# Orson Scott Card drinks Kool-aid **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 6, 2006, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orson-scott-card-drinks-kool-aid/379366 "2006-11-06T23:09:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orson-scott-card-drinks-kool-aid/379366/21 "2006-11-07T02:40:28Z")
> [@Orson Scott Card](#): > > The reason the new power systems can’t cope is because the newly prosperous Iraqi people are buying – and plugging in – vast quantities of electrical appliances they could never afford to buy before! > > … > > Most of these “mistakes” are arguable – are they mistakes at all? – and when you sum up the others, with any kind of rational understanding of military history, the only possible conclusion is that this is the best-run war in history, with the fewest mistakes. > > … > > I hope somebody emerges in one of the parties, at least, who commits himself or herself to continuing Bush’s careful, wise, moderate, and so-far-successful policies in the War on Terror. This isn’t a whoosh? It reads like ham-fisted sarcasm that’s trying to achieve parody status. It seriously sounds like one of SNL’s old Baghdad Bob skits. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orson-scott-card-drinks-kool-aid/379366/22 "2006-11-07T02:45:48Z")
> [@](#): > > The reason the new power systems can’t cope is because the newly prosperous Iraqi people are buying – and plugging in – vast quantities of electrical appliances they could never afford to buy before! WOW. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orson-scott-card-drinks-kool-aid/379366/23 "2006-11-07T03:30:50Z")
[QUOTE=Frank] He also issues a threat to stop recognizing the legitimacy of government if it does not enforce his beliefs. [/QUOTE] Well, then, **by his own argument** any soldier who decides that being stuck in Iraq sucks has an absolute right to get put on the next transport home, no questions asked. What a poltroon. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orson-scott-card-drinks-kool-aid/379366/24 "2006-11-07T03:34:45Z")
Wow. I had no idea, and, like **Frank** , I wish I still hadn’t. I really admired him as a writer, even though the only books I’ve read are _Ender’s Game_ and _Ender’s Shadow_. How disappointing. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orson-scott-card-drinks-kool-aid/379366/25 "2006-11-07T03:44:24Z")
The guy wrote one good-not-great fantasy book and has been coasting on it for twenty years. Why should anyone have thought he was all that bright? ---
**Author:** ![robertliguori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/46a35a/32.png) [@robertliguori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robertliguori)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orson-scott-card-drinks-kool-aid/379366/26 "2006-11-07T03:52:37Z")
A while ago, I coined the term Card’s Syndrome (over that gay marriage article, in fact) in reference to OSC and a few others. Card’s Syndrome is a mental illness that affects fiction writers and storytellers, especially those who write in some version of the Real World. In short, they spend so much time writing stories that they forget that reality is not subject to their narratives. They get an idea, they write it down, it appears in print, and it is therefore true. Card has it bad, as you all are seeing. There’s a reason I named it after him. He tells himself a story, and mistakes it for reality. ---
**Author:** ![brownie55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f14d63/32.png) [@brownie55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownie55)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orson-scott-card-drinks-kool-aid/379366/27 "2006-11-07T04:07:23Z")
[QUOTE=RickJay] The guy wrote one good-not-great fantasy book and has been coasting on it for twenty years. Why should anyone have thought he was all that bright? [/QUOTE] Frankly, if I could pull that off, I’d consider myself exceptionally bright. ---
**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orson-scott-card-drinks-kool-aid/379366/28 "2006-11-07T04:14:47Z")
I rather enjoyed Card’s first short stories in **Analog** and his first few novels based on them. About the same time I was (unsuccessfully) proselytized by the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints. Knowing Card was a Mormon, I was surprised by some of the progressive and definitely un-Mormon themes in his stories. However, after about the third book, I started noticing a between-the-lines form of seriously heavy moralizing. I now think of Card’s books as stealth Chick tracts. Apparently, he saves the sublety for his works of fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orson-scott-card-drinks-kool-aid/379366/29 "2006-11-07T04:27:56Z")
Card’s political view matter because…I got nothing. Why do they matter? ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orson-scott-card-drinks-kool-aid/379366/30 "2006-11-07T04:45:59Z")
