Having early on weighed in on my views concerning the questions of allegory and appropriation, I will refrain from further addressing these issues. It seems some form of loose consensus has arisen which is consonant with my views at any rate.
I will, however, offer for your enjoyment (or more likely outrage) a couple of links to pages which vocalize the other extreme in this discussion, one which has only been raised in counterarguments - no one here is advocating these positions:
Criticism of LoTR and
More criticism.
People, please show restraint and do not spam or send nasty e-mails to either of these sites.
[ May 08, 2002: Message edited by: Mithadan ]