You know orcs were elves once? Captured by Melkor and taken to Tangorodrim where they were tortured and twisted into parodies of Elves, hating the world and their master for what had happened to them. Sounds familiar...
Yes Charles the pain of realising “ I Orc “ is a deep one . It’s an expulsion into the dark that i have been accustomed to these last few years . More so in this period “the pandemic “. I have found my opinions fluctuating as I responded to new knowledge as for me I am a clinician and scientist and for myself it was data above narrative . Indeed there are two narratives that stand as a dichotomy and for myself as a flexible person I am more of a dialectic . It’s lonlley in this place of displacement as o can find neither tribe to belong to , I wander , but not aimlessly in a no man’s land. . In covid vaccination I see a narrative that has hidden control yet I admire the scientists mostly female that have emerged this vector of medicine . Indeed this vector may herald a new phase of science that saves millions of lives . It may also create a lockstep to being less human and identified mostly as numerical . Additionally in the anti vaccine movement i sense great hate as well as acceptable fear and distrust , I see a willingness to create anarchy without a willingness to actually take responsibility . We are all right and we are all wrong as far as I can see , this neutrality is Orc world . As a man who is mixed race I’ve been shunned by both black and white . Here in the foggy place of no man’s land I wander . I would see no one hated , and would like to be heard by both groups and I would want them to embrace again . Like in Romeo and Juliet the warring families destroy the very nature of love , I decry any path that dehumanises . Vax to non vax , ukrsmusn to Russian , Brexiteer to European . There are just too many devisions and I do not seek membership of any one
I found myself wondering whether the Orcs might not get along with the Klingons of Rodenberry’s Star Trek, or the Empire-aligned warriors of Lucas’ Star Wars, or the Spice-harvesting classes from Herbert’s Dune…
Plus, whether Orcs, Elves and Dwarves shared common genes & chromosomes (or whether Orc-facing, Dwarf-facing, Hobbit-facing or [Other]-facing would be acceptable. Ditto for Trans-identification. How about just Orc-dressing (Orc-vestitism)?
But I’m most intrigued by your own discovery of your personal ich-Orc-phobia:
“At its deepest level lurks the most terrifying monster of all. It is the fear not only that the mob will turn on me, but that the mob will be right to do so. It is that I am unacceptable. That I am evil. That I only pretend to be an acceptable, full human being, but that in reality, it is I who am the Orc.”
I don’t feel that. Not at all. I’ve been repulsed by the virtue-signaling, public mask-wearing, chest-thumping “proud vax-recipient”, “supporters of “The Science TM” for the past two years. If anything, I’ve become more convinced of the need to resist (in public!) against this ominous wave of thought control, driving human society to ruin, like lemmings over a cliff.
I certainly have inner Orcs as i believe we all do…perhaps not related to the current situation but those shadow parts of ourselves, those parts we may not be aware of, those parts that may reveal themselves to us and we stuff down because we don’t want to admit we are “like that”. The inner Orcs rear their heads when we look at those accusing us with the same judgement and hate with which they are looking at us.
Love your extension of this metaphor. I wonder, though, is your repulsion a denial of your inner Elf? The part of you that can be seduced by the idea of yourself as hero, defender of the helpless, upholder of truth, savior of the victim? I'm completely with you on rejecting the narrative but repulsion of the people is the same paradigm in reverse.
I'll link here also my YT on Manufacturing Contempt that goes into what an insidious level of mind-control we've been subjected to. They do, in fact, trust the science--to tell them what kind of 'persuasive messaging' will get us to disdain and condemn one another!
Nice segue into the newfound warmongering among the progressive “woke” class. Who woulda thunk that was on the horizon! Didn’t Obama ridicule Romney in 2012, glibly stating that the 1980s called - they wanted their Cold War back?
See my related comment to Laurie above: I think it’s very important to differentiate between being repulsed by behavior and hating another human being.
That's a funny comment of Obama's. And I did like your comment to Laurie very much. It's a major theme in my videos that people are inherently good and, when they behave badly, systems are to blame. So I share your repulsion of the behavior and take back my implication that you were repulsed by the people.
On another thread I wrote, "I was thinking, as I passed the many "Black Lives Matter" posters on my way to the Farmer's Market, that there is always an unstated "to me but not you. ... I care but you don't." It's an accusation disguised as a declaration. Some places have an entire sandwich board devoted to the many ways in which they're morally superior to you. "We don't tolerate hate speech." You stand accused of being a bigot before you open your mouth. There's a sense of waiting for those hidden racists that our woke little college town is full of to order a craft-brewed beer. NO!
If I were to eliminate every friend taken in by the vaccine narrative, standing with Ukraine, or the wokepedia, I wouldn't have anyone left. You might also like my video on Woke vs. 'the Void'--Kehinde Andrews & Candace Owens: https://thirdparadigm.substack.com/p/wokeness-vs-the-void
hello, Rose, thanks for responding. I feel that, like Kurt, I'm critical of the behavior not the people. We've been fooled into turning on each other, being judgmental of 'microaggressions' that keep us from joining together and solving the problems.
In some of my videos, I ask how the left became obedient, pro-censorship, pro-corporate, pro-propaganda warmongers. What's been used to manipulate us, I think, is guilt--professionals and academics in particular.
I'm open to other theories on why we're so divided. I have a whole playlist on Healing Divisive Politics, but here's one called The Only Deadly Sin that might explain my position: https://youtu.be/plL7kvxU4R8.
Thanks for the synopsis of the exchange between Kehinde & Russell, wherein Candace is “othered” by Kehinde and only superficially “defended’ by Russell, who might have something worth mentioning, but it is not for me. Nor, for that matter, is that discussion one which will result in a meaningful outcome.
Kehinde sounds like a very troubled soul. His apparent “calling” is inherently racist; it is anything but a recipe for healing, let alone for rebuilding.
I think you’ve summarized what puts me off about Russell. He’s a consummate flirt, who appears primarily in love with his own personal aura.
Finally: be careful what you wish to dismantle: for what comes next might be far, far worse. Think what the Anarchists set in motion at the turn of the 20th century. That begat Leninist & Stalinist atrocities, plenty of other ideologically-driven utopian plans, from fascism, to national Socialism, Great Leaps, Pol Pot’s horror, etc.
The latest waves to eradicate pathogens 🦠 or poverty, heal the climate or stamp out the currently-regarded #bad guys are merely reincarnations of earlier delusions, usually superstition-derived.
The shamans are merely wearing new garments. Give them no authority. Demand reason over fear, open discourse over edicts from on high.
