Moot point

Back in the late 70s a novelette version of the book Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card appeared in one of my science fiction magazines. The full book was published in 1984 and has quite a few followers, resulting in lots of prequels and sequels. Since then Card, a Mormon, has revealed himself to be quite the anti-gay bigot. In one of his many nasty statements he called for armed overthrow if the Calif. gay marriage ban didn't pass in 2008. He also joined the board of the National Organization for Marriage.

But now that Ender's Game is coming out as a movie this fall Card is singing a slightly different tune. He says gay marriage is now a moot point. Then with a great deal of chutzpah, he declares proponents of gay marriage (meaning us) can show their tolerance of him by going to see his movie.

The organization GeeksOUT, which prompted Card's comments, responded by saying, well, if the marriage issue is moot, you can resign from the board of NOM and call for it to shut down. They have a website Skip Ender's Game where you can declare you won't watch the movie, buy the action figures, or otherwise put money in Card's pockets. I tried it, but didn't complete the process when the wording shifted from signing a petition to subscribing to a list.

And, in case you're tempted by the movie, here's a plot summary (at least as much as I remember from 30 years ago): Ender is a teenager, and with some of his teenage friends, ends up at a quasi-military camp. They play a series of military-like games with each other and Ender comes up with some innovative solutions to the games. The adults around him invite him to the next level. They really are military and they need his help in turning back an invasion of aliens. His final game, which he wins, turns out to be an actual battle.

That leads to a question: How can this teen do better than the greatest military minds around him? I'm not going to spend money to find out.

I checked the plot on Wikipedia. My memory isn't too far off.