The tragedy of Orson Scott Card

The geek blogosphere periodically directs its ire at sf author Orson Scott Card. Most recently, his participation in the Superman comics and the feature film of his book Ender's Game have provoked calls for boycotts.

The furor comes from the fact that Card is

a board member of the National Organization for Marriage, one of the largest and most well funded anti-gay activist groups in America, which works to prevent not only marriage equality but also civil union legislation and to legally prevent LGBTQ couples from adopting.

Card has very conservative political views, a fact which often surprises his readers since his books are about the worth of all people and love and empathy for humanity.

While Card's views on homosexuality--and quite a few other things--are truly execrable, what I feel like a lot of people don't realize is that Card was not always a hateful arch-conservative. Though a member of the conservative Mormon faith, Card once identified as a moderate and a Democrat. He has progressive views on space travel and fossil fuels.

But in the late 90s and early 2000s, his life essentially imploded. In March 1997, his fifth child Erin Louisa died the day she was born. In August 2000, his 17-year-old son Charlie Ben, a lifelong sufferer from cerebral palsy, died and was buried next to Erin Louisa. Card had been expecting his son's death for many years and had written his book Lost Boys, his self-proclaimed most autobiographical work, to cope with it. Then September 2001 occurred, and Card basically lost it.

My read on it is that Card, driven to the edge by sadness, got pushed over it by fear, somehow conflating the deaths of his children with the attacks on his country. Something similar happened to Zell Miller, who did a 180 on his politics in response to 9/11.

I don't think any of this excuses Card's views, and as an LBGTQ ally I'm still considering whether or not to boycott the Ender's Game film. I'm just Speaking for the dead, really. To me it's very tragic that a man who could create such beautiful works of art has been driven mad by grief.