Orson Scott Card is a dangerous bigot.

I was offered the chance to turn my thoughts on this subject into something publishable, something definitive and succinct, but given the nature of the subject and my own lack of time, that wasn’t going to be possible. So instead I’ll say the same thing in an unpublishable and not succinct way:

Orson Scott Card is a dangerous bigot. If he will not even attempt to atone for his dangerous bigotry (including: hate-filled screeds, lies, and incitements to violence), then I don’t care if he never gets another job again. Let alone writing a beloved icon of children and adults.

The faux-Liberal hand-wringing going on around this is gross. Orson Scott Card is not merely an ‘artist,’ but also a public figure who actively seeks to increase his fame through attaching himself to high-profile projects. He then uses that fame, and the income generated from these projects, to promote and directly support his hate-filled screeds, lies, and incitements to violence. There can be no separation of art and artist when the artist uses his art to directly fund oppression.

If you are standing up in defense of someone who will take a portion of the income they make from writing a Superman comic book and send it directly to an organization that works to oppress a minority, and you are in opposition to those that would see him stopped from doing so, take a good long look at yourself in the mirror.

Holding a public figure accountable for their actions isn’t censorship, and it certainly isn’t fascism. It’s called “being an adult” and if Orson Scott Card wants to use his writing, his “art”, and all of the tools at his disposal to push his agenda of dangerous bigotry, then he deserves to be held accountable for that.  Suggesting otherwise is ignorant.

– Christopher
P.S.: I am aware that the value of the Superman character is already highly compromised due to DC’s horrible treatment of the creators of that character and their families, but as an icon outside of DC’s control the character still possesses enormous weight that makes its role here both valid and central to the issue.

11 Replies to “Orson Scott Card is a dangerous bigot.”

  1. I’m very sorry. I understand the desire to punish Orson Scott Card, but “I don’t care if he never gets another job again” is not a principled stance.

  2. Very nicely put. We would not even be having this conversation if Card’s bigotry was aimed at, for example, African Americans or Jews, because DC would not have touched him with a ten-foot pole. The people making hiring decisions at DC seem to be laboring under the notion that advocating discrimination against against gays is still in some way a “valid opinion.” We need to make them see that it is not.

  3. Hi Chris! Well said, totally agree with you.

    The question of when to support or not support an artist that may have differing beliefs from mine is one where everyone has to come to their own conclusion and people draw that line in different places, but I think when you say “There can be no separation of art and artist when the artist uses his art to directly fund oppression.” you’ve really gotten to the heart of it. It’s not just a question of reading Ender’s Game and not finding anything homophobic in it; it’s that if I buy a copy of that book, or this comic, OSC is going to use my money to fund his hatred of me and to support policies that make me a second-class citizen. And even if I weren’t directly affected, I wouldn’t want to contribute to that world. I don’t think DC should either. (I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I read Batman despite DC).

    You may also find this article interesting, which I tweeted about yesterday: http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/charles-krafft-is-a-white-nationalist-who-believes-the-holocaust-is-a-deliberately-exaggerated-myth/Content?oid=15995245

    This dude’s art used to use Nazi imagery in a way that was interpreted as (and that he specifically said was) ironic and not promoting fascism, but now he’s actually bought in to white supremacy and people are trying to figure out what to do with his art now.

    Have a great day.

    -s.

  4. Let me start by saying I’m totally opposed to Card’s stance and agree that it’s wrongheaded to defend him on the basis of creative freedom. And I’ve read him make ludicrous statements about same sex relationships. But I haven’t seen or heard about the incitements to violence. Can you post a link to one of them, or just note where you saw it?

  5. nice post chris could not have said it better about card and his views including the part of using the money he makes off of projects to fund his bigoted views. espically helping anti gay groups try and stop gays from getting the treatment they desrve as fellow citizens. not to mention this is a guy who has endorsed a goverment over throw should gay marriage be legal nation wide. scary that dc top execs would let this guy work for them and on one of their main icons.

  6. @Donald.
    Thanks! And wow… Just wow. The man is indeed advocating violence as a response to extending basic human rights to humans. Terrible stuff.

  7. Didn’t I see that this comic was going to be digital-only? That’s even more offensive. Loads of jobs rest on the print industry, anything that’s digital only will save the consumer a bit of money, but will make the fatcats at the top lots of money – and chuck thousands of minimum wage workers out on the street.

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