abril-com-br.translate.goog/cultura/na-pele-dos-elfos-ate-que-ponto-o-senhor-dos-aneis-e-contaminado-pelo-racismo/?fbclid=IwAR2A3DZlYsn56Esr9iWUkfHDGI57b_mBUZj7aFxvfl692A310lf69mKx1ek&_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Young, Helen. “The Rings of Power is suffering a racist backlash for casting actors of colour – but Tolkien’s work has always attracted white supremacists”. The Conversation, 2022. https://theconversation.com/the-rings-of-power-is-suffering-a-racist-backlash-for-casting-actors-of-colour-but-tolkiens-work-has-always-attracted-white-supremacists-189963. 

Rambaran-Olm, Mary. “DEAR AMAZON PRIME, I’M NOT A RACIST, BUT WHY ARE YOU DESTROYING MY PRECIOUS MIDDLE-EARTH WITH BLACK HOBBITS?”. Religion Dispatches, 2022. https://religiondispatches.org/dear-amazon-prime-im-not-a-racist-but-why-are-you-destroying-my-precious-middle-earth-with-black-hobbits/ (this article is satirical btw.) 

@diversetolkien. “Maeglin and Eöl, and the Brute Caricature Trope:”. Diverse Tolkien, 2019, https://diversetolkien.wixsite.com/website/post/what-we-can-learn-from-plants.

@weirdnaturalscience. “Our Failure to Address LOTR’s Racism”. tolkienaboutscifi, 2016, https://tolkienaboutscifi.wordpress.com/2016/12/21/our-failure-to-address-lotrs-racism/.

Not really a blog post but Tolkien Gateway has a page on “Racism in Tolkien’s Works”. Treat it with the same degree of skepticism you would on a wikipedia page. 

Published academia

(N.B. The visible academic “authorities” of race and racism in Tolkien are white and this is something one must bear in mind when reading this kind of work. There is a lot of discussion on theory and historical context, but there is little on the harm and stereotypes perpetuated by Tolkien’s racialist thoughts a person of colour may read/perceive differently.)  

Mills, Charles W. “The Wretched Of Middle‐Earth: An Orkish Manifesto ☆”. The Southern Journal Of Philosophy, 2022. Wiley, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/sjp.12477.

I implore you to read this one in particular as it is one of the only existing pieces of postcolonial critique written by a black Jamaican author. It’s hidden behind a paywall, and DM me if you can’t access it through the link above.

Kim, Sue. “BEYOND BLACK AND WHITE: RACE AND POSTMODERNISM IN ‘THE LORD OF THE RINGS FILMS.’” Modern Fiction Studies, vol. 50, no. 4, 2004, pp. 875–907. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26286383.

Rearick, Anderson. “WHY IS THE ONLY GOOD ORC A DEAD ORC? THE DARK FACE OF RACISM EXAMINED IN TOLKIEN’S WORLD.” Modern Fiction Studies, vol. 50, no. 4, 2004, pp. 861–874. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26286382.

Brackmann, Rebecca. “"Dwarves are Not Heroes”: Antisemitism and the Dwarves in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Writing.“ Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature, Vol. 28, No. 3, 2010, Article 7. Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol28/iss3/7 

Reid, Robin Anne. "Race In Tolkien Studies: A Bibliographic Essay.” Tolkien And Alterity, 2017, pp. 33-74. Springer International Publishing, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-61018-4_3. Available at: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-61018-4_3. This article can also be accessed by contacting me via DM as I have permission from the author to circulate it in this capacity. 

Baker, Dallas John. “Writing back to Tolkien: gender, sexuality and race in high fantasy.” Recovering history through fact and fiction: forgotten lives, 2017. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom, pp. 123-143. ISBN 978-1-5275-0325-0. Available at: https://eprints.usq.edu.au/33493/#:~:text=It%20suggests%20that%20the%20privileged,arising%20from%20those%20privileged%20readings.