Kurt! I am so honored that you're watching my videos. Thank you!
The dismantling of the empire is happening before our eyes, whether we wish it or not, in freefall speed these days. They're doing it themselves. I think our only decision is to find meaning in it or despair. I put it that way because we're meeting on Charles' Substack and he's one of the few who writes about meaning.
That's also what draws me to Russell. The deep conversations he has on his Luminary podcast, where Charles has been a guest, are delving beneath the surface (as his intro says) into the meaning of things. I use them as a springboard for many of my videos because they're asking the real questions. If I thought they had all the answers, there would be nothing for my videos to add.
So you may be right, and everything's chaos with no meaning. But since you mention shamans, I'll slip in another video ;-) This is Legal Shamans & Economic Witches: https://youtu.be/Fz_6iAngaLA. Thanks again!
once you start suffering torture because of it, your thoughts will change. it has been "demonstrated" in the political prisons in Russia and Eastern Europe that once broken, the fiercest defenders of freedom become the worst torturers of their fellow inmates.
I’ve certainly been at the receiving end of the “enforcers” of COVID-19 “right think”. But I suffer no uncertainty regarding my position (right vs wrong, reason vs. superstition).
If a brunette influencer in the country came up with a narrative and scientific explanation for why all the blondes and redheads (of which you are one, say) in the country are really a variation of Orc, would you be as repulsed and in need of publicly resisting such an "ominous wave of thought control" or would you just marvel at human psychological frailty and try to be a steadying, impartial influence? Why internalize any fear that urges you to resist?
Well, I’m a brunette, so I’d go along with the narrative 😎!
In all seriousness, if I were to identify a movement or dogma which I considered a dire threat to our cohesion as a society, I would oppose it with mind, heart and soul. And so I behave accordingly.
Your video further underlines that the manipulation was planned in advance. Perhaps that the essential goals were different from what we were told…
There's only a dire threat to our cohesion as a society if people choose to believe it as such. If we refuse to let anyone divide us we refuse to listen to each other, we buy into an agenda to divide. And...my video? What video?
Through it all you remain a voice of compassion that acts as a balm to the soul when we are deeply dismayed by what the breakdown inevitably reveals. Thank you for your courage and sharing the gift of self reflection. 🙏🏻
A beautifully written piece. I will say, that we ought to allow for the existence of evil and other absolute states in fantasy. Rejection of concepts in story, leads to rigidity. Metaphors must be allowed to do their work.
The orc is *not* human. It's not a 'species' as latter editions of D&D would have us think...it *can* be, but it needn't be (indeed, orcs and other monsters as products of materialist naturalism, is pretty problematic in my opinion). Another view of the orc, sees it as a collection of ideas given a degree of agency. As a spirit.
Take for example the 'idea of toxic masculinity'. Can that idea be rehabilitated without recourse to changing what it is? How about the 'idea of murdering children' ?
Humans acting out an idea (say a murderer) can heal, can be rehabilitated. But the idea remains simply what it is.
I'm not drawing any conclusions here beyond... myths are ideas clothed in forms we can recognise. And maybe that in some universes, some realities, orcs must necessarily die.
That sounds awful, I know. But the infinite vicissitudes of infinite realities don't really care for my feelings.
Anyway, great stuff. Hope I've not come over too psychotic.
Thank you Nick, this share has helped me make sense of a lot of where I jar with stories of good vs. evil. How do transfer the spirit of what you've said here to young people who will relate to the material layer of the tale very strongly and carry these archetypal tensions forward into how they make sense of the world?
Short answer: I'm not sure. And maybe you asked rhetorically (and such a question remains entirely legitimate within that boundary--- as something to keep within the forefront of the mind as we tackle the issue in our own particular fashion).
Long(er) answer: Nuanced context, nurtures nuanced people. LotR can be accused of many things, but I don't think children's first impression of orcs is as Mongols (say), but as monsters. Unless one's childhood context encourages alternate takes.
I would say that the poetry of the orc, speaks more to the fear of what lies beneath the bed or at the edge of the fire's light, than of the 'other'. The dark is not other. It is blindness. It is fear. But more than this, the orc is Violence (EDIT for clarity). It is the consequence of violence and the delight in violence and cruelty. The sense of this, is what comes to the child. I believe also this is the intent.
I think this can be communicated to a child (whilst also listening for their own wisdom). It can certainly be talked about afterwards --- that's one of the best parts of reading --- talking about it with somebody else!
The orc is not a stand in for a human agent. It is what it is. We can deconstruct orcness to useful effect, as Charles has done here. But we must see this only as one reflection within the prism.
Thanks for the response. I would love to live in a world where we work with analogies for spiritual ideas in this way. It would require widespread, powerful, present and vigilant spiritual maturity. I sense we just don't have this today, I include myself in this, and accept the possibility that we did in the past.
"[The Orc] is the consequence of violence and the delight in violence and cruelty. The sense of this, is what comes to the child. I believe also this is the intent." The problem I see is that we lost our way a long time ago with the relationship we present between these two sides, the dark and the light. In all stories (I know of), the white knights defeat the avatar of violence, with violence... A violent avatar of the spirit of virtue and compassion is at best very difficult to make sense of, at worst it seriously muddies the waters for me, never mind my infant children.
I have such tremendous respect for you, Charles, both for your willingness to examine and publish the Mob Morality and the Unvaxxed piece, and now this. Just last week, amdist doing my own inner work, with my own "demons" I had the realization that I save a lot of energy if I allow it to be a dance instead of an attempted banishment. Letting go of the immense amount of energy it takes to hold the "inner Orc" at bay frees up all kinds of energy for other things. It's the kind of insight that can be hard to remember, so thanks for helping my mind go back to it today.
I have often wondered at the depiction of orcs in LOTR (and goblins in The Hobbit). It often seems they are living their lives as legitimately as the dwarves, elves, hobbits or humans; but they are passionately hated by the above, and the main proof that they are "evil" and worthy of hate and destruction is that they are unsightly, smelly and rude. In short they are aesthetically unappealing.
And so I wonder about telling my kids these tales. At the same time, I don't like PC versions of folk tales, and do think that children need to grow up on tales of good vs. evil.
Eventually though, I think as we grow, the understanding of struggle between good and evil needs to become more refined and mature. Life is not about "our tribe" (or any identity group) being the good and another being evil. It's about a war to overcome selfishness and ignorance. The parts of us that are hurting or encumbering us need to be exposed to the light and killed, in a sense. But this is not a killing of personal hatred but of understanding and letting go.
not exposed to the light and killed, but exposed to the light of love, forgiven, and accepted as all are one. Can we not love ourselves, collectively as humans with all our flaws?
