Woke Marxist Cultural Appropriation: How the Erasure of European Myths, from Tolkien to Shahnameh, is a Crime Against Humanity

Woke Marxist Cultural Appropriation: How the Erasure of European Myths, from Tolkien to Shahnameh, is a Crime Against Humanity

By Bobby Darvish

darvishintelligence.blogspot.com 

As an Iranian-American Christian conservative and ex-Muslim, I have always been captivated by the myths and stories of my ancestors. Whether it’s the epic tales of the Shahnameh, the legendary adventures of the Scythians and Sarmatians, or the cultural significance of Zoroastrianism, these stories are deeply intertwined with our identity and history. This sense of cultural heritage is something that all civilizations possess, and it forms the backbone of their contributions to humanity. Thus, it deeply troubles me to see a systematic effort by woke Marxist ideologies to appropriate and erase European myths, particularly the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, by replacing their characters with racially, culturally, and ideologically alien figures. This trend not only violates the integrity of European civilization but also sets a dangerous precedent for all cultures worldwide.

Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion are much more than mere fantasy stories. Tolkien, a devout Catholic, embedded within his works a deep sense of European and Christian values. His creation of Middle-earth was a reflection of Northern European mythologies, and his characters—whether they be Elves, Dwarves, Men, or Hobbits—were rooted in the cultural and historical contexts of Europe. As Tolkien himself once said, “I desired dragons with a profound desire.” He longed for the restoration of mythic grandeur in a post-industrial Europe, a Europe that was Christian at its core. His works reflect not only myth but the values, virtues, and history of an entire civilization. It is a world of moral absolutes, of good and evil, of heroism, honor, and faith, particularly faith in Christendom.

The new show Rings of Power flagrantly exploits Tolkien’s European and Christian heritage by injecting it with woke Marxist ideals. This is not an innocent reimagining but an insidious attempt to distort the original intent of Tolkien's world by forcing modern political narratives into a story that has nothing to do with them. By casting Black and Asian actors in traditionally white, European roles, the show does not just add diversity—it actively seeks to erase the identity of European peoples and their history. If we are honest, this is a deliberate act of cultural vandalism, a rewriting of history meant to demoralize and erase.

Imagine if someone did the same to other world myths. What would be the reaction if the characters of the Iranian Shahnameh—Rostam, Sohrab, or Kay Khosrow—were suddenly recast as European or Asian? What if the legendary African stories of Anansi were appropriated and the characters were transformed into white or Asian figures? How would Arabs react if someone decided to depict the Prophet Muhammad or other Quranic figures as Chinese or Scandinavian? Or if someone took the Chinese epic Journey to the West and replaced the central Asian and Chinese characters with Europeans? The result would be an outrage—and rightly so. The integrity of these stories is sacred to their respective cultures and must be preserved, not warped to fit the ideological agenda of a globalist, Marxist elite.

This is not just an attack on European myths, but on the entire concept of cultural integrity. It is a war against the unique stories that form the soul of any civilization. Cultural Marxism, driven by its obsession with diversity and inclusivity, seeks to erase the identities of people in favor of a homogenous, globalized ideology that respects nothing sacred, nothing ancient, nothing culturally significant. By replacing characters in Tolkien’s world with Black and Asian actors, they are not celebrating diversity—they are erasing the cultural context that gave birth to these stories. This, in essence, is a crime against humanity.

The heritage that Tolkien represents is tied to Catholic Christianity, something that modern woke ideology seems intent on erasing. Tolkien’s works, deeply infused with Christian symbolism and morality, are being stripped of their Catholic underpinnings. In its place, we see a hollow shell where virtue is no longer defined by faith, honor, or heroism, but by arbitrary notions of identity politics. This deliberate subversion of Tolkien’s world is not just an attack on him as an author, but on the entire religious and cultural heritage of Europe.

Woke Marxism has one aim—to tear down the cultural foundations of Western civilization and replace them with a vision that rejects its Christian roots. By targeting Tolkien’s works, they are targeting a key symbol of that civilization. What is at stake is not just the fate of Middle-earth, but the very soul of the European Christian tradition. This erosion, left unchecked, could expand further, appropriating the stories of other cultures as well, until nothing remains of the unique civilizations that once defined humanity.

In conclusion, replacing white characters in Tolkien's works with Black or Asian ones is not about promoting diversity. It is about erasing the cultural, historical, and religious identity of European civilization. This same act, if done to the Shahnameh, African myths, Arab Quranic stories, or Chinese and Japanese myths, would rightly be seen as an act of aggression, a violation of cultural integrity. We must protect these stories, these myths, from the clutches of woke Marxist ideology before they succeed in erasing the very cultures that gave birth to them. Cultural preservation is not just an act of respect; it is a defense of the dignity of civilization itself.

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Citations:

• Tolkien, J.R.R., The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Edited by Humphrey Carpenter. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2000.
• Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings, translated by Dick Davis. Penguin Classics, 2006.
• Flewelling, Lindsey, “Woke Cultural Marxism and The Lord of the Rings: How Identity Politics Destroys Myth.” The European Conservative, 2022.
• Safi, Omid, “Islam and the Appropriation of Cultural Heritage: The Case of the Quranic Narrative.” Journal of Islamic Studies, 2019.