What do you do with the orcs and goblins if you don't believe in real demons and devils, though? And very few people nowadays do, I would think. They are evil cannon fodder that you can slaughter en masse without ever feeling guilty about it, allowing you to have heroic battles and whatnot without ever needing to feel bad for the other side. It's the same technique that's been used in war propaganda across the centuries - often against enemies that weren't even of a different race exactly, that's true, but still, it was of course easier when they were of a different race.

And if one is black, those associations between white being good and black or dark-skinned being bad might not be considered so innocent.


The Dwarves do get less love than the Elves and good humans, though, even if the Elven snobbery towards Dwarves is criticized at times as Dom noted. Like I said - and like Dan analyzed very well in his reply higher up - it's all a matter of whether you distinguish between the more ordinary definition of racism and the subtler, insidious (to borrow Larry's word) one - she doesn't, much.

I'll have to get back to this after my class, time to go now.