Quote:
Originally Posted by The Saucepan Man
I think that it can be, particularly in the terms in which it is expressed by Lindir. Not only is he is disinterested in mortals, but he admits to being unable to tell them apart. The suggestion, to my mind, is that he considers himself, as an Elf, superior to mortals. They are not worth getting to know. Heck, they are not even worth the bother of spending time to understand their differences. And surely, when a member of one race regards himself as superior to another race as a direct result of the difference between the two races, that is the very definition of racism.
That may well be true of Gildor (and I am by no means suggesting that all Elves were racist), but I think that Lindir goes further. He is not just saying that he does not understand mortals. He is saying that he does not consider them worth understanding. He has 'other business' which is obviously far more pressing.
For a conservative, Internationalist Socialists and International Marxist Tendency are both sorely misguided, just in slightly different ways ...   |
The main point that I take from this, is that you interpretation the words of Lindir in a way jumps to conclusions.
Yes; he says he cannot tell them appart and yes, he admits that he has other interests. This is not the same as saying "you are inferior", he might be of that observation, but we cannot know.
After all people are allowed to have different interest. . . I for one cannot be bothered to sit down and learn the differences of all the cultures that seem alike to me, I have other stuff I would rather spend my time on.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Loslote
Also, just by looking at some of the names the Eldar give to the Edain: Firimar, the sickly ones, comes readily to mind; also the Atani, the Second People. Yes, Atani describes a true aspect of Men, but Firimar doesn't seem to be entirely necessary as a descriptive name.
I think the Eldar naturally felt superior. Their attitude towards the dwarves, for example, was almost always condescending and arrogant. Celeborn disliked them on first sight, going so far as to refuse to pass through Khazad-dum in one version of The History of Galadriel and Celeborn. It does seem natural that this discrimination should apply to Edain as well.
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"Atani" - They where the second people.
"Firimar" - Well, it can be a bit condrasending, but they where prone to sickness something the Eldar did not suffer.
I think most of the elves hatred towards dwarves was spawned by their violent clashes in the past, not the other way arround.
I don't know if the elves felt supirior or not, I can sertainly see arguments for it, but I am not completely convinced.