Are Orcs That Bad?

[Boromir88]

Nogrod, perhaps it would interest you to know that Tolkien didn't believe in absolute evil:

In my story I do not deal in Absolute Evil. I do not think there is such a thing, since that is Zero. I do not think at any rate any 'rational being' is wholly evil.~Letter 183

And critics are always complaining that Tolkien was such a conservative.

Edit: aha I found it...here's an older thread that might interest you, skip and Nogrod.

Absolutely Evil