Surviving Troll-Country

"Who lives in this land?" [Frodo] asked, "And who built these towers?  Is this troll-country?"
"No!" Said Strider, "Trolls do not build."

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The Internet is a huge part of society.  We live online.  It is difficult to do something that is not on the Internet and it is remarkable when we do.  Sometime people go "off the grid" for a few hours (or days or even weeks).  But before they do, they always announce it online.

We live online.  We consume news online.  We connect with others online.  We play games online.  We shop online.  Our President tweets.  We Uber, we Tinder, we Kickstart, we get college degrees.  WE. LIVE. ON. LINE.

However, the vast majority of activities online are essentially just speech.  Whether we're reading or writing or watching or recording, the Internet is "the marketplace of ideas" on steroids.  Any idiot can write a political blog.

But speech is fleeting.  It has power, but it can be easily countered by other speech.  President Obama gave 276 executive orders but President Trump has reversed many of them - because he can!  If they had been put into legislation reversing them would not have been so easy (as he found out when trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act).  But building legislation is much harder than issuing executive orders.  Easier said than done, but easier unsaid than undone.

This week's chapter is called "The Flight to the Ford."  Frodo has been grievously wounded by the Black Riders.  His right arm is limp, and a deadly chill resides within him.  He sees dark shadows where there are none and Black Riders pursue him in his dreams.

During their travels, they pass through territory unfamiliar even to Strider.  This is when he and Frodo have the above exchange.  Trolls roam Middle Earth and make their homes where they can, but they don't build anything (unless you count fires to roast their food).  Trolls are the ultimate scavengers.  The Creative Wizard makes it clear how useless they are - exposure to the sun turns them into stone forever.  Especially in a chapter where our main character is experiencing a supernatural chill, the point of the juxtaposition is clear: Middle Earth would be better off without trolls.

In our world, a troll is someone who makes trouble online for the joy of it.  Generally, they are on the political right, but they are not exclusively so.  Some are apolitical.  But they are all worthless.  We would be better off without trolls.

But I get the appeal.  I've engaged in trolling behavior.  It's fun.  It's a nice release from our contentious times.  Even if you aren't changing minds you feel like you've scored a point for your side.  But trolling is the ultimate in "speech is fleeting."  Whatever benefit is gained will be erased or forgotten pretty quickly.  Trolls do not build.

We live online.  Most aspects of life can take place on the Internet.  You can have a rich and varied day without leaving your house - and how cool is that?.  But the internet is troll-country.  And trolls do not build - they only devour and destroy.

We cannot be trolls.  We cannot depend only on speech. We must build.  We must build organizations, we must build support networks, we must build political power.  When we can only speak we must speak loudly and forcefully and find ways to convince those in power to act on our behalf.

It's easier said than done but if it is done it will last longer.  Clicktivism is easy, but those online petitions - alone - won't change anything.  We need to do more.  Marching in Boston to protest the separation of families on the border (As I did over the summer) ain't nothin' - but Massachusetts isn't anywhere near the Mexican border.  Voting is great but it isn't the only way to impact the direction of government.  All of these forms of speech things are good starting points.  They cannot be the end points.

I often wonder how the Freedom Riders did it.  Just left their homes for weeks or months to protest in other states - states where racial injustice was happening.  Taking more than one day off at a time for my job is difficult enough!  And if I leave, how will my rent get paid?  But what good is living in a democracy if I can't effectively fight for what's right?  These difficult questions can awaken the trolls within us.  When the real problems seem too big to solve it's easier to just piss off the other side and call it a win.  "Own the libs", get a laugh, tell your friends, brighten your day a bit.  But the problems still exist.

Trolls do not build.  Why not?  Building is hard.  Building takes time.  When you build you must endure the inconsistent success of progress.  And trolls don't have the patience for such a commitment.  Trolls do what's immediately gratifying.  But that isn't how we repair the world.