[QUOTE=Monty] Card’s political view matter because…I got nothing. Why do they matter? [/QUOTE] I think **Miller** nails it – it’s one thing to come to a different conclusion; it’s quite another to use arguments that are palpably stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orson-scott-card-drinks-kool-aid/379366/31 "2006-11-07T05:29:50Z")
They matter inasmuch he’s a public person who is admired in some circles for his intellectual heft. You know, like Patricia Heaton from Everybody loves Raymond is who you should go to for news and views about stem cell research. I can understand being disappointed with the current crop of politicians, but anyone who thinks Bush and co. have any plan except giving the enemy an overseas target is delusional. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orson-scott-card-drinks-kool-aid/379366/32 "2006-11-07T05:34:32Z")
I don’t admire him for his intellectual heft. I like some of his books, am ambivalent about a few of his books, and downright dislike a few of them. He strikes me as a writer who is sometimes good at writing and sometimes not. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orson-scott-card-drinks-kool-aid/379366/33 "2006-11-07T06:03:04Z")
[QUOTE=Monty] Card’s political view matter because…I got nothing. Why do they matter? [/QUOTE] Because he’s promoting ignorance and bigotry, and actively working against my civil rights. That’s why they matter. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orson-scott-card-drinks-kool-aid/379366/34 "2006-11-07T06:22:50Z")
Thanks. But why does anyone listen to him instead of someone who actually knows what he’s talking about? Oh, yeah–same reason they listen to tv & movie stars instead of doctors, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orson-scott-card-drinks-kool-aid/379366/35 "2006-11-07T06:47:35Z")
[QUOTE=matt\_mcl] War on marriage? _sigh_ You know, for folks who are at war with marriage, we sure seem to be keen on getting married. [/QUOTE] Just the other day a gaggle of homosexuals bayoneted my marriage license and threw grenades at my marriage album. War is hell. Marc ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orson-scott-card-drinks-kool-aid/379366/36 "2006-11-07T07:32:30Z")
I’ve decided to stop buying anything Card writes now that I know the depth of his idiocy. Fortunately, Card has decided to meet me halfway by refusing to write anything worth purchasing. ---
**Author:** ![blinkingblinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@blinkingblinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkingblinking)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orson-scott-card-drinks-kool-aid/379366/37 "2006-11-07T08:28:56Z")
[QUOTE=Derleth] I’ve decided to stop buying anything Card writes now that I know the depth of his idiocy. Fortunately, Card has decided to meet me halfway by refusing to write anything worth purchasing. [/QUOTE] But I wanted to buy Ender’s Game for my son. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orson-scott-card-drinks-kool-aid/379366/38 "2006-11-07T09:29:06Z")
[QUOTE=blinkingblinking] But I wanted to buy Ender’s Game for my son. [/QUOTE] My statement was a joke. I actually enjoyed _Ender’s Game_, but I think the quality dropped off quite a bit in the sequels and especially the later prequels. I’ve never read any of his fantasy so I won’t comment on it, except to say that his Alvin Maker novels are generally given good reviews. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orson-scott-card-drinks-kool-aid/379366/39 "2006-11-07T11:59:07Z")
[QUOTE=Monty] Card’s political view matter because…I got nothing. Why do they matter? [/QUOTE] Because he has a bully pulpit. As I noted above, he spouts his nonsense once a week in a local neo-con publication. He is the upper middle class’ Rush Limbaugh, and his adherents are every bit the dittoheads. Plus, he always has the last word. Whenever someone challenges him via a letter to the editor, he is given as much space as he wants to respond, and then the matter is closed. He needs to be shouted down early and often. That’s why it matters. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orson-scott-card-drinks-kool-aid/379366/40 "2006-11-07T14:44:18Z")
[QUOTE=interface2x] > [@](#): > > The reason the new power systems can’t cope is because the newly prosperous Iraqi people are buying – and plugging in – vast quantities of electrical appliances they could never afford to buy before! WOW. [/QUOTE] Geez, Card must think that those people are stupid – they keep buying electrical devices even though they don’t have any power to run them. :rolleyes: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orson-scott-card-drinks-kool-aid/379366.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orson-scott-card-drinks-kool-aid/379366.md?page=3)