So some time last year I said I would blast the political arguments of Terry Goodkind. I didn't for two reasons. One, while I like some of his books, the ones where he gets political, with exception of Faith of the Fallen, are crappy and I didn't feel like re-reading them. Two, when I talk about race which is tied to the, first book I was going to do, I tend to get a little fiery and I like the mousy persona I've adopted and don't want to blow it. For some reason people like me when I'm quiet and I like that. Yes, ignore the fuzzy haired nerd.
Anyway, I'm bored and have met only a third of this month's blog quota so ... yeah.
In his fifth book of the Sword of Truth series, Soul of the Fire, Goodkind tries to set up an allegory regarding affirmative action.
Due to personal laze rather than type out most of chapter thirty-four I'm just going to show you the google book of it.
You probably didn't read that so I'll sum it up for you. First how I think he means it. While being in on the bad side of atrocities suck the posterity of the society, including the descendants of the oppressed benefited from the resulting progress.
Now time for how I read it. Are you blacks better off living in the United States than in Africa? Yes. Then shut up about how slavery sucked. Are you Native Americans benefiting from European tech? Yes. Then shut up about the genocidal Indian wars. It aint my fault and it all turned out well in the end, plus it wasn't as bad as you're probably saying it was.
My reaction is more or less Sam's on this one.
I'll be honest. I am for affirmative action. However there are several arguments against it that I respect. Note, I said respect not agree with. That the atrocities of the past aren't the fault of the current generation and they shouldn't be penalized for the sins of their ancestors. That the economic inequality of the past isn't as institutionalized as it once was and that the need for it has passed. That it disenfranchises whites in a similar fashion as blacks were in the past. Damn I think I might have changed my own mind. Anyway the one argument that makes my head explode is that minorities are benefiting from the sins of the past and that makes it all good.
You know what? I think I'll more calmly lay out my arguments for affirmative action later but for now I need to blow off some steam, and run away from my demons. Until next time enjoy a piece of the soundtrack I listen to when pissed.
Showing posts with label Sword of Truth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sword of Truth. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Princesses Who Kick Ass
Alright The Escapist just put out it's editorial, The Princess Problem. Video games are motivationally driven. You need a goal, and save the princess is often the go to goal for the player, even if the princess is a flat and, all hell boring character. I agree, but I like royals in my fiction. Nothing says epic like a royal or "not exactly human" other.
Royals are connected to epic struggles that can forever change the course of human history. If you're in charge making the battle plans i.e. the King or the Queen then you're golden. And everybody has heard of stories where princes do daring do, but what about stories where princesses kick ass.
Here are my top 11 princesses who kick ass.
First. The Rules.
1. They have to be princesses at the time they at least start to kick ass. No queens.
2. Their kickassiness has to be at least somewhat violent. No administrators on this list. They need to have found evil, (or in one case good) and tried to destroy it.
11. Sorcha
Daughter of the Forest
Alright this one is debatable. Sorcha actually does find herself in crap tons of situations where she needs to be rescued, but. And this is a big but. It's her damn story. She's the hero and being the hero costs her a lot. She's not just the magic button used to send the hero on his quest. She doesn't want to put herself in danger. She wants to just go home but she canit because she's trying to do the rescuing. This is a retelling of an old, I mean before there was an America old, tale. And in the old tales there are rules. You can't just go stabbing magic with mundane weaponry. It doesn't work like that. Read the book. Sorcha is possibly more genre savvy than Mercy. She knows how the old tales run.
10. Kalix
Lonely Werewolf Girl
She would be the apparent head of the MacRinnalach werewolf clan, if she weren't' a chaotic neutral drug addict. Nobody is crazy enough to support her claim. She should be running things because for werewolves the strongest is in charge and she took out her old man, but last I checked, I'm only part way through he second book, not being in charge was fine by her.
9. Eowyn
Lord of the Rings, Movies
She's way down on the list of supporting characters. I'll admit it. Eowyn is here for one moment. One gloriously bad-ass moment. She killed a friggin' dragon. AAAAAnd the evil damn near immortal ringwraith that was riding it, and we're not talking any ringwraith here. We're talking the Witch King. She totally kicked his ass which is why she makes the list.
