What was interesting to me reading the books is how Pippin is basically the Hobbit version of a young Boromir or Faramir (I mean, physically they’re roughly the same age, but in Hobbit terms Pippin was considered to just have barely left childhood), but he grew up in a land of peace and plenty.
I wonder if Tolkien was using him and his family as a contrast to Denthor’s family, which is why it’s Pippin who goes to Gondor. The Thrain was even one of the leaders of the Hobbit resistance against Saruman, for further parallels.
Pippin is the son of the Thrain, who is the hobbits’ stand-in for the absent King in Gondor.
Frodo is a Baggins, but like Bilbo has Took relations, as both families are old, powerful, and often intermarried. His family also owns much of the land in and around Hobbiton. So basically landed gentry in all but name.
Merry is the son of the Master of Buckland, one of the oldest families running one of the oldest parts of the Shire. So also basically landed gentry.
Gimli is a descendant of Durin, although not in a direct oldest-son line like Thorin was.
And of course Boromir is the son of the Steward, who was just shy of a king in all but name.
So it’s important to remember that companies are not, by and large, moral. They exist for three reasons: to get the money, to get the money, and to get the money. Almost every choice a company makes is in service of that goal.
They are rarely, if ever, going to take moral stands, and it is useless to look at them through the lens of leading a moral crusade. Instead, it is better to look at them as a barometer of public opinion.
Politicians will say anything. Polls can be manipulated. But companies won’t bother with that slight-of-hand nonsense. They want money, and therefore they want people shopping with them as much as possible. And so they will do whatever they think will get them the most business.
50 years ago, can you imagine a business even uttering the term LGBTQ? It would have gotten them crucified. So they didn’t. Now LGBTQ rights are popular with the majority of Americans, so they make it part of their brand.
This thing with Target shows what happens when they get it wrong. And they really, really don’t like being wrong.
I’m going to post this idea by agent_nycto, because it’s another good way to deal with them, especially if you run into them IRL:
I don't think you should be quiet, it makes them feel like everyone is agreeing with them and makes everyone miserable. Time to introduce you to my favorite game to play with conservatives, Politics Judo!
So you hear them rant about a thing. Some dumbass talking point. Let's use gun control. It's pretty easy to know in advance what the talking points are since they never shut up and parrot the same problem and solution over and over. "Shouldn't take guns, it's a mental problem not a gun problem".
Things are basically boiled down to a problem and a solution. A lot of people try to convince people that the problem isn't what people think it is, and that's hard to do. Even if they are just misinformed, it feels like trying to dismiss their fears.
So what you do is you agree with the problem, then use lefty talking points as the solution.
"Oh yeah, gun violence is pretty bad! And I love the Constitution, we shouldn't mess with that!" (Use small words and also throw in some patriotism, makes them feel like you're on their side. You want to sound like a right wing media con artist) "so instead of taking guns away, we should instead start having more, free, mental health care in this country. Since it's a mental health problem and these people are crazy, that is the solution that makes the most sense!" (Don't try to get them to agree to your solution, just state it as the obvious one)
It becomes weaponized cognitive dissonance. Their brains fry because you said the things you should to agree with them, flagged yourself as an ally, but then said the thing they were told is the bad and shouldn't want.
If they try to argue with your solution, rinse and repeat to a different talking point. "Oh yeah it might cost more, and we shouldn't have to pay more for it, so we should get the rich people who are screwing average hard working Americans over by not paying taxes to do that. We should shut down tax loopholes and increase funding to the IRS so they can go after them instead of the little guy"
Always sound like you're agreeing with them, but giving solutions that they disagree with that seem to be off topic but are related.
It is true.
You might want to switch news feeds if you missed that memo.