Orson Scott Card confounds the far left
The far left is not happy with Orson Scott Card. Like others I posted a link to the October 29th 2006 column Mr. Card wrote titiled, “The Only Issue This Election Day”. I thought and still do that it is a well written thoughtful message that should be heard. This column was not received well by the far left.
Mr. Card’s new book, “Empire”, now brings new consternation to the far left. Kevin over at Lean Left has a post today describing Mr. Card’s new novel as extremism. Kevin writes, “In the late eighties, Orson Card was a writer with authoritarian leanings who wrote decent stories. Then came sixteen years of Rush Limbaugh and his ilk’s demonization of the left wing. That demonization only increased after 9/11, turning in some cases to explicitly eliminiationist rhetoric; Dave’s site has the details. And at the end of the time, Orson Card has morphed into full blown right wing lunatic who writes a political polemic flecked with spittle and pours bile on leftists of all stripes.”
And there is this, “The fact that Instapundit loves it is telling.”
Ouch. You would think after the last election that the far left would be pleased but for some reason there is a new defensiveness, a sort of malaise has descended on what should be a happy time. That defensiveness is well shown when Kevin writes, “Leftists, in the world of Limbaugh and Coulter and Malkin, are vile things: anti-Military, closed-minded, smug, superior, elitist, anti-American, violent, incapable of reasoned though, practically traitors. Leftists, in Empire, are vile things: anti-Military, closed-minded, smug, superior, elitist, anti-American, violent, incapable of reasoned though, actually traitors. America, in the world of Limbaugh and Coulter and Malkin, is always right (even when it acts as an Empire it’s not really acting as an Empire) and its correct course of action is always to show the world who is boss.”
I don’t know about all of that but I think most people can detect some Elitism, closed-mindedness, and anti-Military writing coming from the far left. If a book review has the phrase “in the world of Limbaugh and Coulter and Malkin” I think it is safe to say there is some bias.
Thanks for the review Kevin, my copy should arrive soon from Amazon. In the meantime, can’t we all just get along?
November 30th, 2006 at 4:01 pm
That’s because the winners ran as conservative Democrats. =)
November 30th, 2006 at 4:02 pm
After reading the post, I’m not sure he has actually read Ender’s Game. I don’t see how anyone can see Ender’s remorse and feeling of having been betrayed as anything but an indictment of authoritarianism. That the officers who engineered the program were never convicted was showing that the corruption ran up to the top. It wasn’t a justification of what they did.
Of course, I’m sure you might get another impression if you read just his columns to attack them and hit up Cliff’s Notes when you need to fill out a post.
November 30th, 2006 at 4:18 pm
Well, I mean, come on. He suggests Neiwert as an authority.
Need any more be said?
November 30th, 2006 at 5:04 pm
I strongly recommend that you read the second chapter of the book, available here.
From reading it, it sounds almost like Mr. Card read my essay Reasonable People for inspiration. It’s sometimes nice (in an eerie and frightening way) to have your conclusions reinforced, even if it’s in a work of fiction.
November 30th, 2006 at 5:13 pm
Kevin’s essay:
http://smallestminority.blogspot.com/2005/12/reasonable-people.html
November 30th, 2006 at 5:27 pm
I also wanted to add:
I think I’m going to get a post out of Kevin’s review myself, with links to several of Card’s “Ornery American” columns.
November 30th, 2006 at 5:35 pm
As a member of the same church as Mr. Card, remembering that Utah had far and above the highest percentage of votes for Pres. Bush and can generally be counted on for a strongly conservative voting record, I often find myself rather frustrated with his politics. For anyone to think that he’s conservative is evidence that they don’t know what they’re talking about.
Oh, sure, there are some areas in which Card has conservative beliefs, but he is still a very strong Democrat in most regards.
For the record: Mormons really are free to believe and vote as they choose and many of our past and current leaders have been Dems. However, with such strong beliefs in self reliance, morality issues, and freedom (to name just a few) it’s pretty obvious why so many members lean heavily to the right.
December 4th, 2006 at 5:35 pm
I’m reading Empire right now, and he has been absurdly even-handed with it so far. He’s been so even-handed that it stretches the credibility of the story.
December 8th, 2006 at 2:18 pm
[…] I wrote about Orson Scott Card’s new novel “Empire” and commented on how this book has confounded the far left. The premise of the book is a second American Civil War between the Blue States and the Red States. […]