What kind of legacy do we want to leave behind?  How do we want history to remember us?  How do we want our families to remember us?  "Legacy, what is a legacy?  It's planting seeds in a garden you never see."  Do we want to grow great enduring towers, or stone forms of our vengeful, devourous selves?

The Lord of the Rings: An Ethical Guide is a Patreon-supported project.  Thank you to all those who have contributed.

Like this project?  Want to learn more?  Want exclusive access to behind-the-scenes content?  Go to my Patreon site and see how you can become a part of the action!

For Each Mood, a Habit

This week's chapter is called "A Knife in the Dark."  The hobbits, led by Strider, leave Bree to make for Rivendell.  During the previous night the Black Riders have attacked the Prancing Pony - Strider wisely had the hobbits sleep in a different room than the one they booked.  We also learn that Crickhollow has been attacked - saved by Fatty Bolger's planning and the Brandybuck's resourcefulness.  Even as our heroes move east, the Creative Wizard tells us what they leave behind.  When you leave home, no matter the reason, it is plainly irresponsible to stop caring about it.

As they journey east, the hobbits and Strider try to strike a balance - they must remain hidden from the Black Riders, but they don't want to remain too hidden, because they hope to find Gandalf, whom they believe is also on the road looking for them.  Eventually, they end up at Weathertop, and lone peak among the grasslands, which provides a view of all the surrounding area.  However, this also makes it an obvious location.  The Black Riders ambush them on the summit, and Frodo is stabbed before they are beaten back.

The journey from Bree to Weathertop takes about a week.  I think it is safe to say very few of us have gone on a week-long hike.  If you haven't, it can be hard to imagine.  If you have, I presume you did so on a well marked path and with an emergency plan if something went wrong.  The hobbits, of course, have much fewer comforts.  Of this situation, Sam says "Apples for walking, and a pipe for sitting."  These are the things he has to look forward to.

An apple for walking.  This makes sense - apples are easy to fit in your hand and they remain firm as you eat them (unlike a pear or a plum).  You can eat it as quickly or as slowly as you want.  You can slip it into a pocket if you need your hands for something else.  They are easy to brush off if they get dirty.  Many have a slightly tart taste to them, which can be a good pick-me-up during the dull hours of walking

A pipe for sitting.  Smoking has a contemplative aspect to it.  You need to focus on your breathing.  While walking one's mind is always at work.  You need to be on the look out for changes in terrain, for dangerous sounds, for changes in weather, and so on.  When sitting, you should give your mind a break.  Smoking allows one's mind to slow down and relax.

Many of the activities we enjoy doing we only enjoy in the right situations.  Eating Buffalo wings is great with friends, but stressful on a first date.  Cereal is nice in the morning, unless you try to eat it in your car.  The smokers that I know like to go outside with others when they smoke - going outside alone feels like timeout.

We can even take this beyond consumables.  When driving, I can listen to podcasts or music.  But, when out for a walk, I only listen to podcasts.  I find the music begins to feel repetitive and I want to change it (which takes away from my walk).  However I think driving, itself, is repetitive so it isn't an issue when my music begins to feel repetitive in the car.

For the past few months I've been working two part time jobs - mostly in the afternoons.  This means I don't have to go to work until about 11, so I have time in the morning.  But for what?  I have found it feels strange to be reading or playing video games in the morning.  So I try to focus on chores so that when I get home in the late evening, they are already done.  Plus, it feels like a good use of the morning.  But I don't have enough chores to keep me occupied.  So instead I've been trying to make myself do the things I do in the evening.  I'm getting more used to it, but it still feels strange.  I still feel as if I am doing these things at the 'wrong' time.

Humans like to categorize things - it helps us make sense of a large world.  But categories are also boundaries - when we try to change categorizations it feels weird.  You can eat pancakes for supper, but you better call it "breakfast for dinner," otherwise it's going to feel weird.  But it isn't really.  It's just a long-standing norm.