It's difficult to know if our children "need to grow up on tales of good vs. evil" - has anyone really tried a different way? As a new father, I see the repetitive template of good people triumphing over bad people in nearly all the stories young people are bombarded with. Is it any wonder we grow up hooked on this meta-clickbait story as 'adults'? We are a world of children. When is the coming of age? At what age do we start giving people the opportunity to step into it? Maybe the quest to rid ourselves of selfish tendencies that propagate unnecessary harm to life would be better led by tales of how to be a beacon of light, rather than a most effective killer of evil? Let's start trying this stuff and see where it takes us.
This isn't about moving to a post-truth grasp of things where evil deeds are as worthy of modelling, but resourcing a deeper spiritual holding of reality. For me, the lesson of the journey of post-enlightenment science to the present point of collapse of the story of separation and control is not that truth is not real, it is that experience is the container for truth, and the undercurrents in the human experience deliver truth into it. I see some other comments that seem to chime with this: don't reject these messages to the self, no matter how Orc-like they first appear.
Maybe this all boils back to what we understand our most fundamental nature to be. Inherently 'good'? Inherently 'bad'? I think we've tried both paths - have we tried looking for the "hidden agreements"? Perhaps we are neither, or essentially both simultaneously, negating the polarity. We are just life to me. This personal realisation is leading me to contextualise and gradually sublimate the evolution-by-natural-selection inherited tribal tendencies in me, as their fullest truth is revealed and the existential incorporeality of fearing for the continuation of the self is laid bare.. We don't need to 'other' this part of ourselves, nor go into war with it, simply let it's counsel come into the light of our consciousness, where what is irrelevant today will simply crumble away, leaving only any pure and beautiful truth its messages hold.
Middle Earth is the collective unconscious. The orcs are the archetype of evil and darkness that resides within us all. They are the shadow.
When we cast about looking for orcs to slay somewhere out there in the world, we become agents of evil. The task of the hero is to confront and integrate the orcs within.
Criticisms of LOTR as racist or pro-colonialism or simplistic depictions of good vs. evil are misinterpreting what is one of the most powerful myths of our age.
As a child & teenager, I was obsessed by Tolkien’s Middle Earth, it’s rich mythology so scrupulously scalped from ancient cultures, the depth & detail involved (evidently I am also a self confessed nerd). As an adult going back to read it I was dismayed to realise how often the Southrons & other allies of the Dark Lord were literally dark-skinned, & usually ugly to boot. I was further dismayed by the movie version to note how Orcs looked to be predominantly Maori people with tattoos & piercings, & poor hygiene (with prosthetic ugliness attached). This ‘othering’ in the movie seemed to be a cheap shot at an alternative sub-culture that preferred body adornments such as tattoos & piercings instead of blood-diamonds & gold, & honoured wisdom in many First Nation cultures. Thank you for bringing this up, Charles, I appreciate your dedication to unveiling the devil in the detail in the current climate & popular culture.
Thanks for this, Charles. Very appropriate too in this week of the Christian celebration of the Passion and how Jesus turned the scapegoat victim story on its head and so, in a sense, ended it or created the possibility of ending it which Girard explains so well. This is so powerful once we are able to 'de-religionise' it.
Very nice column! When you wrote a column from the perspective of the Sith, I commented that we could apply this a lot of different sci-fi/entertainment properties. You might consider making it the theme of a whole book! To re-work multiple different franchises in this way. (I don't know how the copyright would work out on that, though!)
I'm afraid I have to be "That Guy" -- as an avid D&D player, and point out something new, which has just occurred in the last few years. D&D players count the "woke" among them (if you'll pardon the phrase), so there has indeed been a movement within the D&D community which recognizes the perniciousness of these stereotypes. That all creatures of one race have the same character or alignment. We recognize that this is a flaw in the source material (Tolkein and his many imitators).
This has not made it into a hardcover rulebook yet, as far as I know, but some of the official magazines and publications have floated a new system where, instead of an "alignment" (good or evil, neutral etc.) each character has two new qualities: "Heritage" and "Culture". So for example, if an orphaned orc was raised by halflings, this orc would not necessarily be Evil -- but he would have the genetic heritage of an orc, while enjoying peace and indulgence the way that a Hobbit does!
This movement came about because every game I have participated in for at least a decade, has included at least one player (often more) who wishes to play a character "against type" -- for example, an orc who was raised by monks and is thus kind and contemplative, or a Drow who rebelled against his cruel society and government. The message is getting out there.
Finally, over the last several years, I have been surprised and fascinated to find literary analysis of Tolkien and his supplementary writings, such as letters to friends -- which all indicate that Tolkien's concept of the interaction between good and evil, is far more subtle, interesting, and sublime than casual readers tend to walk away with.
Most people simply adopt the shorthand that Tolkein type fantasy is about the ultimate clash between good and evil, in violence, on a battlefield of some sort. But according to his private writings, Tolkien believed that the temptations of evil could at times be simply too powerful for any mortal human to resist. However he also believed that Evil itself always contained the seeds of its own destruction. Very prescient... since he did most of his writing before World War II, and it is quite arguable that Hitler's hubris in attacking Russia when he really had no need to, is what ultimately caused his own downfall -- more so than the fierce efforts of the Allied powers.
Obviously this is played out in the climax of the Lord of the Rings, where good innocent Frodo cannot make the decision to destroy the Ring, but Gollum's greed (which was of course, willfully induced by the Ring in the first place) does that for him. According to Tolkien, our job is not so much to forcibly confront Evil -- but rather to preserve the Good, as much as we can.
It's a subtle distinction, and it is different from pure pacifism. You have written that all confrontation contains the seeds of evil, whereas Tolkien might disagree, and say that sometimes, regrettably, fighting is necessary in order to preserve the Good while we wait for Evil itself to defeat itself. But Tolkein recognized that there was a _cost_ to any kind of fight or confrontation, even to the victors, and over the long run these costs piled up and ruined the world.
A little bit of a depressing philosophy, but of course he believed in the ultimate salvation of the world by an outside deity. Your views may differ but it is an interesting discussion.
In D&D, characters receive "experience points," calculated with specific rules based on exactly which enemies they slay. (Setting aside the fact that they receive treasure and loot.) It might be interesting to ponder a role-playing game system where experience points are awarded on the basis of Preserving the Good, rather than vanquishing evil. Again to some degree the D&D community is already drifting this way. Most DMs I know tend to award you an advancement in level, when you complete a specific quest or part of the quest -- rather than tallying up exactly how many orcs that you slew.
