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"Finally: this lot, and the unnamed board they're quoting from, seem to have by and large accepted David Brin's simple old vs new model: either you're conservative and anti-technology (bad) or progressive and pro-technology (good). Anyone not see the flaw in this?[/quote]
The problem is that they would argue that Tolkien is doing exaclty the same thing, equating evil with technological progress and good with the simple, hobbitic lifestyle.
This of coarse is in fact an assumption on there part-they assume Tolkien is making some sort of social statement. However, it may not even be this concious...they would and do say that regardless of Tolkien's intentions the work is inherently infused with these "conservative" "bad" "backward" ideas, that yes they equate at least with antiprogress and badness.
Therefore, they (Im using 'they' a lot) say that Tolkien's book, regardless of his intent, is inherently backward, conservative, and that anyone who thinks otherwise is a 'retard'(to quote the star wars board)!!
This subtle argument is the most difficult to tackle.
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