Re: LOTR and 20th Century Western European Prejudices

Newsgroup Poster wrote:

> Actually, exceptions PROVE the rule.

Exceptions prove that the rule is false. The old saying should read 
"exceptions -test- (i.e. prove) the rule". A good rule should have no 
exceptions whatsoever.

> Again, I don't say Tolkien was a "racist" in the genocidal sense --
> but given his social milieu, it's not implausible at all that he was
> steeped in a notion of white superiority (say, "White Man's Burden" or
> such) which was unconsciously reflected to some extent in his writing.

Hell yes! He was a Brit! In Tolkien's youth, the Emprie ruled over one 
quarter of the Earth's surface. Is it any wonder why Brits implicitly 
assumed the superiority of anglo-saxons over "the lesser breeds".

Bob Kolker