There are also certain rules, including many "house rules," about awarding a character some kind of Luck Point, or extra experience, when the character does something clever that does not consist of slaying an enemy.
Also as a longtime player, like you, I agree that a Dungeon Master is, at heart, not much different from a weaver of stories. So when you say that you doubt you will run a game again, you're not giving yourself enough credit.
Like D&D, like Tolkien, armed battles between "good" and "evil" exist only in fantasy realms of the mind. At best, it is base entertainment & at worst it smothers us with hopeful nonsense thinking we are (or can be) "good" and prevail heroically in battles against "evil".
Not even remotely do these stories speak to human realities. To be human is to possess both orc and hobbit traits, and everything else in between. Therefore, there is no enemy other than the ones we create in our heads. In the actual human theatre, all armed conflicts are evil vs. evil. Power-mind vs. power-mind, with both sides imagining "we are the good ones". No winner is ever "the good guy". The winner can only be this or that bad guy. Nothing mythic or epic about it. Super heroes too are all idiotic fantasy tools pandering to the powerlessness within us to keep us stuck wallowing in it and seeking out rescuers, leaders, lawmakers & keepers of order.
Those of us who live as actual good people do not seek power over others or engage in armed conflict other than as personal self-defense to fend off insane invaders/robbers/enslavers/abusers/perpetrators/predators. In the real world, the good go about their simple, peaceful business while evil stalks it, hunts it down for whatever reason, personal gain or sick enjoyment. Good people are always on the run (more or less), always outnumbered to a distressing degree and are fearlessly able to exist in the same space with anyone at all, that is, until they feel themselves being drained. Then they must take their leave.
It is really hard to be good. One must be very alert, aware of oneself and unflinchingly present at all times (to the extent that this is possible). Being truly good can get very lonely as kindred spirits are few and far between and they likely enjoy their wandering solitude very much. They are very much at home in the natural world, less so amongst their fellow humans.
On the other hand, it is very easy to be slack, foolish & evil and as such one always has lots of company as people like this are constantly avoiding pain through distraction and are desperate for attention & acceptance amongst themselves. These folks are always invaders/predators, some more so than others, as they simply can't help it-- constant inner hunger resulting from parasitic slack living drives them to eat other people, and good people, esp. children are very sweet.
The only actual battle going on between good vs. evil is within the heart/mind of the human individual. And as some here may know, the minute you try to rid yourself of the evil within, you create a perpetual enemy (yourself) because "evil" always exists within us as does "good", given that we are emotionally-driven creatures. Passion is our power. We use it to love and we use it to kill.
If one has not mastered the self, allowed equal space within for "evil" to exist as well as "good", then one cannot help but operate from picky-choosy power-mind rooted in powerlessness, helplessness, constant defeat and morbid fear of sadness, pain & death. From here, there can be no end to grand futile gestures of control such as organized rule over people (gov't), administration of "justice", social hierarchies, ever-escalating abuses of power, revolution, war, and on and on and on. The lost, yet well-intended may then find themselves speaking out uselessly & repetitively toward "positive systemic reformation" that cannot, and will not, ever happen.
I was preschool age and had a fear of monsters in the closet and under the bed. One of my protective strategies was to make sure no part of me, hands, feet, head, stuck out from under the blanket. The closet door had to be fully shut. One night my mother found me like this and I told her I was afraid of something in the dark spaces. She said the monsters were lonely because everyone was afraid of them. When she came back to check on me a little while later, she found me under the bed. I told her I was trying to make friends with the monsters.
Your ending, Charles, reminds me of something Jesus is credited with having said: "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me" (Matthew 25:40, 45)--both points (your ending, Christ's words) point to a revolutionary kind of love, a radical love, that excludes nothing--a challenging approach to how we treat those who have mistreated so many, maybe even us--I hope we're all gearing up for the challenge!!
I love this, Charles! Please keep giving in to your distractions from the digital currency opus (although I look forward to that too.) I read Lord of the Rings as a kid by the bathroom light, laying with my head in the hallway so I could scurry back to bed if my parents came up. And now, it's that good-evil morality that's bothered me and how pervasive it is in our subconscious.
I just put out my YT on Manufacturing Contempt, that is related to your theme. I'm working on the Subscript version with text but I'll post the YT link here. It's about how anti-vaxxers and the nuclear war-hesitant were made into Orcs: https://youtu.be/Z7SJoMQVIVE
I really love and appreciate this. I have also cast my own character as a deplorable in the last 2 years. The vax did not feel right for me, not because I am "anti" anything but because my life has taken me in another direction of self-care. As someone with an autoimmune disease (Crohn's), I am very familiar with self-rejection. Autoimmunity is, after all, where art imitates life. As the immune system turns on its own host, I came to realize, years ago, where I turned on myself in little acts of self-rejection. The past 2 years, as I saw a different kind of narrative spark to life and as I cast myself in the character of an Orc, the old self-rejection reared its head, once again, and the Crohn's (which had been sleeping with one eye open for years inside of me) woke up once again. But I was ready for it this time. The past 2 years have shown me that no amount of rejection "out there" is sufficient if I don't agree. I have to take a piece of myself and side with the perpetrator. What a wonderful reminder that our lives...the whole thing...is an inside job. I cannot rely on anyone or anything outside of me to lift me up out of the rubble. And yet when I lift myself up (unapologetically) others' will step in to offer a hand. Thank you Charles for this wonderful analogy to the times we find ourselves in.
You know orcs were elves once? Captured by Melkor and taken to Tangorodrim where they were tortured and twisted into parodies of Elves, hating the world and their master for what had happened to them. Sounds familiar...
Yes, totally in Tolkien is this not true? That Orc are elfs that have been tortured for a long long time? Perhaps generations?
I think it's in Silmarillion.