I wonder what would happen if we ignored these norms altogether.  Eat pancakes for lunch, and call it lunch.  Wake up, hang out before work, and after work rush home to go to bed.  Have a cup of tea after work instead of alcohol.  I am curious if we would feel freer, because we are not being constrained by tradition, or if we would feel lost, because we are abandoning our cultural guideposts.

Most of the habits we have we developed by accident.  There isn't much reason for them, per se, other than "they work."  Well, they may not work, but they function in ways we are familiar with.  Neediness to the point of pushing away friends and significant others isn't good, but if it happens to you enough times you will know to expect it and know how to respond to it (although breaking habits such as this one is better).  But we can also develop, or improve, our habits on purpose.

In writing this guide, I have tried to follow a general schedule.   I read the text on Sunday, jot down some ideas Monday or Tuesday, write Thursday and Friday, and use Saturday for edits before my elf-imposed noon deadline.  Weeks when I have not kept to this schedule have been harder for me than other weeks.  This schedule works - I want to develop it as a habit.  That's going to take some time, but it can be done.

I explained above why "Apples for walking, and a pipe for sitting," is a sensible view to take.  However, we don't know if Sam knows this.  Is this a saying in the Shire he is now going to test to it's extremes?  Or did it just enter his head and feel 'right'?  It's hard to say.

I've written before about how habits can be destructive.  Obviously, in that case, I meant bad habits.  But we can work to find good habits.  To quote that post, "Notice what gives you joy in the world and notice when it doesn't give you that joy anymore.  When that happens, react as quickly as you can. "  The emphasis is new.  Sometimes we will need more than an apple for walking.  Sometimes the old apples won't fulfill us.  Habits are something that should provide comfort, not entrap us.  When good habits become bad habits we should drop them.  Otherwise, we are sacrificing our own agency in the name of consistency.

The Lord of the Rings: An Ethical Guide is a Patreon-supported project.  Thank you to all those who have contributed.

Like this project?  Want to learn more?  Want exclusive access to behind-the-scenes content?  Go to my Patreon site and see how you can become a part of the action!

Resisting Temptation

This week is another double-portion, which means we're reading two chapters: "At the Sign of the Prancing Pony" and "Strider."  The hobbits  have escaped The Old Forest and arrive in the village of Bree.  Many different folk live here, including some hobbits (Not all hobbits live in the Shire).  They find an inn called The Prancing Pony and decide to check in for the night.  Frodo reminds his friends that he is not to be called Baggins, but in fact Underhill.

The hobbits go to the tavern in the inn and begin to drink.  There is a crowd of regulars and they invite them over.  There is also a loner sitting on the other side of the bar.  Frodo, while keeping a watchful eye on his friends, asks the tavern owner, a man named Butterbur, about the loner.  Butterbur tells him he's a ranger, a mysterious group of men who keep to themselves.

Among the crowd of regulars are a group of Hobbits whose last name is Underhill.  This eases tensions rather quickly, as the Creative Wizard tell us that "they took Frodo in their hearts as a long-lost cousin."  Talk, and beer, flow more freely.

The stranger in the corner motions to Frodo to come over to him.  He warns Frodo his friends seem on the edge of revealing too much.  Pippin has begun to tell the story of Bilbo's disappearance at his birthday party.  He suggests Frodo make a distraction.

Frodo jumps up on the table.  Everyone stops talking and looks at him.  There is a moment of silence and then they begin chanting that he sing them a song.  Frodo begins to feel embarrassed.  He puts his hands in his pockets, as so many of us do when we feel out of place.

He felt the Ring on its chain, and quite unaccountably the desire came over him
to slip it on and vanish out of the silly situation.  It seemed to him, however,
as if the suggestion came to him from outside, from someone or something in the room.
He resisted the temptation firmly, and clasped the Ring in his hand, as if to
keep a hold on it and prevent it from escaping or doing any mischief.

Frodo begins a song and soon finds himself swept up in the revelry.  Everyone begins singing along.   At the end of the song, Frodo falls from the table.  Somehow, during his fall, the Ring gets on his finger.  Everyone gasps, for Frodo has vanished!

