quidditchmom posted a BLOG item
over 2 years ago
(warning: I get a little serious here)
First off, before I go into this, Id like to state that "proud" is not a word I associate with patriotism. To me, "proud" is something you feel when your child reads better than his classmates because you read to him every day. "Proud" is how you should feel after reaching a goal, not being born in a country, something you had nothing to do with. For more on this, you can read yourself some George Carlin. However, the word I do associate with living here is "grateful". Yes, we have our problems, our shames and laughing stocks, but I will always be grateful that we are awarded the rights and liberties that we are. This includes freedom of speech (and no, freedom of speech doesn't apply to your comments on tumblr, I'm talking about the Constitution and what it actually says) and freedom of religion. I personally abhor organized religion, but feel strongly about the rights of others being able to practice what they believe without harassment or persecution. Yes, this includes Fred Phelps, even though I wish he would fall into the goddamn Sarlaac pit.
That being said, I'm not here to argue religion or politics. I'm not here to say that Orson Scott Card isn't free to believe what he wants or what his church influences him to believe. Knock yourself out man, this is America. My issue comes in a disconnect I fail to reconcile between the man and his book.
In 1985, Orson Scott Card published Ender's Game, with Speaker for the Dead to follow. It was a fucking phenomenon amongst the science fiction community. Every nerd I ever met had it on their bookshelf. Our first hurricane together, my future husband read it next to me while I read Lolita by candlelight. It's a staple in the nerd-geek arsenal. And it should be. I finally read it a few years ago and its fucking amazing. It's gripping and haunting, something you seriously cannot put down and cant stop daydreaming about. Speaker for the Dead is just as addicting and is everything you want in redemption of a sequel.
A few months back, when Niki and I were still doing Nerdie Girls, we did a show about the rumors of a Ender's Game movie (suggested by one of our amazing fans, Ross). After some research into the movie, I decided to look up what Orson Scott Card felt. I didn't find that. What I did find made me sick to my stomach.
You have to understand that these books (with the exception of Xenocide and Children of the Mind, which I thought were a little...dogmatic) really spoke to me. Not since the Harry Potter series or To Kill A Mockingbird had anything inspired me to create. There are several Ender's Game pieces I've done on my own walls and the art of other's inspired by Ender's Game that I own. I was planning an Ender's Game tattoo.
I found the following quotes from Mr. Card:
Regardless of law, marriage has only one definition, and any government that attempts to change it is my mortal enemy. I will act to destroy that government and bring it down.
In case you cant tell, Mr Card is willing to start some kind of bloody coup because of gay marriage.
That's right. The woes of our brothers and sisters in Egypt are laughable compared to the threat of gay marriage.
Here's another:
If America becomes a place where our children are taken from us by law and forced to attend schools where they are taught that cohabitation is as good as marriage, that motherhood doesn't require a husband or father, and that homosexuality is as valid a choice as heterosexuality for their future lives, then why in the world should married people continue to accept the authority of such a government?
Yes, Mr Card, because in the Bible, there were notaries and marriage licenses to authenticate the marriage of men and their five or six under-aged wives. (Again, I'm not attacking religion here, but I did study Hebrew Bible for years and yes, this is in the Old Testament) Oh and Mr. Card, what would you tell the widows of the world? That they should repent for having dead husbands? All the single mothers in the world should ask for forgiveness for raising their children? Matthew Shepard should have made a better CHOICE in being beaten to death?
Mr Card, you are free to make your own choices and adhere to your own beliefs. My issue is that you wrote the most anti-xenophobic book there is. The strongest themes in the Ender series are that of acceptance. In both Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead, we are taught not to judge a book by it's cover. That every species, every person, is valid and worthy of respect, no matter how different they are. The Queen was just trying to protect her children. The Piggies were just trying to protect their ancestors and way of life. Dismissing those who are different is how we end ourselves.
Right?
RIGHT??
How can you write these awe-inspiring, heart-wrenching stories and then turn around and say such hateful things about people you just don't understand? Are you that good at fiction? Do you really just write for a paycheck and feel nothing towards what you write? Or do you just not see the hypocrisy?
I see it, and it breaks my heart. Regardless of your thoughts on gay marriage, Mr Card's words are hateful and sound like those of the narrow-minded antagonists of his novels. Novels that reminded me to always give my fellow man the benefit of the doubt.
I now have very mixed feelings about seeing this movie if it is indeed made. Logistics aside (how the hell are they going to do that Battle Room without people barfing?) how do I give this man any more of my money? Is it worth it? Do I just wait until it's on tv one day and tell myself it's ok that way? Am I making a huge deal out of nothing, considering our country allows even those I disagree with the right to say and practice what they feel? Am I undermining my own rights to disagree and boycott bigotry?
I can always go back to reading Ender's Game and getting lost in that world. I can always find comfort in Valentine, the voice of reason. But there will always be a little voice, a little Jane, telling me the truth. "It's all fiction". Only this time, she wont just mean the storyline.
Mood:
Sad
Read all 12 comments >>
Angry
Chillin'
Happy
meee oww