Yes Charles the pain of realising “ I Orc “ is a deep one . It’s an expulsion into the dark that i have been accustomed to these last few years . More so in this period “the pandemic “. I have found my opinions fluctuating as I responded to new knowledge as for me I am a clinician and scientist and for myself it was data above narrative . Indeed there are two narratives that stand as a dichotomy and for myself as a flexible person I am more of a dialectic . It’s lonlley in this place of displacement as o can find neither tribe to belong to , I wander , but not aimlessly in a no man’s land. . In covid vaccination I see a narrative that has hidden control yet I admire the scientists mostly female that have emerged this vector of medicine . Indeed this vector may herald a new phase of science that saves millions of lives . It may also create a lockstep to being less human and identified mostly as numerical . Additionally in the anti vaccine movement i sense great hate as well as acceptable fear and distrust , I see a willingness to create anarchy without a willingness to actually take responsibility . We are all right and we are all wrong as far as I can see , this neutrality is Orc world . As a man who is mixed race I’ve been shunned by both black and white . Here in the foggy place of no man’s land I wander . I would see no one hated , and would like to be heard by both groups and I would want them to embrace again . Like in Romeo and Juliet the warring families destroy the very nature of love , I decry any path that dehumanises . Vax to non vax , ukrsmusn to Russian , Brexiteer to European . There are just too many devisions and I do not seek membership of any one
Beautifully said
Unfortunately badly spelled , it was so spontaneous I didn’t spell check it so you got the truest version 🙂🙏🏻
As Laurie said, beautiful! Thanks for contributing your perspective!
Good analogy, metaphor, parody, …
I found myself wondering whether the Orcs might not get along with the Klingons of Rodenberry’s Star Trek, or the Empire-aligned warriors of Lucas’ Star Wars, or the Spice-harvesting classes from Herbert’s Dune…
Plus, whether Orcs, Elves and Dwarves shared common genes & chromosomes (or whether Orc-facing, Dwarf-facing, Hobbit-facing or [Other]-facing would be acceptable. Ditto for Trans-identification. How about just Orc-dressing (Orc-vestitism)?
But I’m most intrigued by your own discovery of your personal ich-Orc-phobia:
“At its deepest level lurks the most terrifying monster of all. It is the fear not only that the mob will turn on me, but that the mob will be right to do so. It is that I am unacceptable. That I am evil. That I only pretend to be an acceptable, full human being, but that in reality, it is I who am the Orc.”
I don’t feel that. Not at all. I’ve been repulsed by the virtue-signaling, public mask-wearing, chest-thumping “proud vax-recipient”, “supporters of “The Science TM” for the past two years. If anything, I’ve become more convinced of the need to resist (in public!) against this ominous wave of thought control, driving human society to ruin, like lemmings over a cliff.
So please expound.
I certainly have inner Orcs as i believe we all do…perhaps not related to the current situation but those shadow parts of ourselves, those parts we may not be aware of, those parts that may reveal themselves to us and we stuff down because we don’t want to admit we are “like that”. The inner Orcs rear their heads when we look at those accusing us with the same judgement and hate with which they are looking at us.
There’s an important distinction between being repulsed by the behavior of someone and actually hating the person.
Love your extension of this metaphor. I wonder, though, is your repulsion a denial of your inner Elf? The part of you that can be seduced by the idea of yourself as hero, defender of the helpless, upholder of truth, savior of the victim? I'm completely with you on rejecting the narrative but repulsion of the people is the same paradigm in reverse.
I'll link here also my YT on Manufacturing Contempt that goes into what an insidious level of mind-control we've been subjected to. They do, in fact, trust the science--to tell them what kind of 'persuasive messaging' will get us to disdain and condemn one another!
https://youtu.be/Z7SJoMQVIVE
Nomen est omen! Brave of you.
Nice segue into the newfound warmongering among the progressive “woke” class. Who woulda thunk that was on the horizon! Didn’t Obama ridicule Romney in 2012, glibly stating that the 1980s called - they wanted their Cold War back?
See my related comment to Laurie above: I think it’s very important to differentiate between being repulsed by behavior and hating another human being.
That's a funny comment of Obama's. And I did like your comment to Laurie very much. It's a major theme in my videos that people are inherently good and, when they behave badly, systems are to blame. So I share your repulsion of the behavior and take back my implication that you were repulsed by the people.
On another thread I wrote, "I was thinking, as I passed the many "Black Lives Matter" posters on my way to the Farmer's Market, that there is always an unstated "to me but not you. ... I care but you don't." It's an accusation disguised as a declaration. Some places have an entire sandwich board devoted to the many ways in which they're morally superior to you. "We don't tolerate hate speech." You stand accused of being a bigot before you open your mouth. There's a sense of waiting for those hidden racists that our woke little college town is full of to order a craft-brewed beer. NO!
If I were to eliminate every friend taken in by the vaccine narrative, standing with Ukraine, or the wokepedia, I wouldn't have anyone left. You might also like my video on Woke vs. 'the Void'--Kehinde Andrews & Candace Owens: https://thirdparadigm.substack.com/p/wokeness-vs-the-void
dear Tereza, I concur with quite some of your writing, but are you now scapegoating what you call the 'woke'- whatevers ?
hello, Rose, thanks for responding. I feel that, like Kurt, I'm critical of the behavior not the people. We've been fooled into turning on each other, being judgmental of 'microaggressions' that keep us from joining together and solving the problems.
In some of my videos, I ask how the left became obedient, pro-censorship, pro-corporate, pro-propaganda warmongers. What's been used to manipulate us, I think, is guilt--professionals and academics in particular.
I'm open to other theories on why we're so divided. I have a whole playlist on Healing Divisive Politics, but here's one called The Only Deadly Sin that might explain my position: https://youtu.be/plL7kvxU4R8.
Thanks for the synopsis of the exchange between Kehinde & Russell, wherein Candace is “othered” by Kehinde and only superficially “defended’ by Russell, who might have something worth mentioning, but it is not for me. Nor, for that matter, is that discussion one which will result in a meaningful outcome.
Kehinde sounds like a very troubled soul. His apparent “calling” is inherently racist; it is anything but a recipe for healing, let alone for rebuilding.
I think you’ve summarized what puts me off about Russell. He’s a consummate flirt, who appears primarily in love with his own personal aura.
Finally: be careful what you wish to dismantle: for what comes next might be far, far worse. Think what the Anarchists set in motion at the turn of the 20th century. That begat Leninist & Stalinist atrocities, plenty of other ideologically-driven utopian plans, from fascism, to national Socialism, Great Leaps, Pol Pot’s horror, etc.
The latest waves to eradicate pathogens 🦠 or poverty, heal the climate or stamp out the currently-regarded #bad guys are merely reincarnations of earlier delusions, usually superstition-derived.
The shamans are merely wearing new garments. Give them no authority. Demand reason over fear, open discourse over edicts from on high.
Kurt! I am so honored that you're watching my videos. Thank you!
The dismantling of the empire is happening before our eyes, whether we wish it or not, in freefall speed these days. They're doing it themselves. I think our only decision is to find meaning in it or despair. I put it that way because we're meeting on Charles' Substack and he's one of the few who writes about meaning.
