Why is killing all the elves a bad idea?

Umbran said:

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Which is to say, killing the elves is attacking a symptom, not the disease.

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BINGO!!!
Real world Intelligence in the Military aspect may seem slow when faced with crisis, because there is an "obvious" threat, so we should go get it. In fact, the verification process that takes the time is there so that mistakes are minimized (not eradicated). I see no difference here, knee jerk reaction by the fantasy governments involved, regardless of the "cause", usually leads to some pretty nasty inter-racial relations down the road.

Again, wars are fought on battlefields, but won in boardrooms. It's a nasty realization but, there it is.

RangerWickett said:

The whole concept of race is a social construct.

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As applied to real-world humans, yet. It becomes somewhat less clear that it is a social construct when you start having statistically measurable biological and behavioral differences - for example, between different breeds of dogs.

Sure, elves and dwarves and thri-kreen might not be able to interbreed, but they're still all intelligent beings, capable of altering their behavior based on culture and education. That means that, while not always feasible, it is theoretically possible for problems to be solved through cultural transformation rather than necessitating violence.

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Sometimes, maybe. Among real-world humans, I find it reasonable to note that, since we are all biologically the same, that group-based competition for resources is all in our heads. The lines between "Them" and "Us" are only conceptual.

But, once you have actual species that cannot interbreed, that competition is no longer just in your head. Sometimes, you can solve problems through cultural transformation, but sometimes the root of issues will be biological, species level survival or success, and that's not something that can be transformed away with thought. At least, not if you're using a close analog to real-world biological drives behind your fantasy races.

Umbran said:

Sometimes, maybe. Among real-world humans, I find it reasonable to note that, since we are all biologically the same, that group-based competition for resources is all in our heads. The lines between "Them" and "Us" are only conceptual.

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Yeah. What Umbran said.

Though it may be of note, that while we are all Humans, Them and Us happens when Us over here have less resources than Us over there. Sure, technically all of Us are winning as a whole, but it sure sucks to be Us over here. Maybe we should go kill Them and take their stuff.

I'm just brainstorming here, but I bet the Us vs. Them mindset diminishes the more Them look and seem equivalent to Us and when Us are doing well. I have a hunch that racist and terrorist misbehaving goes on more with people who are hungry and idle. Hence the common refrain of "They're taking our jobs" alluding to the fact that they are underfed/employed and have identified Them as the culprit.