I don't think I'll ever get over the fact that orcs have menus.

Which means they have restaurants. Which means they have social lives. Which means they have the ability to have intentional social relations and society built on more than just orc eat orc. Which means that they hold some level of philosophical belief in a world built on social constructs. Which means that they have philosophy. Which means that perhaps there is an orc, somewhere, who isn't like the ones we've seen.

Which means that perhaps these orcs are simply the bad ones, the jingoists, the warmongers. Which means they were likely indoctrinated into this path. Which means that they could very well lead different lives.

But also, Bilbo (Bilba in the original language of the author), may have simply been racist. And perhaps he was either ignorant or purposely crafting propaganda against the entire race of orcs, justifying his halfling-savior narrative.

Were the occupants of the Shire as peaceful as we're told? We're familiar with this; people wary of outsiders and people who don't look like them and don't conform. We just want to go about our lives and they can go about theirs as long as they don't bring it here, they say.

We're led to believe they know little about the outside world and somehow share knowledge of the same technologies, practices, and fashions as the outside world, but that they're also completely self-reliant?

They have iron tools but no miners.

They're supposedly self-reliant, but they're not getting iron without the dwarves. They have a low opinion of the dwarves as grimy and they joke that the dwarven women are so ugly you can't tell them apart from the men. But they certainly like the labor and iron they get in trade.

They fetishize the elves.

Bilbo paints us a picture of elves that are *perfect*: strong, blonde, with pure blood and heritage, and white.

What are the elves but Bilbo's portrayal of the uber-hobbit?

Were the orcs even the bad guys, or is this all propaganda written by a racist halfling?

Are the hobbits the baddies?

no ends, only means