Frodo, thinking quickly, crawls to the other side of the room, takes off the Ring, and stands up to reveal where he is.  He tries to claim he had just performed some kind of magic trick.  The crowd is not happy to have been so fooled and they all begin leaving.  The stranger, whom Frodo is now very near, tells Frodo he has done something much worse than any of his friends might have done.  He introduces himself as Strider and tells Frodo they should talk more, but in Frodo's room and not in the public tavern.  Frodo nervously agrees.  So ends the first chapter.

The next chapter takes place in Frodo's room.  Strider, the chapter's titular character and main subject, is eventually revealed to be a friend of Gandalf.  He promises to lead the hobbits to Rivendell, an Elf region, where Gandalf has instructed them to go.

I want to focus on what happened to Frodo in the tavern.  He stands on the table.  The Ring is on his mind - he is on the table to prevent its reveal.  He feels a temptation to wear it, but he is keenly aware this temptation is not his own - it comes from outside.  He resists and grips it in his hand.  He will not be swayed.

However, just a few minutes later, after some jovial singing, he loses his balance and, just like that, the Ring is on his finger.  How could this have happened?

Remember, the Ring has its own will.  The Ring is looking for an opportunity.  The Ring wants to be found, and it will not be found as long as it remains in his pocket.  The Ring wants to be worn.

When Frodo is focused on the Ring, it cannot overpower him.  At this point, Frodo can resist the Ring in a battle of wills (This in itself is a notable feat).  Frodo even realizes that the desire to put it on is not really coming from within himself.  Frodo will not be fooled.

But then Frodo begins singing.  At first it is meant as a distraction to the others, but then Frodo begins to be distracted, himself.  He allows himself to enjoy the situation and this causes his resolve to weaken.  When he stumbles, the Ring sees its opportunity.  It cannot win a battle of wills, but the Ring is single-minded.  It can wait for a better opportunity.  We can easily imagine that when Frodo stumbles he loosens his grip on the Ring.  This is all it needs - it slips onto his finger.

How can we learn from Frodo's efforts to resist the Ring?

It can be easy to fight off temptation when we are focusing on it.  Many temptations in life are not insurmountable - they just require some focus.  Fast food, a personal attack during an argument, staying on the couch instead of going for a walk, hitting the snooze button.  These things may make us feel good in the short term, but they usually cause more trouble than they are worth.  But we've all done them.  These things won't kill us.  So that's...... fine.  Right?

Not really.  These temptations take control away from us.  We are busy after a long day or long week or long month.  We're not at 100%.  And these insidious temptations offer us temporary relief.  But they are not truly on our side.  We would resist them, if we could.

They don't help us solve the problems we are hoping to overcome.  Most food is better than fast food.  Saying a cruel word during an argument does nothing to address the issue.  It is healthier to incorporate some movement into your day.  Hitting the snooze button can actually decrease your overall energy for the day  To resist these things we must focus.  They can only defeat us when we are tired or distracted or busy.  But that is not a weakness, it is their strength.  We must be on our guard all the time.  They need only to overcome our will one time and the battle is lost.

We should remain on our guard anyway.  Giving into temptation is a way of relinquishing control over our own lives.  Saying 'no' requires effort but that effort is in the service of asserting control over our own lives.  Consumerism and pop culture send us so many messages - it can be easy to internalize some of them.  As I write this I find myself wanting McDonald's for lunch, even though the only reason it's on my mind is because I'm writing negatively about it.  But "these suggestions come to [us] from outside, from someone or something [else]."  Like Frodo, we must recognize these temptations are external.  We should grab them and seize control.  Your life and your choices should remain your own.

These things are difficult to resist and at certain stages in my life I have found it easier and harder.  This advice, like all advice, isn't one-size-fits-all.  Or, rather, it may not be your present priority, even if it remains true.  However, if you are on the financial or emotional edge, maybe don't sweat it so much.  You've got different priorities.  I get it.

