[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by jhempel24

I've got to COMPLETELY DISAGREE with what you have to say here....the biggest point is that Ender was manipulated into doing what he did under the ruse of a "game". He didn't "believe" he did anything, in fact, after that ending, he went and retrieved the "queen" and spent the next few books trying to re-establish their colony.

Ender says, "I thought I was playing a game. I didn't know it was the real thing. But...if I had known the battle was real, I would have done the same thing. We thought they wanted to kill us." The adults didn't keep him from knowing it was real because they didn't think he'd be devoted to the cause of killing; they kept it secret so he wouldn't be distracted by thinking the "games" had a directly important goal.

I'm not expecting to convince anyone here of my understanding of the themes in Card's books; I'm mentioning bits of them, and pointing out that I'm not alone in those interpretations.

And I've met Orson Scott Card on a number of occasions and he's got to be one of the kinder authors I've met, and very down to Earth. I was the last person in line for autographs, and we spent a good deal of time talking. Far away from despicable....very very far away.

He openly advocates overthrowing the government for allowing my friends to be married.

He may be a sweet guy in person, but he wants to cause a lot of misery for a lot of people I care about, for reasons that are founded in pseudo-science and his own religious convictions.

I will say that I do see alot of religious overtones in some of his writing, if you read the Homecoming series (I did not finish the first one) you will find that it's a Sci-Fi re-telling of the Book of Moromon, which he openly admits.

I read them. They're even more heavily moralistic, sex-phobic, and lacking in values I'd like to encourage.

I don't see any hidden agendas with his works, it's all black and white and in the open.

I don't think it's got hidden agendas. I think it's firmly based in a morality that's directly opposed to my lifestyle. I think his RL politics are also firmly based in a morality that's directly opposed to my lifestyle.

I don't wish the man any ill; I just won't contribute to the success of someone who (1) preaches from ethics I don't want promoted and (2) tries to insist that his concept of family is the only one that should be allowed to thrive. (Also, there's that "overthrow the gov't" thing, insisting that I should be angry and threatened by my friends' marriages.)

I don't boycott every author I run across who's been a jerk, or said something bigoted, or votes Republican, or whatever. But someone who exhorts people to activism that directly affects several of my closest friends? I can't support that. Can't buy the books new and give him royalties; can't buy them used and let bookstore owners think they're popular; can't suggest that friends read them.