Re-reading the Lord of the Rings, Chapter 25
The main objective of this chapter is to give us a glimpse into the Orc-world.
Essentially, the appreciation of strength that governs the Orc-world is based on a desire to wound, as opposed to build or protect.
And that is of course simpler. And accordingly there is less discipline in the Orc-world, as the need for co-ordination is smaller.
Apart from that the Orcs seem to have similar tools and equipment as the Elves, that is to say a similar science.
I think this is a deliberate warning against judging things based on technological advancedness. In any case, there's an important question hanging over this chapter, namely whether we live in an Orc-world or not, and in particular whether our armies are governed by Orc-spirit.
The latter I would affirm, the discipline might be better and you might fight in order to protect, but the actual spirit in the army and over the army, that is to say the spirit of those who use the army, is rooted in the appreciation of its capability to destroy.
At least as far as my perception of the phenomenon reaches, that is its nature.
I dare say that the reason for this is again the idea to be of public service, for thus the army becomes a tool without a mind of its own, that is a weapon, and how else would a weapon be judged? Whereas in a society like that of the Rohirrim the army is the form in which the people protect their property and thus naturally has a different spirit.
At this point it doesn't matter much, whether the property is formally the king's or not, for that affects the spirit but little, as long as the king has the support of his people.
However, a modern army is in relation to a modern state always a paid servant, the modern state has no other obligation towards it than to pay it and there is no difference in a modern army between a soldier and a mercenary, unless the modern state is bound in its actions by convictions that (almost) all of its people share.
And more generally, any kind of arrangement in which the usefulness of a human being is defined by its ability to beat the competition, unquestioningly, as a paid servant, is creating an Orc-world under it.
Free market-wise this can be reduced to the (lacking) voluntariness of the producer to take part in a market transaction, but this observation doesn't help much.
The observation I made in the post on the previous chapter is more helpful, for it suggests that the origin of Orcdom lies in accepting an arrangement as to be of public service without wanting to be involved with it, because that gives the power to shape society away without looking at the results.
And so the cure for Orcdom is to organise society again based on the appreciation of what to build or protect, but that can only be done, if the society, which strives to re-organise itself in this manner, is powerful enough to handle its own affairs. The Orcs could do that, if their will would let them, we, I'm afraid, as of now cannot.
Essentially, the appreciation of strength that governs the Orc-world is based on a desire to wound, as opposed to build or protect.
And that is of course simpler. And accordingly there is less discipline in the Orc-world, as the need for co-ordination is smaller.
Apart from that the Orcs seem to have similar tools and equipment as the Elves, that is to say a similar science.
I think this is a deliberate warning against judging things based on technological advancedness. In any case, there's an important question hanging over this chapter, namely whether we live in an Orc-world or not, and in particular whether our armies are governed by Orc-spirit.
The latter I would affirm, the discipline might be better and you might fight in order to protect, but the actual spirit in the army and over the army, that is to say the spirit of those who use the army, is rooted in the appreciation of its capability to destroy.
At least as far as my perception of the phenomenon reaches, that is its nature.
I dare say that the reason for this is again the idea to be of public service, for thus the army becomes a tool without a mind of its own, that is a weapon, and how else would a weapon be judged? Whereas in a society like that of the Rohirrim the army is the form in which the people protect their property and thus naturally has a different spirit.
At this point it doesn't matter much, whether the property is formally the king's or not, for that affects the spirit but little, as long as the king has the support of his people.
However, a modern army is in relation to a modern state always a paid servant, the modern state has no other obligation towards it than to pay it and there is no difference in a modern army between a soldier and a mercenary, unless the modern state is bound in its actions by convictions that (almost) all of its people share.
And more generally, any kind of arrangement in which the usefulness of a human being is defined by its ability to beat the competition, unquestioningly, as a paid servant, is creating an Orc-world under it.
Free market-wise this can be reduced to the (lacking) voluntariness of the producer to take part in a market transaction, but this observation doesn't help much.
The observation I made in the post on the previous chapter is more helpful, for it suggests that the origin of Orcdom lies in accepting an arrangement as to be of public service without wanting to be involved with it, because that gives the power to shape society away without looking at the results.
And so the cure for Orcdom is to organise society again based on the appreciation of what to build or protect, but that can only be done, if the society, which strives to re-organise itself in this manner, is powerful enough to handle its own affairs. The Orcs could do that, if their will would let them, we, I'm afraid, as of now cannot.
Labels: 14, gesellschaftsentwurf, gesellschaftskritik, rezension, ἰδέα, φιλοσοφία
Eingetragen Am/um
11:08