8. Shoukei
12 Kingdoms
First off. Shame. Shame, if you're an anime fan and you haven't seen this show. Shaaaaaame. Now that that's out of the way. Character development is pretty much the point of everything in the show. See Shoukei, was a princess, buuut there was a coup. The coup happened for good reason. 100,000 executions by the king's administration good reason. For the first half of her arc Shoukei's a whinny brat going on and on how it wasn't fair that the people cheered at her father's death and that she should still have the wealth and status she did as a princess. Then she sees how unfair the world can really be and how unfair it was under her father and for justice's sake takes part in a rebellion against another ax friendly tyrant.
7. Cagalli Yula
Mobile Suit Gundam Seed
Is she a supporting character? Yes but she isn't afraid to call the two heroes on their bullshit. She isn't going to let the two kill just each other on the battlefield.
6. Katrina
Enchantment
We all know singing bird chick from sleeping beauty. But this aint the Disney version. Ivan is no prince charming. Katrina takes one look at him and says something to the effect of, "Uh no. Just no." And it's not just standard princessy snobbishness either. Ivan, being from modern times well 1995ish, is ill equipped to be in a fairy tale. He's not a soldier, a mage, or a farmer. Heck even as a scribe he barely knows the language. As a result Katrina has to pick up the slack. Come the final battle with the witch, it's not prince charming doing the rescuing and leading the charge, it's the princess.
5. Kahlen Amnell
Sword of Truth Books
Okay I'm cheating a bit. Kahlen is technically a princess. She's the daughter of the king and when shit happens she does serve as queen, but for the majority of the series her other title, being more impressive than being a princess, makes her princess-hood moot. She spends the series kicking all kinds of ass, leading armies and just being a general bad ass, literally, when her writer hasn't drunken the kool-aid of crazy, and sometimes even then.
Let me focus on the first 3 books here. Or even better just the second. She's away from the her beau, and they both have their own sets problems. Problems that deal with swords, and the sticking the pointy end of said swords into evil.
4. Kida
Atlantis: Lost Empire
Atlantis was one hell of a Disney movie... that nobody remembers. Well at least it's not The Black Cauldron. High on crystal juice Kida stops a goddamn volcanic eruption. That's kickass. Anything involving volcanic eruptions is guaranteed epic. Even if you have crappy animators, which this by the way didn't, a volcanic eruption is going to be epic.
3. Azula
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Okay she's evil, but she is still a princess who in about the span of a week captured the enemy capital. And she shoots lightning from he fingertips. I don't mean a little like a Sith lord. I mean full on bolt of Zeus' lightning. She also almost killed the namesake of the series. I'm not talking the way most villains almost kill the hero. I mean he was actually dead there for a second.
2. Kaede
Tales of the Otori
I can't list every badass thing Kaede does through out the series, so I'm only going to talk about how the first book ends.
The villain has her locked in a castle where he can and will rape her. Now, while she knows the male protagonist and there is some chemistry there, he's headed to the castle for a totally different reason and doesn't even know she's there. Now while he's off trying to get vengeance, it's actually Kaede who does the villain in.
1. Leia Organa
Star Wars
Look she's contractually obligated to be on this list.
Royals are connected to epic struggles that can forever change the course of human history. If you're in charge making the battle plans i.e. the King or the Queen then you're golden. And everybody has heard of stories where princes do daring do, but what about stories where princesses kick ass.
Here are my top 11 princesses who kick ass.
First. The Rules.
1. They have to be princesses at the time they at least start to kick ass. No queens.
2. Their kickassiness has to be at least somewhat violent. No administrators on this list. They need to have found evil, (or in one case good) and tried to destroy it.
11. Sorcha
Daughter of the Forest
Alright this one is debatable. Sorcha actually does find herself in crap tons of situations where she needs to be rescued, but. And this is a big but. It's her damn story. She's the hero and being the hero costs her a lot. She's not just the magic button used to send the hero on his quest. She doesn't want to put herself in danger. She wants to just go home but she canit because she's trying to do the rescuing. This is a retelling of an old, I mean before there was an America old, tale. And in the old tales there are rules. You can't just go stabbing magic with mundane weaponry. It doesn't work like that. Read the book. Sorcha is possibly more genre savvy than Mercy. She knows how the old tales run.