That's also what draws me to Russell. The deep conversations he has on his Luminary podcast, where Charles has been a guest, are delving beneath the surface (as his intro says) into the meaning of things. I use them as a springboard for many of my videos because they're asking the real questions. If I thought they had all the answers, there would be nothing for my videos to add.
So you may be right, and everything's chaos with no meaning. But since you mention shamans, I'll slip in another video ;-) This is Legal Shamans & Economic Witches: https://youtu.be/Fz_6iAngaLA. Thanks again!
Always appreciate a thoughtful conversation!
Buona pasqua!
Tereza, i don't pay for Luminary so maybe you can enlighten me... Why does Russel keep inviting Yuval Harari on his podcast?
once you start suffering torture because of it, your thoughts will change. it has been "demonstrated" in the political prisons in Russia and Eastern Europe that once broken, the fiercest defenders of freedom become the worst torturers of their fellow inmates.
I’ve certainly been at the receiving end of the “enforcers” of COVID-19 “right think”. But I suffer no uncertainty regarding my position (right vs wrong, reason vs. superstition).
everyone has their own breaking point and circumstances. i admire you for standing upright. google "Pitești Experiment"
Umm no. As an Eastern European, I can give you a bunch of examples of unbroken and tortured to death
I'm sure you could. there are saints also. still, the "experiments" have proven that most people don't have that strength.
Most people don’t, you are right. But thank god for the saints because they have the power to lift up the silent crowds to action.
If a brunette influencer in the country came up with a narrative and scientific explanation for why all the blondes and redheads (of which you are one, say) in the country are really a variation of Orc, would you be as repulsed and in need of publicly resisting such an "ominous wave of thought control" or would you just marvel at human psychological frailty and try to be a steadying, impartial influence? Why internalize any fear that urges you to resist?
Well, I’m a brunette, so I’d go along with the narrative 😎!
In all seriousness, if I were to identify a movement or dogma which I considered a dire threat to our cohesion as a society, I would oppose it with mind, heart and soul. And so I behave accordingly.
Your video further underlines that the manipulation was planned in advance. Perhaps that the essential goals were different from what we were told…
There's only a dire threat to our cohesion as a society if people choose to believe it as such. If we refuse to let anyone divide us we refuse to listen to each other, we buy into an agenda to divide. And...my video? What video?
Sorry, my bad. Tereza Coraggio’s video. See above.
And I agree that we must speak to one another and listen to what we hear. Rinse & repeat.,
Through it all you remain a voice of compassion that acts as a balm to the soul when we are deeply dismayed by what the breakdown inevitably reveals. Thank you for your courage and sharing the gift of self reflection. 🙏🏻
A beautifully written piece. I will say, that we ought to allow for the existence of evil and other absolute states in fantasy. Rejection of concepts in story, leads to rigidity. Metaphors must be allowed to do their work.
The orc is *not* human. It's not a 'species' as latter editions of D&D would have us think...it *can* be, but it needn't be (indeed, orcs and other monsters as products of materialist naturalism, is pretty problematic in my opinion). Another view of the orc, sees it as a collection of ideas given a degree of agency. As a spirit.
Take for example the 'idea of toxic masculinity'. Can that idea be rehabilitated without recourse to changing what it is? How about the 'idea of murdering children' ?
Humans acting out an idea (say a murderer) can heal, can be rehabilitated. But the idea remains simply what it is.
I'm not drawing any conclusions here beyond... myths are ideas clothed in forms we can recognise. And maybe that in some universes, some realities, orcs must necessarily die.
That sounds awful, I know. But the infinite vicissitudes of infinite realities don't really care for my feelings.
Anyway, great stuff. Hope I've not come over too psychotic.
Thank you Nick, this share has helped me make sense of a lot of where I jar with stories of good vs. evil. How do transfer the spirit of what you've said here to young people who will relate to the material layer of the tale very strongly and carry these archetypal tensions forward into how they make sense of the world?
Short answer: I'm not sure. And maybe you asked rhetorically (and such a question remains entirely legitimate within that boundary--- as something to keep within the forefront of the mind as we tackle the issue in our own particular fashion).
Long(er) answer: Nuanced context, nurtures nuanced people. LotR can be accused of many things, but I don't think children's first impression of orcs is as Mongols (say), but as monsters. Unless one's childhood context encourages alternate takes.
I would say that the poetry of the orc, speaks more to the fear of what lies beneath the bed or at the edge of the fire's light, than of the 'other'. The dark is not other. It is blindness. It is fear. But more than this, the orc is Violence (EDIT for clarity). It is the consequence of violence and the delight in violence and cruelty. The sense of this, is what comes to the child. I believe also this is the intent.
I think this can be communicated to a child (whilst also listening for their own wisdom). It can certainly be talked about afterwards --- that's one of the best parts of reading --- talking about it with somebody else!
The orc is not a stand in for a human agent. It is what it is. We can deconstruct orcness to useful effect, as Charles has done here. But we must see this only as one reflection within the prism.
Thanks for the response. I would love to live in a world where we work with analogies for spiritual ideas in this way. It would require widespread, powerful, present and vigilant spiritual maturity. I sense we just don't have this today, I include myself in this, and accept the possibility that we did in the past.
"[The Orc] is the consequence of violence and the delight in violence and cruelty. The sense of this, is what comes to the child. I believe also this is the intent." The problem I see is that we lost our way a long time ago with the relationship we present between these two sides, the dark and the light. In all stories (I know of), the white knights defeat the avatar of violence, with violence... A violent avatar of the spirit of virtue and compassion is at best very difficult to make sense of, at worst it seriously muddies the waters for me, never mind my infant children.
I like this question a lot in the context.
Thank you Nick for such an insightful comment!
"myths are ideas clothed in forms we can recognise."
I love this summation of myths very much. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I have such tremendous respect for you, Charles, both for your willingness to examine and publish the Mob Morality and the Unvaxxed piece, and now this. Just last week, amdist doing my own inner work, with my own "demons" I had the realization that I save a lot of energy if I allow it to be a dance instead of an attempted banishment. Letting go of the immense amount of energy it takes to hold the "inner Orc" at bay frees up all kinds of energy for other things. It's the kind of insight that can be hard to remember, so thanks for helping my mind go back to it today.
I have often wondered at the depiction of orcs in LOTR (and goblins in The Hobbit). It often seems they are living their lives as legitimately as the dwarves, elves, hobbits or humans; but they are passionately hated by the above, and the main proof that they are "evil" and worthy of hate and destruction is that they are unsightly, smelly and rude. In short they are aesthetically unappealing.
