The folks who write and edit The Economist have a rather odd mix of attitudes towards the military. On the one hand, they have long felt free to urge that American troops be sent to far off places to wage war. On the other hand, like so many left-liberals, there is often a note of snobbish disdain towards the men and women who serve and those who equip them.
One detects the latter in The Economist’s latest jab at one of its favorite bête noire’s; Peter Thiel. The article documents Thiel’s increasing interest in getting rich while using technology to support national security.
The Economist complains:
All this takes tech investing beyond Silicon Valley into new realms, some of them menacing to many observers. That will not worry Mr Thiel. Palantir is named after a “seeing stone” most often used by Sauron, ruler of J.R.R. Tolkien’s evil empire of Mordor in “The Lord of the Rings”. Evidently Mr Thiel, ever the contrarian, does not view Mordor as harshly as most Tolkien fans do. As he once told a friend: “I’d rather be seen as evil than incompetent.”
In the first place, I’d rather see Silicon Valley following Thiel’s efforts to defend America rather that aping the progressive weenies at Google who go into hysterics at the mere thought that Google might contract to provide support to the military that defends them.
In the second place, as a 50+ year fan and student of JRR Tolkien’s work, I take some offense at The Economist’s inept use of Middle-Earth lore. For one thing, they mention that in addition to investing in Palantir they mention that Thiel has also invested in a company called Anduril, which makes military drones. For some reason they fail to note that Andúril, also called the Flame of the West, was the sword which was reforged from the shards of Narsil in Rivendell. Aragorn bore Anduril throughout the War of the Ring. He used it to prove to the dead that he was Isilduir’s heir. He used it to defend Minas Tirith at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. He used it when the Army of the West marched against Mordor. I suppose those facts didn’t fit the Economist’s narrative that Thiel is somehow on Mordor’s side.
As for the Palantir, it is true that Sauron had one. But they had been made by the Elves of Valinor in the First Age. By the time of the War of the Rings, there were only three known to exist. One was held by Sauron. One was held by Saruman and was recovered by Pippen after the fall of Isengard. One was held by Denethor the Steward of Gondor.
Critically, Aragorn takes up the Palantir recovered by Pippen. He masters it and uses it to show himself to Sauron. He deceives Sauron into believing that Aragorn has the One Ring and that Aragorn will use it in attacking Mordor at the Black Gate. This deception causes Sauron to concentrate all his forces at the Gate, which (after some adventures with the Orcs) allows Frodo and Sam a clear path to Mount Doom.
You could thus say that the Palantir saved the day. But that too would be inconsistent with The Economist’s desire to portray (however ineptly) Thiel as evil.