mediocrepoet
Philosoraptor in Residence
Good post up until this, but well no. 2E seriously toned down racial requirements, level caps, etc. from 1E and in that light 3E could be seen as a continuation of that movement. The only other thing that 3E removed was not requiring paladins to be human.In fact, the decline started in 3E, which removed racial requirement for certain classes.
Other than that, the "not all drow" crap started in 2E and I think the first instance of this sort of thing is actually the "is it lawful good to kill orc babies" crap that is generally against the spirit of D&D imo, though if you want that sort of game, then by all means. At that point though, your game isn't really about heroic adventure and looting, it's more some sort of metacommentary and philosophical thought experiment to raise discussions of ethical issues and whatever else might be on the group's minds.