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Of Battle School and buggery
Nov. 9th, 2013 02:09 amSo I went and saw Ender's Game. I'll donate the price of my ticket (and that one Chik-fil-a chicken biscuit I broke down and bought) to the Human Rights Campaign, even though some sources say Orson Scott Card's not getting anything off the back end of the movie. And the movie was...
( No spoilers, promise )
Normally, I'd say "read the book instead"... and I still will, but get it from a used bookstore or borrow it from a friend. Or join Paperback Swap, which I've been using for years and it is truly awesome, particularly for getting out of print genre books. I just mailed an old Dilbert book to Alaska today. But anyway, anyone who's read the book and especially anyone who's read the rest of the series, especially Speaker for the Dead, is utterly, utterly shocked to find out about Card's political views. Actually, I think![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ewinfic is the one who first clued me in and can attest to my disbelief. Because the main theme of the entire series is that terrible things happen when sentient beings of any type don't try to understand each other on the other's terms instead of their own. If I remember correctly, there's even a debate about whether or not to kill off a possibly-sentient virus. Even in Ender's Game, Alai saying "Salaam" to Ender in a society that seems to have outgrown religion entirely? That's in the book, which was published back in 1985. It's just mind-boggling how someone who could craft a story so elegantly centered not merely around tolerance for those who are different, but around love, could also spew such hate and talk about "the enemy" like the callous characters in his books do. I really like this article, which talks about the disconnect much more eloquently and from a slightly different perspective. (There's no spoilers in the article, though it does talk a little bit more specifically about the plot.) It also puts Card's homophobia into context with his other increasingly conspiracy-minded political views.
And that's what I have to say about that.
( No spoilers, promise )
Normally, I'd say "read the book instead"... and I still will, but get it from a used bookstore or borrow it from a friend. Or join Paperback Swap, which I've been using for years and it is truly awesome, particularly for getting out of print genre books. I just mailed an old Dilbert book to Alaska today. But anyway, anyone who's read the book and especially anyone who's read the rest of the series, especially Speaker for the Dead, is utterly, utterly shocked to find out about Card's political views. Actually, I think
ewinfic is the one who first clued me in and can attest to my disbelief. Because the main theme of the entire series is that terrible things happen when sentient beings of any type don't try to understand each other on the other's terms instead of their own. If I remember correctly, there's even a debate about whether or not to kill off a possibly-sentient virus. Even in Ender's Game, Alai saying "Salaam" to Ender in a society that seems to have outgrown religion entirely? That's in the book, which was published back in 1985. It's just mind-boggling how someone who could craft a story so elegantly centered not merely around tolerance for those who are different, but around love, could also spew such hate and talk about "the enemy" like the callous characters in his books do. I really like this article, which talks about the disconnect much more eloquently and from a slightly different perspective. (There's no spoilers in the article, though it does talk a little bit more specifically about the plot.) It also puts Card's homophobia into context with his other increasingly conspiracy-minded political views.And that's what I have to say about that.
