Outrage?

[Kath]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry
But with its constant emphasis on enclosing good against evil influence--even at the end when Aragorn bans men from The Shire--I cannot help but wonder if all this really creates the very passive atttiude of (some) forms of traditional religion where people are encouraged, even taught, to fear discussion.

I don't really have the energy to look at all the points raised here recently and many have already been discussed to death anyway, but this one caught my eye.
I'm still not entirely sure as to what you meant but I just thought I'd mention that this is similar in HP. The young witches and wizards are all taken off to a school that is hidden from the Muggle world to protect both sides. Muggles are banned from Hogwarts as Men are banned from the Shire, but in neither case are the opposing sides forbidden to communicate. I don't think that they fear discussion, just change.