Lord of the Rings Commentary by Howard Zinn & Noam Chomsky

If we were living in Middle Earth what would Zinn and Chomsky’s political commentary sound like?

McSweeney’s presents the unused DVD commentary recorded by Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky for The Fellowship of the Ring (platinum series extended edition, natch):

Chomsky: A terrible thing the Orcs do here, isn’t it? They destroy nature. But again, what have we seen, time and time again?

Zinn: The Orcs have no resources. They’re desperate.

Chomsky: Desperate people driven to do desperate things.

Zinn: Desperate to compete with the economic powerhouses of Rohan and Gondor.

And don’t miss Part II:

Zinn: The white hand of Saruman on the heads of the Uruk-hai. Of course, the hand in control is white. And good lord, these giant statues on the Anduin River. The Sentinels of Númenor. These huge, monolithic statues that have their hands thrust forever up. I think I can intuit what these sentinels are saying: “Stay away, Orcs.”

Chomsky: “Keep out of our land.”

Zinn: “Keep out of our land. Don’t come in.” It is little wonder that the Orcs are so warlike and angry.

h/t: a commenter at Reason’s Hit & Run Blog