And so I wonder about telling my kids these tales. At the same time, I don't like PC versions of folk tales, and do think that children need to grow up on tales of good vs. evil.
Eventually though, I think as we grow, the understanding of struggle between good and evil needs to become more refined and mature. Life is not about "our tribe" (or any identity group) being the good and another being evil. It's about a war to overcome selfishness and ignorance. The parts of us that are hurting or encumbering us need to be exposed to the light and killed, in a sense. But this is not a killing of personal hatred but of understanding and letting go.
not exposed to the light and killed, but exposed to the light of love, forgiven, and accepted as all are one. Can we not love ourselves, collectively as humans with all our flaws?
Sounds like redemption to me. Thanks!❤️
It's difficult to know if our children "need to grow up on tales of good vs. evil" - has anyone really tried a different way? As a new father, I see the repetitive template of good people triumphing over bad people in nearly all the stories young people are bombarded with. Is it any wonder we grow up hooked on this meta-clickbait story as 'adults'? We are a world of children. When is the coming of age? At what age do we start giving people the opportunity to step into it? Maybe the quest to rid ourselves of selfish tendencies that propagate unnecessary harm to life would be better led by tales of how to be a beacon of light, rather than a most effective killer of evil? Let's start trying this stuff and see where it takes us.
This isn't about moving to a post-truth grasp of things where evil deeds are as worthy of modelling, but resourcing a deeper spiritual holding of reality. For me, the lesson of the journey of post-enlightenment science to the present point of collapse of the story of separation and control is not that truth is not real, it is that experience is the container for truth, and the undercurrents in the human experience deliver truth into it. I see some other comments that seem to chime with this: don't reject these messages to the self, no matter how Orc-like they first appear.
Maybe this all boils back to what we understand our most fundamental nature to be. Inherently 'good'? Inherently 'bad'? I think we've tried both paths - have we tried looking for the "hidden agreements"? Perhaps we are neither, or essentially both simultaneously, negating the polarity. We are just life to me. This personal realisation is leading me to contextualise and gradually sublimate the evolution-by-natural-selection inherited tribal tendencies in me, as their fullest truth is revealed and the existential incorporeality of fearing for the continuation of the self is laid bare.. We don't need to 'other' this part of ourselves, nor go into war with it, simply let it's counsel come into the light of our consciousness, where what is irrelevant today will simply crumble away, leaving only any pure and beautiful truth its messages hold.
Middle Earth is the collective unconscious. The orcs are the archetype of evil and darkness that resides within us all. They are the shadow.
When we cast about looking for orcs to slay somewhere out there in the world, we become agents of evil. The task of the hero is to confront and integrate the orcs within.
Criticisms of LOTR as racist or pro-colonialism or simplistic depictions of good vs. evil are misinterpreting what is one of the most powerful myths of our age.
So why don't the heroes in LotR "confront and integrate the orcs"? A lot of them just get their heads lopped off by Elven steel.
Hear, hear!!
As a child & teenager, I was obsessed by Tolkien’s Middle Earth, it’s rich mythology so scrupulously scalped from ancient cultures, the depth & detail involved (evidently I am also a self confessed nerd). As an adult going back to read it I was dismayed to realise how often the Southrons & other allies of the Dark Lord were literally dark-skinned, & usually ugly to boot. I was further dismayed by the movie version to note how Orcs looked to be predominantly Maori people with tattoos & piercings, & poor hygiene (with prosthetic ugliness attached). This ‘othering’ in the movie seemed to be a cheap shot at an alternative sub-culture that preferred body adornments such as tattoos & piercings instead of blood-diamonds & gold, & honoured wisdom in many First Nation cultures. Thank you for bringing this up, Charles, I appreciate your dedication to unveiling the devil in the detail in the current climate & popular culture.
I've never even spotted those tropes in the films, wow.
Thanks for this, Charles. Very appropriate too in this week of the Christian celebration of the Passion and how Jesus turned the scapegoat victim story on its head and so, in a sense, ended it or created the possibility of ending it which Girard explains so well. This is so powerful once we are able to 'de-religionise' it.
Very nice column! When you wrote a column from the perspective of the Sith, I commented that we could apply this a lot of different sci-fi/entertainment properties. You might consider making it the theme of a whole book! To re-work multiple different franchises in this way. (I don't know how the copyright would work out on that, though!)
I'm afraid I have to be "That Guy" -- as an avid D&D player, and point out something new, which has just occurred in the last few years. D&D players count the "woke" among them (if you'll pardon the phrase), so there has indeed been a movement within the D&D community which recognizes the perniciousness of these stereotypes. That all creatures of one race have the same character or alignment. We recognize that this is a flaw in the source material (Tolkein and his many imitators).
This has not made it into a hardcover rulebook yet, as far as I know, but some of the official magazines and publications have floated a new system where, instead of an "alignment" (good or evil, neutral etc.) each character has two new qualities: "Heritage" and "Culture". So for example, if an orphaned orc was raised by halflings, this orc would not necessarily be Evil -- but he would have the genetic heritage of an orc, while enjoying peace and indulgence the way that a Hobbit does!
This movement came about because every game I have participated in for at least a decade, has included at least one player (often more) who wishes to play a character "against type" -- for example, an orc who was raised by monks and is thus kind and contemplative, or a Drow who rebelled against his cruel society and government. The message is getting out there.
Finally, over the last several years, I have been surprised and fascinated to find literary analysis of Tolkien and his supplementary writings, such as letters to friends -- which all indicate that Tolkien's concept of the interaction between good and evil, is far more subtle, interesting, and sublime than casual readers tend to walk away with.
Most people simply adopt the shorthand that Tolkein type fantasy is about the ultimate clash between good and evil, in violence, on a battlefield of some sort. But according to his private writings, Tolkien believed that the temptations of evil could at times be simply too powerful for any mortal human to resist. However he also believed that Evil itself always contained the seeds of its own destruction. Very prescient... since he did most of his writing before World War II, and it is quite arguable that Hitler's hubris in attacking Russia when he really had no need to, is what ultimately caused his own downfall -- more so than the fierce efforts of the Allied powers.
Obviously this is played out in the climax of the Lord of the Rings, where good innocent Frodo cannot make the decision to destroy the Ring, but Gollum's greed (which was of course, willfully induced by the Ring in the first place) does that for him. According to Tolkien, our job is not so much to forcibly confront Evil -- but rather to preserve the Good, as much as we can.
