eb7a449d   
   XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien, alt.fan.tolkien   
   From: hayesstw@telkomsa.net   
      
   fOn Fri, 3 Dec 2010 04:36:15 -0800 (PST), JJ    
   wrote:   
      
   >On Dec 2, 1:23 pm, Steve Hayes  wrote:   
   >> On Wed, 1 Dec 2010 03:16:49 -0800 (PST), JJ    
   >> wrote:   
   >>   
   >> >On Dec 1, 6:52 am, Steve Hayes  wrote:   
   >>   
   >> >> JRR Tolkien s Prologue to The Lord of the Rings contains a section titled   
   >> >> Concerning Hobbits, which tells us that the Harfoots (apparently   
   >> >> ancestors of the Bagginses and other Hobbits of the Shire) were browner   
   >> >> of skin than other Hobbits. It would seem that most Hobbits in the Third   
   >> >> Age might be considered people of color.   
   >> >Not really - they were agricultural labourers, accustomed to working   
   >> >outdoors all their lives, and so were tanned. You have to remember   
   >> >that the Shire was England several generations ago, when all the   
   >> >inhabitants were Caucasian; as indeed they were through most of   
   >> >Tolkien's lifetime.   
   >>   
   >> Pakistanis are also Caucasian, and far closer to the Caucasus than Brits.   
   >>   
   >You're wriggling.  Can I change 'Caucasian' (where does this word come   
   >from?) to 'white'? Or does this prove that I am a nazi fascist racist?   
      
   The word "Caucasian" comes from the Caucasus, and describes people who come   
   from that part of the world, Georgians, Armenians, Chechnyans etc. Some early   
   anthropologists had a theory (not really proved) that Caucasians spread to   
   various places, but their colour ranges from the blackest of black (in south   
   India and Sri Lanka to the palest of pale (sound the North Cape).   
      
   In Tolkien, however, there are four races - hobbits, draeves, elves and men   
   (and orcs, which are the result of Morgoth's perverted genetic experiments).   
   Hobbits are no more Caucasian than they are Noldor.   
      
      
   --   
   Steve Hayes   
   Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/litmain.htm   
        http://www.goodreads.com/hayesstw   
        http://www.bookcrossing.com/mybookshelf/Methodius   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)