It's worth comparing this with the recent Tolkien vs. Martin post by Thomas, if you're interested in the format. (Language warning.) They both feature an English legend against what is presented as a blowhard American. The effect, however, is quite different.
I'm curious as to why, given the political leanings of ERB, they treated the Spanish American War as kind-of glorious, and outright ignored Churchill's contributions to Britain's colonial wars.
I think they think that Churchill won this one as convincingly as they set up Tolkien to win over Martin (which of course he should have done, were the thing real). I'm pretty sure that's not true. The Bull Moose looks to me like he came out well on top, given the way that Churchill presents his argument.
To the best of my knowledge, they actually try to set up the accomplishments as on a level playing field to make it a "fair fight". How they do so I don't know. But as with anything else, I'm sure some personal bias leaks in.
ReplyDeleteBut they'll line up battles like Vader vs Hitler, so I don't know that taking it all that seriously is worth worrying about.