Reminder that Orson Scott Card is still a crazy right-wing bigot

[Lief 🗽]

http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2013/08/14/orson_scott_card_worries_about_obama_turning_urban_gangs_into_his_personal.html

David Weigel finds this entertaining rambling screed by the racist, gay-hating author in his latest column:

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also please don't see the movie based on his horrible book

[King]

Ender's Game was a Cold War paranoia freak book, so it shouldn't be surprising.  Some Americans just need something to fear to be able to sleep at night.

[Zioneer]

I refuse to read Orson Scott Card's books or watch his movies on sheer principle, because I hate his crazy views. Living in a state where he's ultra-popular makes that difficult, but still doable.

Besides, if I want an LDS sci-fi or fantasy author, Brandon Sanderson is much better and doesn't spout his mouth off over everything.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Michelle Obama will be the Democratic nominee in 2016? A bold prediction.

To paraphrase Governor Romney: "I tell you what Orson, 10,000 bucks?"

[Vosem]

Clearly Card's imagination is still active enough to write good fiction.

Besides, if I want an LDS sci-fi or fantasy author, Brandon Sanderson is much better and doesn't spout his mouth off over everything.

What has he written besides finishing Wheel of Time? (Where I'm nowhere near far enough in to enjoy his work, which is at the very end of the series?)

[Warren 4 Secretary of Everything]

I don't care, I'm still watching the movie. You're not about boycotting Card, your f[inks]ing Harrison Ford in the ass.

[Sol]

It's strange to me that Card is such a bigot-Speaker for the Dead is one of the most tolerant books I've read.

[Zioneer]

Clearly Card's imagination is still active enough to write good fiction.

Besides, if I want an LDS sci-fi or fantasy author, Brandon Sanderson is much better and doesn't spout his mouth off over everything.

What has he written besides finishing Wheel of Time? (Where I'm nowhere near far enough in to enjoy his work, which is at the very end of the series?)

Well, he's basically written 30+ books, but the main series he's written are Mistborn, the thousand-page long Way of Kings which is part of a planned ten-novel series, a standalone called the Emperor's Soul, and a children's book series or two.

I'd highly recommend the Mistborn series, it's very good. If you don't want to click the link, the basic premise is that a thousand years ago, the heroes lost, and an incredibly powerful sorcerer called the Lord Ruler took over, and he's ruled ever since. There's a magic system based on ingesting different metals (if you swallow tin, your senses are temporarily enhanced, for example, while steel lets you pull yourself towards metallic objects), with very logical limitations, such as the fact that you can only ever have one of these powers unless you're a Mistborn, in which case you can have all of them. A rag-tag band of thieves try to steal the Lord Ruler's riches and get in way over their heads.

In any case, Sanderson's strength is building interesting worlds and great and logical magic systems.

[bgwah]

He's definitely got quite an imagination. Which is an asset for writing fictional novels.... He seems a little crazy when talking about the real world though.

I admittedly like his plan though. President Michelle would be awesome!

[afleitch]

I refuse to read Orson Scott Card's books or watch his movies on sheer principle, because I hate his crazy views. Living in a state where he's ultra-popular makes that difficult, but still doable.

Besides, if I want an LDS sci-fi or fantasy author, Brandon Sanderson is much better and doesn't spout his mouth off over everything.

Wasn't Sanderson the one who wrote rather a...shall I say...despondent article about Dumbledore being gay? (in short; I understand LDS frustration at Dumbledore being gay but have gay characters be normal rather than cliched as even noble heroic characters can be 'wrong' and Mormons don't have to debate against those who support gay rights because their position is universally true and doesn't require defending)

I know espousing cheap and naive views about gays rather than dealing with the reality of the person in front of you being gay is par for the course for the LDS (sorry Zioneer) but he (and I admit he wrote this in 2008 so may have evolved) simply seems to be OSC with his mouth shut.

[Donerail]

your f[inks]ing Harrison Ford in the ass.

Card would disapprove.

[Zioneer]

I refuse to read Orson Scott Card's books or watch his movies on sheer principle, because I hate his crazy views. Living in a state where he's ultra-popular makes that difficult, but still doable.

Besides, if I want an LDS sci-fi or fantasy author, Brandon Sanderson is much better and doesn't spout his mouth off over everything.

Wasn't Sanderson the one who wrote rather a...shall I say...despondent article about Dumbledore being gay? (in short; I understand LDS frustration at Dumbledore being gay but have gay characters be normal rather than cliched as even noble heroic characters can be 'wrong' and Mormons don't have to debate against those who support gay rights because their position is universally true and doesn't require defending)

I know espousing cheap and naive views about gays rather than dealing with the reality of the person in front of you being gay is par for the course for the LDS (sorry Zioneer) but he (and I admit he wrote this in 2008 so may have evolved) simply seems to be OSC with his mouth shut.

I don't know about Dumbledore, but I believe Sanderson did write a short article about how he personally doesn't agree with gay marriage, but that he didn't want to judge or have that taint his writing process. Googling it, it seems like he chilled out on Dumbledore a bit. He does admit that he's speaking from a position of privilege, and it sounds like he's endorsing civil unions with all the legal rights and bonuses of marriage. He also says he's more "socialist" then those around him (but in Utah that's not hard), for what that's worth.

