Links

[zarq]

As a general rule, I try to avoid linking to sci-fi author Orson Scott Card's essays. There's nothing quite so depressing as finding out that an author whose work you admired as a kid turned out to be a frothing homophobe. However, his most recent rant in the Mormon Times seems to be attracting quite a bit of horrified attention, mostly from

Comments

[supergee]

You may have found the one essay that manages to be unfairly nasty to Card. As the author says, John Kessel's is much better.

[zarq]

OK, thanks for mentioning it. Much appreciated.

I've only read the first five or six graphs. Will skim through now and if it's unfairly biased, I'll either note that or pull the essay link entirely.

Merely by existing, the essay has already auto-Godwinned itself. :P

[made_of_paradox]

You should have an "auto-Godwinning" tag just for this. :)

(My brain took a minute to wrap itself around the idea of "auto-Godwinning".)

[zarq]

Brilliant. I added it! :D :D

Trust me, you wouldn't have if you'd seen the title of the essay: Ender and Hitler: Sympathy for the Superman :)

[twistedchick]

In general, I try to separate author from book when I read, simply for the sake of story, or at least put it into a time period or context -- but I gave up on that with Card long ago. He and his writing are inseparable, and both give me a stomachache.

[zarq]

To be honest, I think his writing consistently contradicts itself. He's excellent at inadvertently countering his own arguments.

The afterword to Empire was simultaneously logical and laughable. He discussed the nature of fanaticism and the pitfalls of blind acceptance, while portraying himself as a victim of inflexible morally absolutist progressives.

It's a bit like listening to Al Sharpton promote racial harmony. Wonderful idea, but the source is too hypocritical to be credible.

[twistedchick]

::nods:: I'm kind of used to people who write any form of SF not necessarily being the people I think they are (as in, not quite like their image or not quite like any character in their books, or not quite someone I'd want to invite to dinner), behind the stories, and being pleasantly surprised when 'who they are' turns out to be someone fun, interesting and enjoyable to be with. Writers can be strange folk in all sorts of ways. And I mean this historically, as in people not currently writing or not currently alive as well as those who are. Overall, the SF people I've met in recent years have been and are delightful -- with a few exceptions ::coughMcCaffreycough

[zarq]

You once mentioned that Brin short story to me, and I still haven't gotten around to reading it. Or perhaps re-reading it. I own the book it's in (Otherness), but can't remember that particular short. (It's even perfectly possible that I skipped it. I tend not to read short story compilations in order.) But I do understand that feeling of visceral rejection.

I gave up on OSC after learning his personal political views. Much of what I do professionally is either the analysis or creation of underlying subtleties in narrative. I began to have difficulty seeing his later works as anything more than propaganda. Yet... strangely enough, I don't usually have this problem with other authors. For example, I like Heinlein's work, despite my personal disagreement with his takes on libertarianism and totalitarianism... and the less said about his disturbing incest fetishes the better. Many of his works are blatantly biased propaganda. OSC's intolerance spurs a stronger revulsion in me.

Writers can be strange folk in all sorts of

Card

[red_tanya]

wow - I had kind of hoped the man would mellow in his old age. It seems that's not the way things are turning out.

I pity him.

Re: Card

[zarq]

You know, he'd probably mellow a great deal if he'd just settle down and have a passionate gay affair. :)

Re: Card

[red_tanya]

have I mentioned recently that knowing you brings joy to my life?

because it does.

I'm not sure I'm going to be able to get this big stupid grin off my face today... : D

Re: Card

[zarq]

*hugs* The feeling is entirely mutual!! :D

Hey, his work does have a lot of homoerotic themes. Compensating much?

[lihan161051]

The best I can say about Card's essays is that they do appear to present his opinion in an at least somewhat coherently reasoned manner, which is something of a boon to people who look for arguments that have some form or other of logic presented in them. He does articulate the anti-gay-marriage political position fairly well, better than most -- the difficulty in opposing a lot of the more popular arguments is that they're not based on logic at all -- and, in a way, presents a more solid target that provides talking points to rebut in debate.

And he bases his arguments on conservative notions of biology, social evolution, and "civilization", which makes them all the easier to counter as they're a remarkably weak foundation for a statement as bold as he's trying to make .. :)

[zarq]

I do appreciate that he's better at conveying and supporting an argument than the vast majority of his fellow conservatives. I respected Bill Buckley's talents (if not his politics) for the same reason. But I can't help but believe that Buckley would have picked apart OSC's reasoning.

And he bases his arguments on conservative notions of biology, social evolution, and "civilization", which makes them all the easier to counter as they're a remarkably weak foundation for a statement as bold as he's trying to make .. :)

Definitely! :)

[idunn]

This just in.

[zarq]

""While we were waiting on the side of the road, [the attacker] was taunting the police with the head in his hand," said Caton."

*chokes* WTF?!

Holy crap! And there were kids on board the bus who witnessed him doing it!

Awful. :(