[Rhod the Red]

"the Elves have cut themselves off for so long that they've lost touch with what's really gong on in the world."

Huh? So they didn't know what was happening outside their own borders? No offence, but that view is very disproven by the content of The Lord of the Rings . The leading Elves are very informed, by magical and general scouting sources of the events of late, in Middle-earth and play their part(defensive) against the Dark Power of the East.

Being wary of strangers at your borders does not mean your people are ignorant of what's happening, much less maintaining their own traditions. Does rarely using Westron, the 'Common Speech', represent ignorance? No, just cultural necessity and the lack of linguistic applicability of the CS to Elvish society.