From: "Didoo the Purple" Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien References: <7m2slm$l0e$2@news.worldonline.nl> <7mf9k1$si9$3@news.worldonline.nl> Subject: Civil Rights in Tolkien's writings Lines: 48 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2314.1300 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2314.1300 Message-ID: Date: Wed, 14 Jul 1999 14:33:29 -0300 NNTP-Posting-Host: 216.210.28.23 X-Complaints-To: abuse@total.net X-Trace: news.total.net 931977208 216.210.28.23 (Wed, 14 Jul 1999 14:33:28 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 14 Jul 1999 14:33:28 EDT Organization: TotalNet Inc. Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news1.sunrise.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsswitch.lcs.mit.edu!remarQ-easT!remarQ60!supernews.com!remarQ.com!news.total.net!not-for-mail db wrote in message news:7mf9k1$si9$3@news.worldonline.nl... > > Didoo the Purple wrote in message ... > snip my own liberal stuff> > > Agreed to the fullest. Those rights are what any human should enjoy. It is > in a way ridiculous that it was once deemed necessary (but it was and still > is) to explicitly state what a person's living conditions and expectations > should (minimally) be. The fact that is is also thought necessary to > separately define the rights of persons perceived as different from the > "average" individual is even more strange, but only one of a number of > results of various forms of discrimination. > Hateful, and deserving of everyone's attention, not only the group is/seems > relevant to. > db > Cool. That reminds me that all you said is defended by Tolkien too. All his books pledge about tolerance between all thinking creatures. He teaches us that all the problems of the Free Peoples came from their divisions, feeded by prejudices and lies. Some of them: "elves are strange and arrogant sorcerers", "dwarves are greedy and egocentric", "Men are not trusting people", "hobbits are weak, how can they help us?", "Noldos are assassins, keep them out of Doriath", "the Valas betrayed us (noldos)", "woses are wild animals", "Rohirrim eat their prisoners", etc. These lies contributed to the victories of Morgoth and Sauron. But when all these peoples leave these prejudices and admit their differences (lifestyle, race..), they can unite. And while united, their take down the mighty evil empire who represents hate and tyrany. These divisions, based on the fact that many people can't stand some others that live in a different way (ex. the elves, "forest devils"), were Morgoth and Sauron's best weapons. Intolerance was a more efficient ally than their large armies. In all Arda history, these two evil entities favorite hobby is to disguise themselves and praise their lies, saying: look at the others, they are your enemies! Then I could compare Morgoth and Sauron's activities to those of some bigot preachers who praise hate between us, the free people of this earth. Conclusion: IMO, Tolkien was a civil rights activist if you study the morale beyond the story. ###### From: "db" Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien Subject: Re: Civil Rights in Tolkien's writings Date: Thu, 15 Jul 1999 00:47:11 +0200 Organization: WorldOnline News server Lines: 13 Message-ID: <7mj452$c9g$2@news.worldonline.nl> References: <7m2slm$l0e$2@news.worldonline.nl> <7mf9k1$si9$3@news.worldonline.nl> NNTP-Posting-Host: vp213-109.worldonline.nl X-Trace: news.worldonline.nl 931992546 12592 195.241.213.109 (14 Jul 1999 22:49:06 GMT) X-Complaints-To: abuse@worldonline.nl NNTP-Posting-Date: 14 Jul 1999 22:49:06 GMT X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 4.72.3110.1 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.3110.3 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news1.sunrise.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsgate.cistron.nl!het.net!news.worldonline.nl!not-for-mail Perhaps not an activist. But he surely leads by example. db Didoo the Purple wrote in message ... >Conclusion: IMO, Tolkien was a civil rights activist if you study the morale >beyond the story. > >