This is fascinating. I'm a huge Tolkien fan. The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales. I've read all of them, multiple times. If I ever had to pick a specialisation for Mastermind, I might very well pick the world that Tolkien created. But for all of that, I'm largely ignorant of what drove the man. I think you've inspired me to go and study!
I would take issue with your view that the Islamist hordes, and even immigration in the larger context is the problem. I think it's far more insidious than that. I think it's identity politics and the toxic empathy of this movement that's the poison in the body politic of the West. There's a hypothetical scenario where you get the same immigration but it's handled with a more pragmatic acceptance of multi-ethnic societies but a firm understanding that multiculturalism should be resisted. It blows my mind that those on the left have such a lack of common sense that they allow crazy break downs in society. This is what happens when weak men collude with the feminist ideology that seems to dominate the progressive movement. Biden allowing a huge inflow of immigrants was beyond stupid. I might not be the biggest fan of Obama but my goodness that man knew how to faithfully adhere to the law of the land where immigration was concerned. Unfortunately he did other things that made Trump possible, and he IS responsible for Trump. He pushed for Hillary to be the candidate, imagine if Biden had been allowed to take on Trump, none of this would have happened, and I bet you Biden would have won easily. But that wasn't even the worst thing Obama did. Protecting the banks and hedge funds lost the Democrats the industrial heartland, because voters realised that Democrats weren't for the little people anymore. They were willing to provide safe haven for bankers, but didn't give a damn about industries that were decimated by globalisation.
But.. going back to Tolkien.. I find it fascinating that even in a time that we now look back on, the time of post war reconstruction, of high economic growth, full employment. There was a pessimism about the future. I guess we're not quite as unique as we think we are, perhaps that's the deeper lesson in this? There's always a journey, there's always great work that needs to be done to secure a better future
, I hadn’t hated anyone yet at that age except McEnroe in 1980 the way I hated Gollum and his tricksy moooching, just everything about it. Boromir’s death. It’s a staggering achievement. I read other related books too but can’t remember which, where I am now. So much wisdom too. Gandalf The wizard sounds like a wizard should, wise and kind. I’m tempted to dig out it out when I get home!