Comments on: Orson Scott Card’s Foretelling of Blogs in the 80′s

By: Clark

Clark — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:02:52 +0000

Well they get paid more, which is probably important to Palin. (More important than actually being governor for terribly long)

By: Sean Socco

Sean Socco — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:17:44 +0000

Think about Sarah Palin. She went from being governor and VP candidate (a heartbeat away from being the most powerful person in the world) to being a pundit. I think that says a lot about the importance of pundits behind the scenes.

By: CEF

CEF — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 20:38:26 +0000

I just finished reading “Tipping Point” by Gladwell. His “Power of the Few” is very interesting.

He contrasts the difference between Paul Revere and William Dawes and why we remember the one and not the other.

By: BrianJ

BrianJ — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 13:35:39 +0000

To counter your point, Clark, I unquestioningly accept everything you write on blogs. Oh wait—that’s circular…

By: Angie

Angie — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 01:26:25 +0000

I think Orson Scott Card is the Jules Verne of our era. Both writers were able to anticipate scientific developments of the next generation to an amazing degree.

By: Clark

Clark — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:27:46 +0000

Rameumpton, certainly the media can have an effect. But I think to have more of an effect on policy makers it has to come from more “official” sites. Say the NYTs (think of how they affected the debate on weapons of mass destruction during the runup to the Iraq War). Individuals can have a big influence as well – say Kagan on the Surge. But those tend to have their influence by having more direct influence on policy makers.

John, it’s true that they were manipulating a lot of the discussion more by shaping general interest. And part of that a popular columnist could do. I think the deeper manipulation required more.

By: John Mansfield

John Mansfield — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:14:07 +0000

I can’t remember much of what Peter and Valentine were trying to promote with their writing. There was something about space colonization and accepting third children. Anything else? Did they shake their world in some way beyond what an effective columnist might?

By: Rameumptom

Rameumptom — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:09:13 +0000

I read Ender’s Game for the first time this summer. I was also amazed at OSC’s foresight of blogging.

I think that mass media does highly influence enough people to make a difference. The French Revolution had newspapers convincing the masses to storm the Bastille, execute the royalty, and then the conservatives, and then finally anyone they could grab for a kangaroo court.

While there are a lot of voices, it only takes an emergency to have one or two of those voices to quickly float to the top. Just look at how disunited Republicans and Democrats were on 9/10/2001, and how united they were a day later. Suddenly, some voices became still, as there no longer was a voice for dissidence to war, etc. Liberal Democrats stepped in line with Pres Bush, because that is where the national sentiment suddenly went to.

In Ender’s Game, the galactic war and threat of war with Russia floated Ender’s siblings to the top of the blogosphere. So, yes, I think such could truly happen, as most people are mindless, only moved upon by emotional or physical stimulus.