[The Saucepan Man]

First, I must say to this:

Regardless, in terms of a government-supported socioeconomic state, America has never had a true caste system in place.

... balderdash. Can anyone really put their hand on their heart and tell me that there isn't a "caste system" of sorts existent in America? No matter where you are born, if you are lucky enough to be born into money/influence/stardom, you start out with certain adavantages. And so it is not just Americans who level the accusation of racism at Tolkien.

That article seems to be trying to day that, because there are races other than Mankind in Tolkien's works who are regarded as having admirable qualities, Tolkien cannot be labelled as racist. No. I am afraid that it is an inescapable fact that the "Mannish" enemies in LotR largely come from the South and the East and are described in terms that clearly give them a Middle-Eastern (Easterlings and Haradrim) and African (those from Far Harad) flavour.

But I do not for one moment believe that Tolkien was racist in true sense of that word. He did not regard races other than his own as inferior.

What is construed as racism today, was perfectly decent, albeit in a casually offensive manner, in his time. We cannot fault the Professor for adhering to the values and culture of the society that he lived in.

Quite right Finwe, although I would put your first sentence somewhat differently. I would say rather that we cannot relate the term "racism" as we understand it today to attitudes towards other races in the time that Tolkien was writing, since society has moved on so much since then.

I will not say much more, since I expressed my views at length on this thread in response to an excellent article by Inderjit Sanghera. I also addressed there a rather nasty article written by this Dr Shapiro fellow, and contrasted it with a much more thoughtful and reasonable article by an admirable chap by the name of Quickbeam.