Should You Be Blacklisted, Mr Card?
Today, as I was reading the Saturday posting of the webcomic, The Young Protectors, by Alex Woolfson, I noticed Alex had a link to a roundtable discussion about the recent uproar over DC Comics hiring Orson Scott Card to do work on Superman. There's a series of comic book roundtable discussions ("Comic Book Roundtable Series" in NYC) and one of them was a discussion on just this issue.
Titled “The Man of Steel vs. Orson Scott Card”, or "Should You Be Blacklisted, Mr Card?", the roundtable was held Wednesday 10 April 2013. When I first heard that DC had hired Orson Scott Card to work on Superman, I was horrified. (I even posted in my journal here). Not because Orson Scott Card has a different view on human sexuality than I do. Not because he has different religious beliefs than I do. And certainly not because he holds radically different political views than I do. Everyone has a right to hold their own view on such things, and even though I disagree with him on everything I've just mentioned, I still hold that he's entitled to have these views. No, I was bothered because Orson Scott Card has publically, and very vocally, argued against gay rights issues. He has very publically worked to change public and social policy in accordance with his views. For instance, in 2009, he became member of the board of directors of the National Organization for Marriage, an organization that opposes same-sex marriage. He has written op-ed pieces where he argues against same-sex marriage, and against homosexuality.
I’m generally not for blacklisting someone or refusing to hire someone to draw/write based on their personal beliefs. But when the person in question actively campaigns for, and are very public about promoting, views that I find abhorrent - then I find it difficult to see any good reason to hire/use them. And when they are very public members of organizations that discriminate and are dead set against granting civil rights to certain groups of people, then I have to say something.
The roundtable had some very interesting comments and brought out some surprising points of view. I found it enlightening.
Here’s a link to a write up of the discussion. (Bleeding Cool, a site full of news, gossip, and rumour). If you can’t find it, or whatever, just let me know. (As I said, I found it via a link to it from Alex Woolfson’s webcomic, The Young Protectors).
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/04/16/should-you-be-blacklisted-mr-card/
Abject apologies for any misspellings or grammar mistakes or whatever. I’m a bit distracted today ‘cuz my spouse has pneumonia (he’s doing fine. But he wants to be up and doing/eating all the things he’s not supposed to be, haha. Which is good, ‘cuz it means he’s on the mend). Also, in case anyone's interested, both of Alex's webcomics are fun to read - Artifice and The Young Protectors. Artifice is sci-fi/yaoi and now available on Amazon; and The Young Protectors is a yaoi comic about young superheroes, currently free online. They're both fun reads.
Titled “The Man of Steel vs. Orson Scott Card”, or "Should You Be Blacklisted, Mr Card?", the roundtable was held Wednesday 10 April 2013. When I first heard that DC had hired Orson Scott Card to work on Superman, I was horrified. (I even posted in my journal here). Not because Orson Scott Card has a different view on human sexuality than I do. Not because he has different religious beliefs than I do. And certainly not because he holds radically different political views than I do. Everyone has a right to hold their own view on such things, and even though I disagree with him on everything I've just mentioned, I still hold that he's entitled to have these views. No, I was bothered because Orson Scott Card has publically, and very vocally, argued against gay rights issues. He has very publically worked to change public and social policy in accordance with his views. For instance, in 2009, he became member of the board of directors of the National Organization for Marriage, an organization that opposes same-sex marriage. He has written op-ed pieces where he argues against same-sex marriage, and against homosexuality.
I’m generally not for blacklisting someone or refusing to hire someone to draw/write based on their personal beliefs. But when the person in question actively campaigns for, and are very public about promoting, views that I find abhorrent - then I find it difficult to see any good reason to hire/use them. And when they are very public members of organizations that discriminate and are dead set against granting civil rights to certain groups of people, then I have to say something.
The roundtable had some very interesting comments and brought out some surprising points of view. I found it enlightening.
Here’s a link to a write up of the discussion. (Bleeding Cool, a site full of news, gossip, and rumour). If you can’t find it, or whatever, just let me know. (As I said, I found it via a link to it from Alex Woolfson’s webcomic, The Young Protectors).
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/04/16/should-you-be-blacklisted-mr-card/
Abject apologies for any misspellings or grammar mistakes or whatever. I’m a bit distracted today ‘cuz my spouse has pneumonia (he’s doing fine. But he wants to be up and doing/eating all the things he’s not supposed to be, haha. Which is good, ‘cuz it means he’s on the mend). Also, in case anyone's interested, both of Alex's webcomics are fun to read - Artifice and The Young Protectors. Artifice is sci-fi/yaoi and now available on Amazon; and The Young Protectors is a yaoi comic about young superheroes, currently free online. They're both fun reads.