Every kid wants to hear stories of revolt against the adult structure. All kids dream of the day the toy store opens it's doors and yells "Have at it". Getting 1 up on the people who push you around all day is every mans desire.
It also sets the stage, that even at a young age, we are ALL anarchists! An unsullied mind fights the perceived established system. Every child swears he'll be kind to kids when he/she is grown. As a kid in 8th grade I longed for the day when I could tell the thumb pressing my nose to the grindstone that they could go to you-know-where.
Didn't you?
... Don't you still?
I just re-read "Ender's Game" and I was blown away.
I saw the entire picture through Graff's eyes.
Inadvertently or through genius, Scott Card paints humanity in a way very few do.
What defines us?
What dictates the next step in evolution?
What changes us to the next step of higher sophistication?
Survival. Survival and violence.
Empires ranging from the invention bronze swords to GUI's. We have proved our dominance over each other with superiority.
BUT, we've been the dominant species since Adam (or since we learned tools and fire).
There is nothing for the human race to be superior over.
So, we fight ourselves and violence becomes our definition as a species. The people who have forced the next evolution have done it against their own kind.
If we were all scientists studying the human species, we would come to the conclusion that the smarter we get the dumber we are. What other species kill's it's own kind? What other species exults those best at it?
It would appear that the person who would wipe the earth clean of humans would be the greatest among us.
Back to Scott Card.
In Ender's Game Graff erases all lines in the fight for survival. In his shoes I would do the same... as would you.
Question is: why?
In the new "Day the Earth Stood Still" the U.S.A. responds to a alien attack in true human fashion.
We see something and we use violence against it. When that doesn't solve our perceived problem we resort to the next human trick: more violence.
Read "Flux" by Scott Card.
The man is one of the few people in the modern age who is able to look into the human soul.
Swift had it right!
It is possible to justify man, it is impossible to justify mankind. I know God agrees with me on this one.
On a separate note; whenever a author talks about what they view as their greatest work, you are guaranteed to hear pure drivel
Authors never realize their greatest pieces. Makes you wonder if all genius is accidental.
Books authors proclaim is their best piece is usually one of their worst.
Take "The worthing saga" by Scott Card, or "The drawing of three" AND "The wastelands" by King, the "Silmarillion" by Tolkien or the "Conan collection" by Jordan
Give me an author's biography. Pick what they claim is their epic contribution to humanity.
Never read it and you'll be better off for it.
