William Reardon’s Blog

8 Responses to “Orson Scott Card”

1. Russ Says:
   May 28th, 2005 at 12:55 am

   Actually, Card is a raging homophobe and that’s the most ignorant, jingoistic, deceitful piece of trash I’ve ever read. And this guy is your hero? Wow. Hate much? Must be.

   -Russ

2. Jeremy Leader Says:
   May 28th, 2005 at 1:05 am

   Wow! OSC thinks we’re in danger of becoming a “dictatorship with a puritan ideology” under the *Democrats*?!

   And when he says “we are outraged by the propaganda they foist on our children in the schools, without reference to the values of the community or the roots of the American culture”, what propaganda is he talking about? Evolution, maybe?

   If I had any respect for him, I’d be immensely offended at the way he’s impugning my patriotism (I’ve lived all my life in “Smartland”). But I find it hard to take seriously anyone who thinks that Christians are so persecuted in America.

   What exactly is so heroic about that essay? Putting down Islamic fundamentalist terrorists… is everyone else in the Western world singing their praises? Or is the heroism in complaining about how the Democrats are ruining the country, with their iron grip on the Presidency and Congress?

3. rick Says:
   May 28th, 2005 at 4:10 pm

   i agreed with the part about babies and tantrums. makes sense, even if the words are a bit harsh. noone rioted in middle america when muslims burned american flags, and if they did it would look stupid. so good point.

4. Bill Says:
   May 29th, 2005 at 11:32 am

   I think my favorite thing from the article (and what made me like it so much) was:

   “I mean, what kind of idiot breaks a hole in the hull of his boat during a storm, just because he doesn’t like the guy at the tiller and thinks the storm could have been avoided?”

   Very fitting.

5. ben Says:
   May 29th, 2005 at 1:14 pm

   But in reality, what would it take to “break a hole in the boat” of America? I don’t think any silly Newsweek article can do that.

6. rick Says:
   May 29th, 2005 at 1:56 pm

   maybe the hole is already in the boat…

   regarding the article… i can’t fathom one good reason why newsweek would print such filth. i also agreed with the part about us being in wartime and that such musings make our efforts look like an attack on islam vs. terrorism. good point.

   if it were *newsworthy*, factual and relevant then perhaps it’s worth writing. otherwise it’s media shock value, about as worthy as a spoiler on a camry.

   if anyone thinks printing that specific piece of news was a good idea i’m certainly interested in what you have to say about it.

7. Kevin Scaldeferri Says:
   May 30th, 2005 at 11:44 am

   I find odd the immediate assumption that this couldn’t be “newsworthy”, and that we are actually engaged in a war against terrorism and not a war against Islam or against some other, not-clearly-terrorism, entity. The argument seems to be: the stated enemy of this war is terrorism; reporting on certain actions by US soldiers might show this not to be true; therefore, it is irresponsible and wrong to report on such. Is the circularity of this not obvious?

   Anyway, I could pick plenty of other holes in Card’s rant but there’s not much point in it.

8. Jeremy Leader Says:
   May 30th, 2005 at 11:28 pm

   The question is, was Newsweek printing the “story” (my impression was it was a 3-line bit in a sidebar) “breaking a hole in the boat”, or was it “pointing out the possible presence of a hole which someone else broke”? Do you really think that no one else would ever report those allegations, if Newsweek didn’t?

   My understanding is that before publication, the Pentagon reviewed the Newsweek item, and had no objections. After publication, the White House said the Koran flushing was not in the report that Newsweek cited. They very carefully did *not* say that the incident did not occur, just that it wasn’t in *that* particular report.

   For some comments from someone who knows a *lot* more than I do, take a look at http://www.livejournal.com/users/pecunium/114299.html

   This guy is an Army interrogator, who served in Iraq until recently.

   Oh, and a small-world-trivia note: he says elsewhere that “The kids [in the Valley] thought Sylmar was a tough neighborhood.” I think he may have grown up on the South Side of Chicago.

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