Pratama, Fredy W. et al., “Orientalism and Religious Aspects on Characters and Objects In J.R.R Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings : A Semiotic Analysis” Artikel Hasil Penelitian Mahasiswa 2013, I (1): 1-8. Available at: http://repository.unej.ac.id/bitstream/handle/123456789/60741/Fredy%20Widya.pdf;sequence=1

Winegar, Astrid. “Aspects of Orientalism in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.” The Grey Book, Volume 1, 2005. Available at: https://anyflip.com/njuf/pwvi/basic

Redmond, Sean. “The whiteness of the Rings.” Routledge, 2007. Available at: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203939741-13/whiteness-rings-sean-redmond

Fimi, Dimitra. Tolkien, Race, And Cultural History. Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. (Amazon UK link)

Young, H. Race And Popular Fantasy Literature. 1st ed. New York: Routledge, 2015. (Amazon UK link)

Echo-Hawk, Roger. Tolkien in Pawneeland. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013. (Amazon UK link)

It's so important to remember that tumblr is bad. Has been bad. And will likely remain bad for the foreseeable future. And that is vital to our survival. If Tumblr was a good website that worked, it would get turned into a corporate hellscape like every other site. It's so important that Tumblr is broken and poorly run and impossible to effectively navigate. It's all that's keeping us safe.

isn't it insane though how schizophrenic people are viewed as violent and dangerous by the majority of society when in reality schizophrenic people are nearly 14 times more likely to be on the receiving end of violence than to be the perpetrators...

'Cinema Futura' movie theater - Zhongshan, China (2014)

Designed by Alexander Wong

"Вased on futurism and inspired by classic sci-fi movies like Ridley Scott's Alien and James Cameron's Avatar, the design attempts to create the first sci-fi cinema in Zhongshan, China. The 36,800-square-foot interior is a complex composition of organic design elements that create original forms. These forms are custom made with fiberglass molds, bold colors, and dynamic lighting to produce a futuristic ambience.

At the entrance, one immediately arrives at the Plaza Pandora, a surrealistic biosphere with an organic ceiling supported by double-layered spiraling columns with an outer skin inspired by DNA strands called chromosome columns and the movie Alien. Here, one will also notice the white leaf-like patterns on the floor with matching metallic pendant lights swirling dynamically above. The plaza is encompassed by the sensual forms of the Pandora Box Office and Bar Pandora where moviegoers can buy tickets and popcorn to begin their unique journey into movie fantasy. Our inspiration here is nature itself. Nature is filled with the most complex geometrical shapes imaginable. In terms of this complexity and the sophistication of our universe in its entirety, sci-fi and futurism only reflect a tiny fraction. We are deeply inspired, or quite simply, in awe of nature. It is the source of all art forms, including architecture and spatial design."

Scanned from the book, Archiphantasy by Alexander Wong (2019)

Dildo Generator

Online 3D experiment by Ikaros Kappler which is described as a “Extrusion/Revolution Generator” ….

Created with three.js, you can alter the bezier curves and angle of the form, and is designed with 3D printing in mind (models can be exported and saved, as well as calculated weight in silicone).

Try it out for yourself (if you wish) here

In 2021, there were roughly 2,717 antisemitic incidents reported across the United States. This was a 34% increase from the year prior. Thanks to the recent rise in neo-nazi rhetoric from political figures, celebrities, and online personalities, this number is expected to increase in 2022. I see a lot of people talking about avoiding obvious dog whistles, but very few explaining how to identify them. So, that’s what I hope to do today.

WHAT IS A DOGWHISTLE?

As defined by Oxford Languages, a Dog Whistle is a subtly aimed political message which is intended for, and can only be fully understood by, a particular group. Politicians will try to manipulate their audience by using alienating phrases, and in the process, dehumanizing those they’re speaking about while also having a margin of plausible deniability. For example, let’s take the term “illegal alien”. When we think of aliens, we think of little green dudes who suck us up in flying saucers to probe our anal glands. We think of xenomorphs and The Thing, creatures that are out to get us normal folks. However, “illegal alien” is meant to refer to immigrants who migrated here through unofficial channels. These are people. Saying “these human beings need to be deported” won’t drum up as much of a response as “these illegal aliens need to be deported”.

WHAT ARE COMMON DOG WHISTLES?

Blood Libel-

An ancient superstition that Jewish people will kill non-Jews, typically babies or young people, for the purpose of drinking their blood. This myth has inspired many vampire stories, most infamously Dracula and Nosferatu, and fuels a lot of modern day conspiracies. Ever hear “these celebrities are bathing in the blood of babies to stay young”? Well, this is where that comes from. It should be noted that Romani people are often the targets of similar rumors. This is obviously untrue.

Cabal-

Similar dogwhistles include but aren’t limited to the New World Order, The Elites, Globalism, Illuminati, and the Reptilians.