10. Kalix
Lonely Werewolf Girl
She would be the apparent head of the MacRinnalach werewolf clan, if she weren't' a chaotic neutral drug addict. Nobody is crazy enough to support her claim. She should be running things because for werewolves the strongest is in charge and she took out her old man, but last I checked, I'm only part way through he second book, not being in charge was fine by her.
9. Eowyn
Lord of the Rings, Movies
She's way down on the list of supporting characters. I'll admit it. Eowyn is here for one moment. One gloriously bad-ass moment. She killed a friggin' dragon. AAAAAnd the evil damn near immortal ringwraith that was riding it, and we're not talking any ringwraith here. We're talking the Witch King. She totally kicked his ass which is why she makes the list.
8. Shoukei
12 Kingdoms
7. Cagalli Yula
Mobile Suit Gundam Seed
Is she a supporting character? Yes but she isn't afraid to call the two heroes on their bullshit. She isn't going to let the two kill just each other on the battlefield.
6. Katrina
Enchantment
We all know singing bird chick from sleeping beauty. But this aint the Disney version. Ivan is no prince charming. Katrina takes one look at him and says something to the effect of, "Uh no. Just no." And it's not just standard princessy snobbishness either. Ivan, being from modern times well 1995ish, is ill equipped to be in a fairy tale. He's not a soldier, a mage, or a farmer. Heck even as a scribe he barely knows the language. As a result Katrina has to pick up the slack. Come the final battle with the witch, it's not prince charming doing the rescuing and leading the charge, it's the princess.
5. Kahlen Amnell
Sword of Truth Books
Okay I'm cheating a bit. Kahlen is technically a princess. She's the daughter of the king and when shit happens she does serve as queen, but for the majority of the series her other title, being more impressive than being a princess, makes her princess-hood moot. She spends the series kicking all kinds of ass, leading armies and just being a general bad ass, literally, when her writer hasn't drunken the kool-aid of crazy, and sometimes even then.
Let me focus on the first 3 books here. Or even better just the second. She's away from the her beau, and they both have their own sets problems. Problems that deal with swords, and the sticking the pointy end of said swords into evil.
4. Kida
Atlantis: Lost Empire
Atlantis was one hell of a Disney movie... that nobody remembers. Well at least it's not The Black Cauldron. High on crystal juice Kida stops a goddamn volcanic eruption. That's kickass. Anything involving volcanic eruptions is guaranteed epic. Even if you have crappy animators, which this by the way didn't, a volcanic eruption is going to be epic.
3. Azula
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Tags: Avatar Episodes,Avatar,Avatar Games
Okay she's evil, but she is still a princess who in about the span of a week captured the enemy capital. And she shoots lightning from he fingertips. I don't mean a little like a Sith lord. I mean full on bolt of Zeus' lightning. She also almost killed the namesake of the series. I'm not talking the way most villains almost kill the hero. I mean he was actually dead there for a second.
2. Kaede
Tales of the Otori
I can't list every badass thing Kaede does through out the series, so I'm only going to talk about how the first book ends.
The villain has her locked in a castle where he can and will rape her. Now, while she knows the male protagonist and there is some chemistry there, he's headed to the castle for a totally different reason and doesn't even know she's there. Now while he's off trying to get vengeance, it's actually Kaede who does the villain in.
1. Leia Organa
Star Wars
Look she's contractually obligated to be on this list.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Summary of Sword of Truths Politcal Arguments
Here is just a brief summary of the political arguments made in the series.
Book One Wizard's First Rule: Mostly apolitical except when explaining the governments of the countries in this fantasy land. Confederation vs republic vs totalitarian monarchy. Guess which one is evil. Come on guess. Hint the names of the last two rulers of the monarchy were Painis and Darken.
Book Two Stone of Tear: Again mostly apolitical, except some general braveheartish speeches about freedom and what not.
Book Three Blood of the Fold: This where things start getting a little political, but nobodies drunken crazy-aid just yet. The protagonist has to convince the confederation, who almost all hate him and each other, to unite and go to war. This leads to a speech about how you can't ignore the world's problems and hid from war. In other words why if you're a hippie peacnik you're part of the problem. Too be fair this is one of the most balanced political arguments in the series and still makes a lot of since within the context of the story and doesn't make me want to punch Goodkind in the face. And it was written way back in '96 well before the second invasion of Iraq.
