{"id":114,"date":"2012-08-25T05:49:52","date_gmt":"2012-08-25T05:49:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.undergroundmediaware.com\/?p=114"},"modified":"2012-08-29T04:08:22","modified_gmt":"2012-08-29T04:08:22","slug":"talent-vs-character","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.undergroundmediaware.com\/?p=114","title":{"rendered":"Talent vs. Character"},"content":{"rendered":"

While I was reading Ender\u2019s Game<\/span> (as chronicled in my previous post), a friend informed me that the author, Orson Scott Card, was an active opponent of same-sex marriage<\/a>.\u00a0 Though I\u2019m not gay, I support gay rights.\u00a0 So when I heard this, I was torn: I was in awe of Card\u2019s undeniable talent, but I was repulsed by his bigoted actions.<\/p>\n

And Orson Scott Card isn\u2019t my only \u201cTalent vs. Character\u201d dilemma.\u00a0 I like some of Woody Allen\u2019s films<\/a>, but I think he\u2019s a dirtbag for marrying a woman who was virtually his adopted daughter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So what do I do?\u00a0 Do I picket Orson Scott Card\u2019s house?\u00a0 Do I create www.woodyisadirtbag.com?<\/p>\n

As it turns out, I resorted to nothing so grandiose: I decided not to support their actions with my money.\u00a0 A simple financial boycott of their talent.<\/p>\n

But who am I really hurting with my boycott?\u00a0 I don\u2019t get to read Speaker for the Dead<\/span><\/a> (the highly-praised sequel to Ender\u2019s Game<\/span>), while\u00a0Orson Scott Card loses only a couple of dollars in royalties.\u00a0 I don\u2019t get to experience a Woody Allen movie, while the filmmaker is only deprived of a single ticket sale.<\/p>\n

Well, I\u2019m not above bending the rules a bit.\u00a0 The same friend who told me about Card\u2019s intolerant deeds also came up with a way for me to skirt my boycott: buy Speaker for the Dead<\/span> used<\/em>. \u00a0That way, I get to enjoy the book while not contributing money to its author.\u00a0 And I confess, I still read Woody Allen\u2019s occasional pieces in the New Yorker<\/a>, consoling myself that I already paid for the magazine subscription, so why not?<\/p>\n

By taking this stance, I know I open myself up to the same judgment.\u00a0 I have controversial beliefs I\u2019m sure many people don\u2019t agree with (for example, my pro-gay rights stance, as mentioned above).\u00a0 And I\u2019ve done things in my past I\u2019m not proud of.\u00a0 So if a potential reader is turned off by my views or history, I shouldn\u2019t be surprised if she decides not to buy my book.\u00a0 (I just implore that she shouldn\u2019t deny herself the splendor that is The Alpha and the Omega<\/span> and purchase the novel used.)<\/p>\n

What were some of the \u201cTalent vs. Character\u201d quandaries you\u2019ve faced? \u00a0And how did you ultimately deal with them?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While I was reading Ender\u2019s Game (as chronicled in my previous post), a friend informed me that the author, Orson Scott Card, was an active opponent of same-sex marriage. Though I\u2019m not gay, I support gay rights. So when I heard this, I was torn: I was in awe of Card\u2019s undeniable talent, but I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","odd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.undergroundmediaware.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.undergroundmediaware.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.undergroundmediaware.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.undergroundmediaware.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.undergroundmediaware.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=114"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.undergroundmediaware.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":126,"href":"https:\/\/www.undergroundmediaware.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114\/revisions\/126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.undergroundmediaware.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.undergroundmediaware.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.undergroundmediaware.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}