The term itself stems from the word Kabbalah, which was a Jewish mystical interpretation of the Hebrew Bible. It is meant to describe a secret group of people, mainly Jews, that control the world’s governments, economies, and media. Not only is this blatantly stupid, as most of the people in power are wildly antisemitic themselves (just look at Elon Musk), but it’s also just ignoring the obvious and observable fact that corporations and money drive politics and not a secret shadowy government. We don’t need a shadow when we’re already shady.

(((echo)))-

Have you ever seen a person partially censor the name of a celebrity or a fandom they’re discussing to avoid fans coming onto the post and giving them shit for it? (For example, I’ve seen a couple people post things under tags like #lum*ty when they don’t like the ship) This is the same idea, except it’s almost exclusively used by neo-Nazis to talk about Jewish people. It saw a resurgence in popularity with the introduction of a chrome extension called the Coincidence Detector, which put these parentheses around the names of any of the over 8,000 Jewish people in their database. It was mainly used on Twitter.

Jews Killed Jesus/30 Pieces of Silver-

In the Bible, Judas, one of Jesus’ twelve disciples, was bribed by the Romans to turn in Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Many people use that as evidence to say jews killed Jesus. However, anyone who has read the Bible can tell you, Jesus was also Jewish. And so were the rest of his disciples. And his mother. If anything, Jews birthed Jesus and made him into the man he was. Y’all should be thankful.

Not The Real Jews-

This typically refers to the black Israelite theory, where the tribes of Israel relocated to Africa once the Kingdom of Israel was destroyed. They claim Ashkenazi Jews are imposters, and that black people are the real Jews. There are certainly black Jewish people out there, and they’re lovely af and deserve all the support in the world. However, the people espousing the black Israelite theory cannot be further from the truth. Judaism originated in what is now considered the Middle East with the prophet Abraham who settled in Canaan which is what we know now as Israel/Palestine. Around 722 BC, the Assyrians conquered the northern part of the territory and forced the 10 tribes of Israel to move further up north, and the Babylonians did the same to the Tribes of Judah a little later on. Not to mention when they were eventually overtaken by Alexander the Great. For the majority of history, Judaism was focused in the northern part of the Middle East and the southern part of Europe. To reflect that, Ashkenazi Jews share the most genetic similarity to the Greeks and Turkish folks. There is no evidence to suggest that Ashkenazi Jews are in any way fake. Again this does not mean there are no black Jews, there certainly are, but you don’t have to deny the validity of the ashkenazi to prove that. They are all Jewish. Not to mention, those who espouse the black Israelite theory rarely practice Judaism themselves.

14-

This refers to the 14 words, which are "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children." It is typically placed in social media bios alongside 88, which stands for Heil Hitler.

SITES AND ORGANIZATIONS TO AVOID

BitChute-

An alternative to YouTube created in 2017 after the adpocolypse nuked many alt-right channels. You can find anything on here, from your average conspiracy videos titled “Why are some people seeing demonic entities after the vaccine?” with the Decorative font from MS word in the thumbnail, to ISIS beheadings and Atomwaffen recruitment videos. I am not kidding about any of those.

Daily Stormer-

A popular Neo-Nazi website and message board made by Andrew Anglin to spread antisemitic conspiracies and his weird 9/11 fanfics. It’s not used as much as it used to be, but this site played a large part in propping up figures like Milo Yianapolis who has been recently hanging out with Kanye. Which I find funny, as he admitted to wanting to fuck young boys on the Amazing Atheist’s podcast and that it was a totally normal thing. Even Ben Shapiro hated that guy from the beginning.

Parler-

Twitter but more racist.

Gab-

Twitter but more racist and more buggy.

Twitter-

This is mainly a joke but you should be very mindful that Twitter has always had a neo-Nazi problem, and it’s worse now than ever.

Twitter but owned by Elon Musk

InfoWars-

Owned and operated by Alex Jones, not only do they scam their viewers out of thousands of dollars, spread lies about mass shootings, harass innocent families who lost their loved ones in horrifying tragedies, play a key role in orchestrating the January 6th attack on the capital, but they also spread antisemitic conspiracies.

CONCLUSION

It’s important to acknowledge that absolutely anyone can fall for these dog whistles without even being aware of it. Recently, my brother started falling down this horrid rabbit hole thanks to Kanye’s rhetoric and despite everything I’ve tried to warn him about, he’s not listening. By posting this, I hope to stop at least one person from following that path. Now more than ever, we need to stand with the Jewish community and show our support. Stay safe out there.

Look I know everyone is getting the porn bot follows but like .. what's are they even for? What's the point of them? What are they trying to accomplish?