Ender's Game and Orson Scott Card
Then, my friend, Cynthia found out. She likes Orson Scott Card's books even if she disagrees with his... opinions. She got all happy and then she looked up the IMDB page on it. Harrison Ford and Ben Kingsley are going to be in it along with Abigail Breslin. I let her be excited while I gritted my teeth.
Why?
Because, I know about Mr. Card and his... opinions.
However, no one's going to let me rest with this so I'll just have it out right now with you, internet, and you can understand what I mean when I say that I know! Alright?
Ender's Game is a science fiction young adult novel by one, Orson Scott Card, about a young man (six years old at the beginning of the novel) who is selected to go to Battle School where he is trained to be a soldier with the intention of him eventually defeating evil aliens who will be attacking our planet soon. In Battle School there are many games, but the main game is played in null gravity with these special lasers that freeze the suits. Of course, then the people in charge of the "game" start screwing with the game and the plot really begins to go from there ending (SPOILER) with Ender committing genocide without really knowing it thus remaining completely innocent... somehow.
Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide had more of an effect on me, but Ender's Game started it all. The cool part for me was where you spend the whole novel getting convinced that the "buggers" which are the aliens are the bad guys. That they're going to kill humanity and Ender had to kill them or else humanity would die. Then, in the end, you find out from the hive queen that the buggers were actually going to leave us alone to live in peace and prosperity because we were each individual people instead of a bunch of mindless extensions of a single hive queen. In one chapter you learn that the genocide wasn't a heroic act at all but plane old murder of an entire intelligent race due to ignorance and ethnocentrism.
That's what I loved about the books actually. From one point of view, you are always doing the right thing, but there's always another point of view one can take where your actions aren't so golden and beautiful. Everyone thought Ender saved the world... and then it turned out he was just an assassin, a hired gun, pointing a weapon at innocent beings who may have done something bad in the past, but they had seen the error of their ways even though we hadn't. That was a big concept for me when I was younger.
And then... I learned about Orson Scott Card. The real Orson Scott Card, not the person I had built in my head to be the author of such amazing books. My Orson Scott Card was an understanding, free-thinking man who was always willing to see every side of an argument because he knew that there was no real right or wrong, just varying points of view. He'd try to understand everyone and fight for their rights to be who they need to be.
That is not the real Orson Scott Card.
The real Orson Scott Card is a LDS Christian who believes that all homosexuals were molested as children and really want to give up their homosexuality and live normal lives, but for whatever reason, can't or won't. Need proof? Click here. That's an article he wrote for Sunstone Magazine. Or, better yet, click here. That appeared in the Rhinoceros Times in 2004. And most recently, as in May 2012, he posted this gem. Yeah.
My Orson Scott Card never existed.
And you know, he's welcome to his beliefs. He's welcome to believe what he wants. But, for a man who wrote a book that was extremely open-minded and opened my mind to a world of possibilities, he's the exact opposite of what I expected. It was a shattering thing to learn that this man who wrote these wonderful books could be so opposed to everything I thought he stood for, everything I stand for.
I learn from books. I take the values I gain from books and I apply them to the real world. I always have. And I believe in practicing what I preach, but the one instance where I wish is was true with all my might that everyone was the same way as me, who wanted to write things with meaning that would change the world for the better, I find a man who genuinely believes in hate-filled drivel that he spews out any chance he gets. The minute I discovered it, all the fears I had for the world at large just being a corrupt cesspool of horribleness where every good thing got crushed came true at once.
It broke my heart. I'm sure plenty of hearts were broken when they found out about the Real Orson Scott Card. This sort of blog is nothing new. Feel free to spam this with links to other better posts about this.
It was just severely depressing for me. So much so, that I haven't been able to pick up a book by Orson Scott Card since I learned the truth. Every time I try, that depressed, soul-crushing feeling rears its ugly head once again. I even have books that I won't be able to read to return to Cynthia who wants me to read more of his books. She knows the truth, but it didn't affect her in the same way. That's okay; I'm happy for her.
Sweet Dreams.
Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide had more of an effect on me, but Ender's Game started it all. The cool part for me was where you spend the whole novel getting convinced that the "buggers" which are the aliens are the bad guys. That they're going to kill humanity and Ender had to kill them or else humanity would die. Then, in the end, you find out from the hive queen that the buggers were actually going to leave us alone to live in peace and prosperity because we were each individual people instead of a bunch of mindless extensions of a single hive queen. In one chapter you learn that the genocide wasn't a heroic act at all but plane old murder of an entire intelligent race due to ignorance and ethnocentrism.
That's what I loved about the books actually. From one point of view, you are always doing the right thing, but there's always another point of view one can take where your actions aren't so golden and beautiful. Everyone thought Ender saved the world... and then it turned out he was just an assassin, a hired gun, pointing a weapon at innocent beings who may have done something bad in the past, but they had seen the error of their ways even though we hadn't. That was a big concept for me when I was younger.
And then... I learned about Orson Scott Card. The real Orson Scott Card, not the person I had built in my head to be the author of such amazing books. My Orson Scott Card was an understanding, free-thinking man who was always willing to see every side of an argument because he knew that there was no real right or wrong, just varying points of view. He'd try to understand everyone and fight for their rights to be who they need to be.
That is not the real Orson Scott Card.
The real Orson Scott Card is a LDS Christian who believes that all homosexuals were molested as children and really want to give up their homosexuality and live normal lives, but for whatever reason, can't or won't. Need proof? Click here. That's an article he wrote for Sunstone Magazine. Or, better yet, click here. That appeared in the Rhinoceros Times in 2004. And most recently, as in May 2012, he posted this gem. Yeah.
My Orson Scott Card never existed.
And you know, he's welcome to his beliefs. He's welcome to believe what he wants. But, for a man who wrote a book that was extremely open-minded and opened my mind to a world of possibilities, he's the exact opposite of what I expected. It was a shattering thing to learn that this man who wrote these wonderful books could be so opposed to everything I thought he stood for, everything I stand for.
I learn from books. I take the values I gain from books and I apply them to the real world. I always have. And I believe in practicing what I preach, but the one instance where I wish is was true with all my might that everyone was the same way as me, who wanted to write things with meaning that would change the world for the better, I find a man who genuinely believes in hate-filled drivel that he spews out any chance he gets. The minute I discovered it, all the fears I had for the world at large just being a corrupt cesspool of horribleness where every good thing got crushed came true at once.
It broke my heart. I'm sure plenty of hearts were broken when they found out about the Real Orson Scott Card. This sort of blog is nothing new. Feel free to spam this with links to other better posts about this.
It was just severely depressing for me. So much so, that I haven't been able to pick up a book by Orson Scott Card since I learned the truth. Every time I try, that depressed, soul-crushing feeling rears its ugly head once again. I even have books that I won't be able to read to return to Cynthia who wants me to read more of his books. She knows the truth, but it didn't affect her in the same way. That's okay; I'm happy for her.
Sweet Dreams.
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