its not. Its mediocre and needs time travel to work.
This mentality misses the point, IMO. Even if the Harry Potter books were written in such a way that made even the staunchest critic go, “Wow, these books rival the works of of J.R.R. Tolkien and Shakespeare,” that should have zero bearing on whether or not any given individual makes the decision to boycott an author’s work on idealistic grounds.
I like plenty of art that could be classified as schlock; not everything we enjoy has to be masterpiece theatre. I’ve boycotted all HP content ever since Rowling became a professional asshole, but I won’t pretend I didn’t enjoy the books and the films as a teenager.
Here’s a hard pill to swallow: shitty people can make good art. We can condemn bad people unequivocally without simultaneously needing their art to be bad. Michael Jackson was my favorite musician for many years, but hearing his music in 2026 always leaves a bad taste in my mouth. But I won’t pretend that it wasn’t my jam and I certainly won’t suggest that the music was mediocre.
Edit: And although it goes without saying: this decision is always up to the individual. I have trans friends who don’t concern themselves with Rowlings’ sociopolitical views and continue to enjoy HP content. I don’t begrudge them for that; we all have different, if arbitrary, boundaries.
Card is confounding because those first few Ender books are unequivocally about the importance of empathy and recognition of common personhood, even across seeming-impenetrable species boundaries, and how mutual respect and love are the most important quality a person can have. And then… yadda yadda yadda, OSC is a gigantic bigot. The. Fuck?
This mentality misses the point, IMO. Even if the Harry Potter books were written in such a way that made even the staunchest critic go, “Wow, these books rival the works of of J.R.R. Tolkien and Shakespeare,” that should have zero bearing on whether or not any given individual makes the decision to boycott an author’s work on idealistic grounds.
I like plenty of art that could be classified as schlock; not everything we enjoy has to be masterpiece theatre. I’ve boycotted all HP content ever since Rowling became a professional asshole, but I won’t pretend I didn’t enjoy the books and the films as a teenager.
Here’s a hard pill to swallow: shitty people can make good art. We can condemn bad people unequivocally without simultaneously needing their art to be bad. Michael Jackson was my favorite musician for many years, but hearing his music in 2026 always leaves a bad taste in my mouth. But I won’t pretend that it wasn’t my jam and I certainly won’t suggest that the music was mediocre.
Edit: And although it goes without saying: this decision is always up to the individual. I have trans friends who don’t concern themselves with Rowlings’ sociopolitical views and continue to enjoy HP content. I don’t begrudge them for that; we all have different, if arbitrary, boundaries.
Orson Scott Card.
I bought Ender’s books before knowing what kind of shit is OSC. Now I wouldn’t download a free pdf of anything from him.
Card is confounding because those first few Ender books are unequivocally about the importance of empathy and recognition of common personhood, even across seeming-impenetrable species boundaries, and how mutual respect and love are the most important quality a person can have. And then… yadda yadda yadda, OSC is a gigantic bigot. The. Fuck?
She’s a bad writer AND a bad person AND a billionaire AND a political figure AND is successful AND is getting richer