You may have read books by Orson Scott Card growing up. I did. I guess a lot of people think of them as 'boy' books. I love his science fiction, but I think it's his essays that mean the most to me. He has a wonderful book called, "A Storyteller in Zion" that is filled with his essays on all kinds of things. I have it if you have a yen to read it. He's also got a great website that is linked from his name on my site.
Today, I read some of his recent essays and decided to post the links here.
The first one is long, but it's worth it. It's about the striking similarities between communists and intellectual elitists in America.
http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2008-08-10-1.html
The second one is also political, but talks about the "religion of environmentalism." I'd be interested to hear what you think when you read it. It definitely gave me pause. Secularism is certainly it's own religion, but I'd never thought of environmentalism as one of it's sects.
http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2008-05-25-1.html
I have to say, I agree with everything he says...I pretty much always do. I don't know if that makes me a sheep or it just means I've found a much more articulate, better educated twin soul. When I read what he says, though, I find I want to be more articulate and better educated and braver for that matter, so Card's influence must be good for me, at least.
In one of my favorite books, 'The Blue Castle' by L. M. Montgomery, (who could not be less similar to Card), a mousy character realizes she hasn't got any enemies because she never has any strong opinions. Now, I obviously have lots of strong opinions, but I do fear being disliked or disapproved of by others too often. I'd like to fear that never. It's fine to disagree--you with me and me with you. I'd just like to think a little more about things that are worth enough thought for disagreement.
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3 comments:
I have never been into Orson Scott Card- his novels have never seemed that interesting to me, but because I have been feeling particularly political lately, I think I will read the essays that you posted links to. They sound interesting and may make me think more as well. I'll let ya know...
And to be the mirror image of Lori, I personally have thoroughly enjoyed Orson Scott Card's books, but will probably not read much of his political stuff. I get way, way too much politics in Sunday HP quorum meetings as it is: one week's quorum meeting is enough to last me several months and then some, and i get this overdose almost every week, so I can't see myself spending even more time listening to others' political opinions. But hey, I really enjoyed the nuances and hidden meanings in his novel writings. I love it when a writer writes story "A", and while reading it I can also discover greater levels to the story, as well as meanings "B", "C", and "D" as well. I guess that's why I love Fidder on the Roof, Monsters Inc., Gigot, and Never Cry Wolf movies so much.
Wow, Card really is an extremist. He seems intent on taking things out of context to fit his own worldview. One thing I don't get here is that he never really defines who he thinks the intellectual elitists are (other than Barack Obama, who I would argue is an incredibly intelligent person). What surprises me is that he seems to be buying into the new elitism of know-nothingism, which seems to be infecting our country. When someone like Sarah Palin, who has no foreign policy experience, can say that it's just important to be committed to some poorly defined "mission," I think that's a bigger problem than intellectuals offering thoughtful solutions to real problems. But then again, maybe I'm just an elitist intellectual.
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