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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MGibster" data-source="post: 8499877" data-attributes="member: 4534">I don't really mind anyone calling Lovecraft a scumbag, but given that millions of Americans in the early 20th century shared similar attitudes, there were a lot of scumbags running around at the time.  And if you want to call them all scumbags, I don't really have a problem with that.  What I don't get is the intense vitriol towards Lovecraft given that he wasn't in a position for his racist beliefs to influence the lives of many others.  Did he use his position to deny housing, employment, or education to anyone?  I don't think he was ever in a position to wield significant power over anyone else.  In the case of Lovecraft, we're talking about the early 20th century.  All we can do at this point is "accept" the zeitgeist since we can't go back and change it.  But you're right, just because everyone else was a scumbag doesn't make it okay.  You are right.  I was unfamiliar with Orcs of Thar until this thread started, and I could scarcely believe in was produced in the late 1980s.  I think we're all in general agreement that it's fair to analyze, criticize, and recognize the racism in these works.</blockquote>