Again,
davem, I don't disagree with much of what you say, as regards the
fictional world at least. I am increasingly of the view that seeking to analyse LotR from
any angle other than as pure entertainment or "enchantment" risks destroying its magic, whatever other benefits it may bring. It is one of the reasons that I stopped contributing to the C-by-C thread (aside from time considerations) - I simply wasn't enjoying reading LotR for the purpose of analysing it.
But my point stands. If one does take the position that there is some positive "meaning" to be found within Tolkien's works - moral messages which can be taken from them - then one cannot simply ignore the moral dilemmas which it also poses.
As far as "real life" is concerned, I go along with the view that there are no such things as "Orcs", ie people who are by there very nature evil. I rather agree with you and
spawn that there is "orcishness", to varying degrees, in everyone. But that doesn't mean that we should not strive to rehabilitate rather than simply to mete out retribution. The latter approach may appeal to the child in us, but I somehow doubt that such a childlike approach would benefit society. Indeed, the fact that people are not, by their very nature, evil makes it all the more important that we try to understand why people act "wrongly" and seek to address it. If an Orc is naturally evil, there is no point in trying to reform him, however unjust we might think it is that he is that way. But if a person is bad, there might be things that society can at least try do to change the factors which have contributed to that, for example by addressing the ignorance, poverty and/or despair which leads people sometimes to commit crimes.
And that's not Grauniad-reading Blair-speak. Far from it, coming from me.
