TL;DR: They've Death Of The Authored the books so hard that they just see a power fantasy. In their minds, it's a crime that the Hobbits wanted to be rid of the One Ring.

Also, Giorgia Meloni and Aleksandr Dugin are mentioned as idolizing simple rural "tradition." Hitler also did this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTfbBvIEbfA

Not mentioned in the article: there is a home security system unironically called Sauron: https://www.paraform.com/company/sauron

—

"A Palantír is a dangerous tool, Peter Thiel."

"Why? Why should we fear to use it?"

"They are not all accounted for, the lost Seeing Stones. We do not know who else may be watching!"

why can we have someone obsessed with C. Debussy: Claire de lune from Suite bergamasqu ?

Oh for fuck's sake, this might be the most ridiculous NY Times headline ever, and there's some serious competition for that title.