Against the Shadow in real life

Let me start off by saying that I never intended to use this blog for political statements and try to keep the conversation related to the game as much as possible. But this is the biggest platform I have to voice my opinion, and I feel that I cannot stay silent with the events transpiring in the United States at this moment. I have voiced my opinion twice before, on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the BLM movement, but feel that this matter strikes even closer to home. I have been staying quiet on other topics like the genocide in Gaza due to the complexity of the region and the situation there. But when it comes to fascism, there is no grey area. I feel that I have to make a stand here and hope you’ll forgive this article on a cardgame blog to do so. To not spark discussions here, I will not be allowing any discussion in the comments on this article. This should not be a debate, this should be obvious.

Some background info

For those of you that do not know, I am not an American. I’m Dutch. While that means that I am not personally affected by the current take-over of the US Government and the federal systems, I do have a history with these things. My grandparents have all survived the Second World War during the occupation of the Netherlands by the nazis. My grandfather on my mother’s side helped in the resistance of Brabant, and while my grandfather on my father’s side was too young to help, he has shared stories of the war with me. He was only a small child living north of Amsterdam during the brutal winter of 1944-45, known to us as the Hongerwinter. He had to live off flower bulbs and very little food until the Canadians came in the spring to liberate the country.

The willingness to act against evil has been passed down the line to my parents as well. My father served as a member of the Royal Dutch Border Patrol, stationed in the harbour of Amsterdam. Both me and my brother have had a desire at some point during our careers to join the military as well (him as a marine, me as a flight controller for the air force), though the relative peace in our country did not require us to do so. I have been to several WW2 memorial sites, like the Westerbork transit camp and the Anne Frank house. And every year on May 4th, I hold my 2 minutes of silence to commemorate everyone who has given their life in defence of the Netherlands and in the fight against evil abroad in the wars since. Defiance against evil runs deep in the Dutch culture, going back to our 80-year war against the Spanish occupation and to 500BC against the water that tried to drown our lands.

But lately, I have been seeing things that I have only read about in books and learned from during history class. And this worries me greatly. I see the US sliding on a very slippery slope towards a state ruled by a select few oppressing everyone that isn’t (like) them. And while I am not a soldier or a resistance fighter like my predecessors, I do still have a voice. And I will not stay silent like so many others being oppressed like this. There are a million quotes of people who regretted not speaking out the last time this happened, of which this poem has stuck to me the most.

Tolkien and Fascists

I do want to link back to the game a little, as I find it is a great source of inspiration on how to act. While Tolkien himself fought in World War One against the Germans, he gained much of the material for his later books. I urge you to see the Tolkien biopic again when you have the time. He was already an established scolar and writer during the Second World War, and thus did not fight in it. However, he did voice his disdain for the Nazi ideology in a letter he wrote after being questioned about his descent before the Hobbit would be translated to German.

If you don’t agree with these statements or think that the Lord of the Rings is unrelated to the current situation, please read the book again. It is quite clear that you should not side with the dictator in his high tower, but the racially diverse group overcoming this great evil. Side with them, or leave the work of this author behind. Perhaps Lovecraft is more up your alley.

Where to go from here

It is not easy to have to wake up and see all the horrible things happening in the US every day. And that is even with an ocean between me and all the events. If you are an American, please know that my thoughts go out for you whenever I see the next insane decree being issued. I hope you are not affected, but seeing how the American economy is likely to collapse under the stupidity of the people in charge, I fear you will still feel it. I urge you to make your voices heard, for they matter more than mine. Vote when you get the chance, look up your nearest demonstrations and attend them. And look out for your friends and neighbours that might have a harder time because of this insanity.

For everyone else, I urge you to find some peace offline. Either with games like LOTR LCG where you get to punch evil in the face, or with some time away from social media. I have noticed that I need to get my anger out in some form, so I have started to exercise more instead of doom-scrolling. In fact, I have been removing social media for a while now, having left Facebook/Instagram last year, and being very happy to have left Twitter before the elongated muskrat took over. Don’t let their algorithms control you and your right to your own opinion. Find courage in the fact that you are not alone in this fight, even if the evil seems too impossible to overcome.

Sons of Gondor!
Of Rohan!
My brothers.
I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me.
A day may come when the courage of Men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day.
An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the Age of Men comes crashing down, but it is not this day!
This day we fight!
By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!

• — King Elessar at the Morannon – The Return of the King movie