[SkyPilot]

*dons nerd goggles*
Actually, Near Haradrim were Arabic-seeming in appearance

HA! Hey--thanks. Absolutely correct. I had to laugh at your "nerd goggles" quip. Since this is a thread about Tolkien, its altogether fitting that we are accurate to his work and facts--so thanks.

The "nerd" suggestion is funny, because I used to fly with a guy who was really "into" Star Trek. He drove my flight engineer and me crazy, talking about it all the time and saying things in the Klingon language. Some Tolkien fans are no doubt obsessed--however, in this case I find the discussion fascinating. First, there are cultural and philosophical underpinnings towards Tolkien’s work that are quite topical for today. The news is filled with "East vs. West" and "Islam vs. Judeo-Christian" competing worldviews. When I find the PC critics coming after Tolkien, it solidifies my view that there really is a culture war going on.

[Skywalk]

one thing that sets Tolkien apart from Star Trek is the rich complexity of themes, characters, etc and ad infinitum. Klingon simply has not the beauty or true linguistic background of Sindarin or Noldorin Elven tongues, nor does Star Trek(which I still like, though I prefer Next Gen and the Classic Cast) compare with the depth of Middle-earth.

But, I guess many would still look at certain discussions and exclaim "nerds!" Which is fine by me.

As for the East-West aspect, I used to have a problem with the human allies of Sauron, but it makes sense that Men outside that geographical location would be different racially. I think actually, this shows Tolkien wanted to include other groups, it's just that most of them were under Sauron's sway, though not necessarily evil themselves.