Gimli speaks...

found first on Little Green Footballs who hat tips Mark Cameron who found it on the Decent Films website where John Rhys-Davies (Gimli and who voices Treebeard) said: (I am quoting this in full because it deserves to be widespread.) bq. Gimli raises axe for Western civilization bq. Perhaps the most passionate observations came from John Rhys-Davies, who plays the dwarf Gimli and voices Treebeard the Ent. Focusing on the necessity of defending civilization in times of crisis, Rhys-Davies took the media to task for failing to appreciate the preciousness of Western civilization, and warned of the potential consequences of rising Muslim extremism and the increasingly Islamic face of Europe. bq. "I think that Tolkien says that some generations will be challenged," said Rhys-Davies, "and if they do not rise to meet that challenge, they will lose their civilization. That does have a real resonance with me." bq. Pointing a finger at the media, Rhys-Davies went on, "What is unconscionable is that too many of your fellow journalists do not understand how precarious Western civilization is, and what a jewel it is --- the abolition of slavery comes from Western democracy. True democracy comes from our Greco-Judeo-Christian Western experience. If we lose these things, then this is a catastrophe for the world." bq. Rhys-Davies revealed that as far back as 1955 his father had predicted that "the next World War will be between Islam and the West." The actor recalled his response: "I said to him, �Dad, you�re nuts! The Crusades have been over for hundreds of years!� And he said, �Well, I know, but militant Islam is on the rise again. And you will see it in your lifetime.� He�s been dead some years now. But there�s not a day that goes by that I don�t think of him and think, �God, I wish you were here, just so I could tell you that you were right." bq. Looking at the lone female journalist at the table, Rhys-Davies said pointedly, "You should not be in this room [according to Muslim custom]. Because your husband or your father or your husband is not here to guide you. You could only be here in this room with these strange men for immoral purposes." bq. Rhys-Davies went on to contemplate the significance of demographic shifts among Western Europeans and Muslims in Europe. "There is a demographic catastrophe happening in Europe that nobody wants to talk about, that we daren�t bring up because we are so cagey about not offending people racially. And rightly we should be. But there is a cultural thing as well... By 2020, fifty percent of the children in Holland under the age of 18 will be of Muslim descent." bq. "And don�t forget, coupled with this there is this collapse of numbers. Western Europeans are not having any babies. The population of Germany at the end of the century is going to be 56% of what it is now. The populations of France, 52% of what it is now. The population of Italy is going to be down 7 million people." bq. "There is a change happening in the very complexion of Western civilization in Europe that we should think about at least and argue about. If it just means the replacement of one genetic stock with another genetic stock, that doesn�t matter too much. But if it involves the replacement of Western civilization with a different civilization with different cultural values, then it is something we really ought to discuss -- because, [hang it all], I am for dead-white-male culture!" bq. His fellow filmmakers might not all agree, but Tolkien would have applauded.