A final personal anecdote.  One day at work my car broke down and I had to take the bus home.  There was no direct bus from my job to my apartment.  What was usually a 20 minute drive took an hour and a half and three bus transfers.  By the time I was off the last bus, I was exhausted.  However, for some reason, I didn't want to just get home and lie down on the couch - however much I deserved to.  I wanted to do more than that.  So I went to the grocery store (which was near the bus stop), bought spaghetti and ingredients for Alfredo sauce, went home, and refused to sit down until I had made dinner.

I tell this story to you because I tell it often to myself when I feel temptation creeping up.  I use it to remind myself that there was a day when I felt beaten and like "I had earned" a lazy evening and delivery pizza, and that I pushed myself further nonetheless.  And if I could do it then I can do it again now.  It's an important personal story, even if it ultimately is just about a time I was stressed and still made dinner.

The point is, if you resist easy temptation and do the harder thing once, then you'll know you can do it again in the future.  This is a powerful way your life remains yours and not the result of outside messaging by people who care only about your money and your clicks.

The Lord of the Rings: An Ethical Guide is a Patreon-supported project.  Thank you to all those who have contributed.

Like this project?  Want to learn more?  Want exclusive access to behind-the-scenes content?  Go to my Patreon site and see how you can become a part of the action!

Concerning the Upcoming Elections

We are living during dangerous times.  It is an interesting time to write an ethical guide.  On the one hand, ethical guides should transcend the moment.  If it is only good for 2018, it's utility is extremely limited.  On the other hand, an ethical guide that refuses to engage in the ethical dilemmas of the moment is not very useful, either.  No one is going to want to read hypotheticals when we have real crises to deal with.

I've tried to avoid writing about the moment.  This project precedes the current national climate, and I hope it outlives it, too.  But avoiding writing about it neutralizes the impact I may have.  A text should be able to respond to extraordinary times just as well as ordinary times.  And this one can.  During my first year of this project, I wrote about incels and the harassment of women, the rise of Black Lives Matter, consent,  criminal justice reform.  But this year I've neglected to discuss the present as much.  Whether this is active avoidance or because the themes of the chapters didn't lend themselves to the moment is a topic worth debating, but not today.

Last week has been a difficult one.  Bombs sent to politicians and media outlets.  A shooting in a synagogue during religious services.  Other violence that has gotten less media attention.  And we vote next week.  We're in between a terrible week and a week of hopeful possibilities.  Now is as good a time as any to confront the present directly.

This chapter is called "Fog on the Barrow Downs."  The hobbits leave Tom Bombadil and head east.  The Barrow Downs is a hilly landscape the hobbits must pass through.  At lunch time, they take a break on top of one of the hills and fall asleep.  When they wake up, they find fog has enveloped all but the tops of the hills.  They decide to attempt to walk through it, but Frodo gets separated.  Frodo is captured by a barrow-wight and wakes up to find Pippin, Merry and Sam all laid out next to him, seemingly dead.  Panic leads to despair leads to grim resolve.  Suddenly, Frodo remembers the song Tom Bombadil taught them when they left him.  He sings it, and Tom arrives and fights off the barrow-wight, banishes the fog, and revives the hobbits.  Then he leads them all to the border of the Barrow Downs, where he turns back home and they continue on to the village of Bree.

While they are attempting to make their way through the fog, the text tells us "...it seemed plain that they had come further than they had expected.  Certainly the distances had now all become hazy and deceptive, but there could be no doubt that the Downs were coming to an end."  The fog had clouded (haha) their progress.

And so Trump has obfuscated our place.  We are constantly told Trump is bringing about a major change in America.  Or that he will soon.  Or that he already has.  Or that he is president only because such a major change has already occurred.  Or that he, himself, is the change.  Change is, will, or has happened.  It can be hard to tell.

Antifa and right-wingers fight in the streets.  Minorities are demanding equality in ways they hadn't before.  Bombs are sent to political opponents.  The press is labeled "the enemy of the people".  Churches and synagogues are targeted by shooters.  Is this America?

Yes - yes it is.

