As someone who agrees with ~90% of the content of these letters, and has all my life viewed Tolkien as a moral role model, I am curious to hear an elaboration of this opinion.
These quotes show how anti-progress and reactionary Tolkien was. He hated machines, he hated housing construction, he hated innovation. He would condemn humanity to be tenant farmers ruled by a warrior aristocracy at a medieval tech level, forever. If you want to live in Tolkien's utopia, move to Zambia.
Basically, Tolkien is very much like the Unabomber. He saw real problems, but his proposed solutions are destructive. He was a master of using the bouba–kiki effect to incept his worldview in the minds of millions, so he did far more to stop progress than the Unabomber ever did. He bears significant responsibility for the productivity slowdown, and for your rent being too damn high.
As someone who agrees with ~90% of the content of these letters, and has all my life viewed Tolkien as a moral role model, I am curious to hear an elaboration of this opinion.