To be honest, as long as he isn't a "blaargh Obama blaaargh those dang gays blargh if you criticize the military you are a traitor blargh religion is under attack and socialism is taking over" type, I'm fine with Sanderson being conservative like he is (even though I'm the rare Mormon who is fine with gay marriage being legal). As long as Sanderson doesn't make Hamlet's father a pedophile to demonize gay people (like Card did), and as long as Sanderson doesn't make it perfectly obvious that he himself is hiding something (I seem to remember hearing about weird shower fight scenes in Ender's Game), I think Sanderson's books are okay to read.

And to be perfectly honest, I didn't care when Rowling said Dumbledore was gay. It added another dimension to his character, but it's not like it was a plot point in the books. I do think that it was beneficial in that it encouraged other authors to write or "out" their characters, though.

[Kitteh]

I'm not necessarily advocating anything per se , but you guys know it's not at all difficult to watch movies today without paying for them.

[Vosem]

Clearly Card's imagination is still active enough to write good fiction.

Besides, if I want an LDS sci-fi or fantasy author, Brandon Sanderson is much better and doesn't spout his mouth off over everything.

What has he written besides finishing Wheel of Time? (Where I'm nowhere near far enough in to enjoy his work, which is at the very end of the series?)

Well, he's basically written 30+ books, but the main series he's written are Mistborn, the thousand-page long Way of Kings which is part of a planned ten-novel series, a standalone called the Emperor's Soul, and a children's book series or two.

I'd highly recommend the Mistborn series, it's very good. If you don't want to click the link, the basic premise is that a thousand years ago, the heroes lost, and an incredibly powerful sorcerer called the Lord Ruler took over, and he's ruled ever since. There's a magic system based on ingesting different metals (if you swallow tin, your senses are temporarily enhanced, for example, while steel lets you pull yourself towards metallic objects), with very logical limitations, such as the fact that you can only ever have one of these powers unless you're a Mistborn, in which case you can have all of them. A rag-tag band of thieves try to steal the Lord Ruler's riches and get in way over their heads.

That does sound quite good -- the next time I'm at my local library I'll take a look

[barfbag]

No one on the left is crazy?

[King]

No one on the left is crazy?

No one on the left is a crazy bigot, as far as I know.

[barfbag]

No one on the left is crazy?

No one on the left is a crazy bigot, as far as I know.

There's worse things in life than bigotry. I'm not saying bigotry is good at all.

[HansOslo]

No one on the left is crazy?

No one on the left is a crazy bigot, as far as I know.

You could say that about Jesse Jackson though. He is sort of crazy, and he was probably bigoted towards Jews in the 1980s.

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

No one on the left is crazy?

No one on the left is a crazy bigot, as far as I know.

Oh, I wouldn't go quite that far.

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It is substantially rarer on the left, of course.

[DC Al Fine]

No one on the left is crazy?

No one on the left is a crazy bigot, as far as I know.

Oh, I wouldn't go quite that far.

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It is substantially rarer on the left, of course.

Depends on the issue. Anti gay stuff, sure, but anti-Christian stuff on the other hand...

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

No one on the left is crazy?

No one on the left is a crazy bigot, as far as I know.

Oh, I wouldn't go quite that far.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

It is substantially rarer on the left, of course.

Depends on the issue. Anti gay stuff, sure, but anti-Christian stuff on the other hand...

>implying anti-Christian sentiments are anywhere near as powerful as homophobia
Someone needs to spend more time offline.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

No one on the left is crazy?

No one on the left is a crazy bigot, as far as I know.

Oh, I wouldn't go quite that far.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

It is substantially rarer on the left, of course.

Depends on the issue. Anti gay stuff, sure, but anti-Christian stuff on the other hand...

>implying anti-Christian sentiments are anywhere near as powerful as homophobia
Someone needs to spend more time offline.

Depends on what you mean by "as powerful".On an individual basis those who are anti-Christian can easily be as vitriolic and hateful as those who are anti-gay.  However, because there are far more Christians and Christian-allied people than there are gays and gay-allied people, they certainly are nowhere near as powerful collectively than those who are anti-gay. But anyone who thinks that is a function of anything other than numbers rather than character is sadly mistaken.

[barfbag]

Anti-Christian and anti-gay can be equally hateful regardless of what Democrats are willing to admit.

[tik 🪀✨]

Equally hateful, but not equally damaging to contemporary society or individuals. While Christian bashing is not exactly helpful for anything, you can criticize the culture and its effects easily without being hateful. The Christian in America also has a much larger emotional safety net than the homosexual who cannot change and is more likely to feel hopelessly isolated and ashamed. I've never heard of teenagers killing themselves because of bullying due to their inescapable belief in the Jesus. The impact of real hatred towards homosexuals is far deeper and much more scarring. To think otherwise in a western country is astoundingly shallow.

[barfbag]

Equally hateful, but not equally damaging to contemporary society or individuals. While Christian bashing is not exactly helpful for anything, you can criticize the culture and its effects easily without being hateful. The Christian in America also has a much larger emotional safety net than the homosexual who cannot change and is more likely to feel hopelessly isolated and ashamed. I've never heard of teenagers killing themselves because of bullying due to their inescapable belief in the Jesus. The impact of real hatred towards homosexuals is far deeper and much more scarring. To think otherwise in a western country is astoundingly shallow.

Apparently you don't live here. What you just said is very false.