It's a subtle distinction, and it is different from pure pacifism. You have written that all confrontation contains the seeds of evil, whereas Tolkien might disagree, and say that sometimes, regrettably, fighting is necessary in order to preserve the Good while we wait for Evil itself to defeat itself. But Tolkein recognized that there was a _cost_ to any kind of fight or confrontation, even to the victors, and over the long run these costs piled up and ruined the world.
A little bit of a depressing philosophy, but of course he believed in the ultimate salvation of the world by an outside deity. Your views may differ but it is an interesting discussion.
https://youtu.be/2Ftxu6P_HOQ
In D&D, characters receive "experience points," calculated with specific rules based on exactly which enemies they slay. (Setting aside the fact that they receive treasure and loot.) It might be interesting to ponder a role-playing game system where experience points are awarded on the basis of Preserving the Good, rather than vanquishing evil. Again to some degree the D&D community is already drifting this way. Most DMs I know tend to award you an advancement in level, when you complete a specific quest or part of the quest -- rather than tallying up exactly how many orcs that you slew.
There are also certain rules, including many "house rules," about awarding a character some kind of Luck Point, or extra experience, when the character does something clever that does not consist of slaying an enemy.
Also as a longtime player, like you, I agree that a Dungeon Master is, at heart, not much different from a weaver of stories. So when you say that you doubt you will run a game again, you're not giving yourself enough credit.
Like D&D, like Tolkien, armed battles between "good" and "evil" exist only in fantasy realms of the mind. At best, it is base entertainment & at worst it smothers us with hopeful nonsense thinking we are (or can be) "good" and prevail heroically in battles against "evil".
Not even remotely do these stories speak to human realities. To be human is to possess both orc and hobbit traits, and everything else in between. Therefore, there is no enemy other than the ones we create in our heads. In the actual human theatre, all armed conflicts are evil vs. evil. Power-mind vs. power-mind, with both sides imagining "we are the good ones". No winner is ever "the good guy". The winner can only be this or that bad guy. Nothing mythic or epic about it. Super heroes too are all idiotic fantasy tools pandering to the powerlessness within us to keep us stuck wallowing in it and seeking out rescuers, leaders, lawmakers & keepers of order.
Those of us who live as actual good people do not seek power over others or engage in armed conflict other than as personal self-defense to fend off insane invaders/robbers/enslavers/abusers/perpetrators/predators. In the real world, the good go about their simple, peaceful business while evil stalks it, hunts it down for whatever reason, personal gain or sick enjoyment. Good people are always on the run (more or less), always outnumbered to a distressing degree and are fearlessly able to exist in the same space with anyone at all, that is, until they feel themselves being drained. Then they must take their leave.
It is really hard to be good. One must be very alert, aware of oneself and unflinchingly present at all times (to the extent that this is possible). Being truly good can get very lonely as kindred spirits are few and far between and they likely enjoy their wandering solitude very much. They are very much at home in the natural world, less so amongst their fellow humans.
On the other hand, it is very easy to be slack, foolish & evil and as such one always has lots of company as people like this are constantly avoiding pain through distraction and are desperate for attention & acceptance amongst themselves. These folks are always invaders/predators, some more so than others, as they simply can't help it-- constant inner hunger resulting from parasitic slack living drives them to eat other people, and good people, esp. children are very sweet.
The only actual battle going on between good vs. evil is within the heart/mind of the human individual. And as some here may know, the minute you try to rid yourself of the evil within, you create a perpetual enemy (yourself) because "evil" always exists within us as does "good", given that we are emotionally-driven creatures. Passion is our power. We use it to love and we use it to kill.
If one has not mastered the self, allowed equal space within for "evil" to exist as well as "good", then one cannot help but operate from picky-choosy power-mind rooted in powerlessness, helplessness, constant defeat and morbid fear of sadness, pain & death. From here, there can be no end to grand futile gestures of control such as organized rule over people (gov't), administration of "justice", social hierarchies, ever-escalating abuses of power, revolution, war, and on and on and on. The lost, yet well-intended may then find themselves speaking out uselessly & repetitively toward "positive systemic reformation" that cannot, and will not, ever happen.
I was preschool age and had a fear of monsters in the closet and under the bed. One of my protective strategies was to make sure no part of me, hands, feet, head, stuck out from under the blanket. The closet door had to be fully shut. One night my mother found me like this and I told her I was afraid of something in the dark spaces. She said the monsters were lonely because everyone was afraid of them. When she came back to check on me a little while later, she found me under the bed. I told her I was trying to make friends with the monsters.
Your ending, Charles, reminds me of something Jesus is credited with having said: "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me" (Matthew 25:40, 45)--both points (your ending, Christ's words) point to a revolutionary kind of love, a radical love, that excludes nothing--a challenging approach to how we treat those who have mistreated so many, maybe even us--I hope we're all gearing up for the challenge!!
I love this, Charles! Please keep giving in to your distractions from the digital currency opus (although I look forward to that too.) I read Lord of the Rings as a kid by the bathroom light, laying with my head in the hallway so I could scurry back to bed if my parents came up. And now, it's that good-evil morality that's bothered me and how pervasive it is in our subconscious.
I just put out my YT on Manufacturing Contempt, that is related to your theme. I'm working on the Subscript version with text but I'll post the YT link here. It's about how anti-vaxxers and the nuclear war-hesitant were made into Orcs: https://youtu.be/Z7SJoMQVIVE
I really love and appreciate this. I have also cast my own character as a deplorable in the last 2 years. The vax did not feel right for me, not because I am "anti" anything but because my life has taken me in another direction of self-care. As someone with an autoimmune disease (Crohn's), I am very familiar with self-rejection. Autoimmunity is, after all, where art imitates life. As the immune system turns on its own host, I came to realize, years ago, where I turned on myself in little acts of self-rejection. The past 2 years, as I saw a different kind of narrative spark to life and as I cast myself in the character of an Orc, the old self-rejection reared its head, once again, and the Crohn's (which had been sleeping with one eye open for years inside of me) woke up once again. But I was ready for it this time. The past 2 years have shown me that no amount of rejection "out there" is sufficient if I don't agree. I have to take a piece of myself and side with the perpetrator. What a wonderful reminder that our lives...the whole thing...is an inside job. I cannot rely on anyone or anything outside of me to lift me up out of the rubble. And yet when I lift myself up (unapologetically) others' will step in to offer a hand. Thank you Charles for this wonderful analogy to the times we find ourselves in.