NP? "the formerly colonised coming back to haunt us"

[Cyrus]

Otto wrote:

>I agree, but precisely that makes it inevitably racist like the overwhelming
>part of our literature. And sexist too, remember there's even a female
>monster to be killed in it.
>
You know I respect you 100%, but I cannot understand this kind of 
reasoning. What if there were only male monsters? Wouldn't the absence 
of the female element qualify it as sexist too? What if the "good" 
characters were all female and the "evil" ones all male? Would that be 
sexist? What if there were only female characters? My point is, one can 
"discover" sexist aspects in everything, if one wants to.

I understand the open-minded white males' collective need to make up for 
all these centuries of oppression against women and "non-white people" 
(sorry I can't find a more suitable term), but I don't see why we should 
demonize everything along the way.

Now, as for racism, a writer of fairy tales (and the LOTR is one) has to 
use sterotypes. A Hindoo writer might have described things differently; 
or a Chinese; or a Congolese; or an Aboriginal. Or maybe they would put 
into the story their own "racisms", if any. But the fact is, for Tolkien 
and his first audience, white was good, and black was bad. Why associate 
it with "white supremacy" and "fear of or contempt towards coloured 
people", and not with "joy of daylight" and "fear of the dark", traits 
common to many people of many nationalities even today?

Why see racism in everything?
Why not simply ignore race altogether and treat everybody the same way?

Cyrus