Same as with any other period book. Consider them snapshots of history and what was probably acceptable at the time. You can enjoy a work whilst also acknowledging that a modern-day lens may render some parts of it problematic. It's unfair, in my opinion, to judge past art through a modern lens. It's not as though Agatha Christie was out there on the streets spreading hate, you know?

I really enjoyed the films too! Were they a bloated mess with depressingly bad CGI gold? Sure! Was I glued to the screen for every single second, enjoying the heck out of my life and the world of Middle Earth and being pleased that at least Radagast the Brown appeared somewhere in film form? Most definitely.