People seem to be particularly concerned about the degree to which we have changed.  Can we recover from a Trump presidency?  Can we return from the empowerment of White Supremicists at Charlottesville? When does left-wing reaction become an overreaction?  How many synagogues need to be shot up before Jews should consider leaving, as they have so many other countries throughout time?  Or is one already too many?

The distance we have come has become hazy and deceptive.  There can be no doubt "how things were" is coming to an end.  Or will soon.  Or already has.  But when we can't agree where we are it is hard to agree how to fight back.  Birthright citizenship is being questioned.  Is this the dawning of a new era, or just further proof we've already reached one?

Election day is next week - maybe we can wrest control from Trump's party.  Election day is next week - what kind of violence can we expect?  Election day is next week - but due to gerrymandering and voter suppression, we've already lost.  All are valid evaluations of the situation.  All require different responses.

For myself, I think we should give the benefit of the doubt to the progress of our oppressors.  They have already gone too far.  I see no reason to be optimistic that they have been sated or will be slowed.  We must begin to respond to this new reality.  For myself, I've come to the conclusion that totalitarianism is on the rise woldwide.  The time to stop it has passed.  It now must be contained and undermined. We must measure not in battles won but in battles not lost.  We must use our resources sparingly.

As I said before, reasonable people disagrees what stage we are at.  I'm sure the narrative will change after the elections, for better or for worse.  But, at this moment, we do not agree.  Some of this is because America is a very big country.  Not everything is progressing at the same rate all over.  California engages in a resistance of its own.  Voters in Georgia and North Dakota, meanwhile, struggle for basic voting rights.

But even that isn't the end.  Trump threatens violence if his party loses.  I'm sure some leftists threaten violence, too.  Do we want another civil war?  But also: What will we give up before we realize our Chamberlain moment was in Charlottesville, or Pittsburg, or Newtown, and that we wanted peace in our time so much we surrendered justice?

Back to the text.  Frodo is taken by the Barrow Wight.  He awakens in darkness.

He thought he had come to the end of his adventure,

and a terrible end, but the thought hardened him.

He found himself stiffening, as if for a

final spring; he no longer felt limp like a helpless prey."

Though Frodo is taken, he turns his despair into resolve.  If our Republic is to weaken or crumble, we must fight with our last strength.  I know there are some among you who do not like America as it was even before Trump.  That's fine.  You should join us, too.  Where Trump is taking us, there will never be true justice.  America is full of promise - and broken promises.  Trump will break them all.  Before we fix the leaks in our mighty ship of state we must take control of the ship again.  We must remember why we fight, but we must fight to win.  "Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right."  Martyrs inspire future generations, but history is written by the winners.  We must win.  America is a huge, colossal world power.  We must not allow it to be taken by those who would use it for naked evil.

Our institutions have not failed us, but, as we learned last week, institutions have a way of being undependable.  Tom saves Frodo and the hobbits, but it is still up to them to destroy the Ring.  Institutions value stability.  We need more than that though.

I don't know what the solution is, and it is my own opinion that these elections will not provide a solution - only a stopgap at best.  I guess we will find out.

My advice is this:  Despair can quickly turn into indecision.  Indecision is paralyzing, and a losing proposition.  So when you sense yourself approaching despair, turn that into resolve.  If you cannot save all the things you care about determine if you can save any and focus on those.  A struggle like the one we are in requires nimble thinking and flexibility.  Hard choices must be made.

It may be noble to say "I will not choose one over the other, both are important" but if the end-result is losing both, that nobility has been only selfish.  Often we hear: "What is required for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing."  Often we think that do-nothing attitude is intentional - the good people don't care.  What if it's a byproduct of caring too much?

If we allow despair and paralysis to take hold within us, surely our enemies will triumph.

The Lord of the Rings: An Ethical Guide is a Patreon-supported project.  Thank you to all those who have contributed.

Like this project?  Want to learn more?  Want exclusive access to behind-the-scenes content?  Go to my Patreon site and see how you can become a part of the action!