March 9, 2001

11:19 AM

The Ornery American proclaims to publish "the voices of those Ornery Americans -- the common folk who don't pretend to be intellectuals or elite in any other way, but who are just stubborn enough to think that we ordinary folk are the ones to whom this nation was entrusted from the start." It's godfather is sci-fi writer and social critic Orson Scott Card.
posted by jhiggy (22 comments total)

While it doesn't set out a specific partisan agenda, I'm seeing a lot of Clinton-goring and Gore-clintoning here. The Ornery American's manifesto is here. I learned about this site from a long feature on Card in his hometown North Carolina newspaper, which reports the sad news of his 17-year-old son's death.
posted by jhiggy at 11:24 AM on March 9, 2001

...ordinary folk are the ones to whom this nation was entrusted from the start.

Ordinary folk don't know very much about history, do they?

And I've never heard OSC (his friends call him Scott, so they don't confuse him with Mork's Boss) called a social critic before.

I have heard him called an obviously molested homophobe before. All I know is, Ender's Game sucked.

posted by Jart at 11:32 AM on March 9, 2001

They may be ornery, but they're also lazy as all get out. Two pieces in five months... and what's this? All with numbingly repetitive Republican tone? Now there's a surprise. I may be Republican, and I may be repetitive, but as God is my witness, I do try to find new ways to piss off liberals from time to time...

Card's an asshole and a lousy writer without a single idea of his own (the short story that his Ender books came from was based on idea he got from an editor at a magazine, never mind that he's stretched that same single story idea into what - four? five? - "novels" of increasingly diminishing return; his other books sell to his "fans" and no one else, because no one else can actually get through one. He's a reactionary of the absolute worst kind: he's not old enough to even remember the American-early-1950s-TV-land suburbs, but he wants to go back there, apparently. Unfortunately, we're only talking science fiction here, because I'd dearly like to send his fag-hating-baiting little ass back there.
posted by m.polo at 11:47 AM on March 9, 2001

Frankly I don't see the charge that somehow all the world has turned into snobs or elite or anything. Except A-List bloggers, because they're allowed to. ha!

It's a nice idea though, lower the standards for those Ornery Americans who can't hack today's cryptic and difficult challenges of life.
posted by tiaka at 11:53 AM on March 9, 2001

holey mackerel! what vitriol!

for my part, i liked 'Ender's Game' and the three books after it.

but, hey, it's a free country.
posted by Sean Meade at 12:10 PM on March 9, 2001

It's pretty obvious that this site wasn't written by intellectuals. Or even people with an intellect.

When did being an intellectual become a bad thing? And is it me, or is it ironic that right wingers are always mocking "intellectuals"?
posted by Doug at 12:17 PM on March 9, 2001

If what I have thus far seen represent ordinary Americans than I prefer elitism, an aristocracy of learning and knowledge. You can be down to earth and have common sense without badmouthing those who use their minds in order to make a living.
posted by Postroad at 12:48 PM on March 9, 2001

Gee Doug, thanks for telling us how it really is. How all 'right wingers' are always mocking 'intellectuals' and how that is 'ironic'. Very 'ironic' I might add. I guess me and all the other 'right-wing' trolls just have to stop doing that... I could see how it's distracting us from stuff like raising the confederate flag at our ranch down in Georgia or marrying our cousins or dragging African Americans or gays, better yet, gay African Americans around in chains in our old pick ups. That and the turnouts at the KKK rallies have been declining. Yes, we, 'right wingers' got so busy we don't even have time to be true to ourselves. *sigh*


posted by tiaka at 12:49 PM on March 9, 2001

If the KKK really did drill-team style dances at their rallies like on "O Brother," I might be more interested ;)

Speaking as a gap-tooth inbred creepy-like-'Deliverance' right-winger.
posted by sonofsamiam at 12:59 PM on March 9, 2001

Hey, Tiaka, I touch a nerve or something? Come on, you guys elected for President what must be the stupidest man ever in public office. Don't tell me you don't have a problem with "intellectualism."
And oddly, although you were joking, the KKK, gay bashers, and incestuous biggots DO tend to be right wing. Not that all right wingers are....but....
posted by Doug at 1:06 PM on March 9, 2001

I've never heard Card called a social critic before, but I've definitely heard him speaking at a couple of cons and being critical of society (at least in the sense that anyone with a soapbox can).
posted by harmful at 1:08 PM on March 9, 2001

Doug, where do you get incestous=politically aligned right.
KKK and gay bashers use the bible as justification and for some reason I don't understand, bible=republican. But I don't see where you get incest.
posted by sonofsamiam at 1:13 PM on March 9, 2001

Sam, the south is charecterized as "cousin-marrying," and they're republican. And I was just baiting Tiaka, cause he seemed oddly indignant at my post.
posted by Doug at 1:24 PM on March 9, 2001

Now here is the original ornery American. Brought to you proudly each week by the only news organization with the courage to print the truth about Batboy.
posted by gimli at 1:26 PM on March 9, 2001

Well, obviously none of you have taken a look at the forum's at ornery.org. I consider myself as liberal as they come, and I have a great time there. You might want to actually READ what you're bashing before you bash it. The essay's were posted as a jumping off point, to get the forum started, and in most cases don't reflect OSC's true political beliefs. How many of you would be surprised to know he's a registered Democrat? Shocking, huh?
posted by Everard at 1:28 PM on March 9, 2001

So, Doug, you come here and you troll by making rude remarks about on our political standings and then you admit to it. Am I getting this right?

*This* is why metafilter is absolutely fair in it's troll calling.

I might use this as my e-mail/usenet signature - "Don't tell me you don't have a problem with "intellectualism.""
posted by tiaka at 1:36 PM on March 9, 2001

Oh, please Tiaka. You reacted pretty absurdly to a comment I made that was not even THAT rude. You gotta get a sense of humor, especially about your political beliefs. ESPECIALLY if you're right wing.
And please don't use that are your signature. I may cry and accuse you of trolling.
posted by Doug at 2:04 PM on March 9, 2001

All right back there!!! Don't make me pull this website over.
posted by Awol at 3:17 PM on March 9, 2001

So, its ok to take swings at southerners for being backward rednecks, and ok to take swings at them for being conservative.

Funny, as an educated and liberal southerner, why do I feel so beat up.

Sorry for the mini-rant.
posted by trox at 4:09 PM on March 9, 2001

Salon had an Orson Scott Card interview a year ago (although you should be warned that letters to the editor called it the worst interview ever)

Ender's Game was okay, but the succeeding books? Blech, blech and triple blech.
posted by lia at 10:11 PM on March 9, 2001

You'd think an intellectual left-winger would know how to spell the word "bigot," especially one who throws it around with such alacrity. (Just popping out of my ornery hidey-hole to fulfill my quota of pedantic posts for the week.)


posted by Dreama at 10:27 PM on March 9, 2001

Trox, I was kidding about southerners. Some of my best friends are southerners. And besides, I've slept with a few of my cousins, and recommend it highly to everyone.

And Dreama, I'll make sure to send any of my postings to you for copy editing before posting them. Of course, I'd like to make a joke about you being mad at me because I think you believe in magic and talking animals, but that would be about as childish as pointing out a typo.
posted by Doug at 10:40 PM on March 9, 2001