Book Four Temple of Winds: Honestly, I only remember the first 50 and last 50 pages of this book, because well those are the only parts really interesting. The first 50 are funny and the last 50 are uhgg sad then happy then gushy and then slightly related to the plot of the next book.
Book Five Soul of Fire: Okay now this is where he starts making ridiculous political arguments, but hey at least at this point the books aren't yet about forcing his political rhetoric down the audience's throat, needlessly adding hundreds of pages for no reason...yet. Sure the argument is only loosely plot relevant, but he keeps it to less than a tenth of the book. So originally I didn't even notice. That is until later when I wanted to chart the crazy.
It helps that this is one of the more forgettable ones that I only read for the comedy of, Sorry hunny she's not my wife... yeah I am, no you're not... okay maybe in weird culturally I can't believe that constitutes marriage kind of way you are but I didn't say I do.
Anyway. There is the author's rant on why we don't need affirmative action. Now I disagree with that argument but I can understand why some would feel the country has outgrown the need for it, but he makes the argument the most idiotic way, which basically comes down to.
All the peoples the United States and the other western powers have conquered or enslaved have benefited so it's square.
Yeah... I'm writing on that one.
To be fair he also states that most of those atrocities were committed generations ago and most folks alive don't have individual responsibility for them. That I agree with, but it all depends on how you look at the purpose of affirmative action and the disparity of wealth and power between WASP males, women and minorities.
In other words I think he misunderstood(or didn't care about... down cynical and bitter me down) the opposition's argument and then stuffed a bunch of crazy straw men in the book.
By the way he's gonna repeat that from this book on, again, and again, and again, to the point where its almost... well not almost, insulting. This is a good point to explain what a strawman is.
In logical debate a strawman argument is a rebuttal to another argument that distorts or exaggerates the original argument and then rebuts this distortion.
Like
or More seriously
Book Six Faith of the Fallen: This is my favorite in the series. And its also the one I reread the most. BUUUUUT. Yeah, remember that straw man thing I said earlier. I'm conflicted. The straw man political diatribes, characters, and society further the plot and show clear character motivations. On the other hand (copy and pasted from the above on Soul of Fire your going to hear a lot of this).
I think he misunderstood, or didn't care about the opposition's argument and then stuffed a bunch of crazy strawmen in the book. Except this time its not quarantined to a few peaces of throwaway dialog and one or two minor expendable characters. The entire plot depends on these strawmen being these strawmen. And well. It makes for great drama.
The entire book is a treatise on why socialism and government regulation of well anything are bad.
As you can guess. I'm writing on that.
Book Seven: Pillars of Creation Honestly this book is so different from the others I skimmed it. It's not bad. Goodkind just decided to take a break from the primary characters and follow someone else this time around. The main characters get cameos though.
Book Eight: Naked Empire
To whatever end. Where is Hero. Where is the quest. Where is the horn blowing in the wind. They are all gone. Like grass on the meadow.
Must have faith in my favorite author. He's not crazy. He's not crazy. He won't ruin the series forever.
This book serves no other purpose than as a setting for his strawman political argument to why we need the death penalty. There is no plot. It exists solely so the heroes can go,"This is why you kill criminals". And for hundreds of pages condemn anybody who doesn't support their view.
After that, for the next three there aren't anymore new political arguments, just self-righteous condemnations of anybody who disagrees with the old ones. To be fair they're at least better than 8 and have a plot. Well that and death soccer.
Book One Wizard's First Rule: Mostly apolitical except when explaining the governments of the countries in this fantasy land. Confederation vs republic vs totalitarian monarchy. Guess which one is evil. Come on guess. Hint the names of the last two rulers of the monarchy were Painis and Darken.
Book Two Stone of Tear: Again mostly apolitical, except some general braveheartish speeches about freedom and what not.
Book Three Blood of the Fold: This where things start getting a little political, but nobodies drunken crazy-aid just yet. The protagonist has to convince the confederation, who almost all hate him and each other, to unite and go to war. This leads to a speech about how you can't ignore the world's problems and hid from war. In other words why if you're a hippie peacnik you're part of the problem. Too be fair this is one of the most balanced political arguments in the series and still makes a lot of since within the context of the story and doesn't make me want to punch Goodkind in the face. And it was written way back in '96 well before the second invasion of Iraq.
Book Four Temple of Winds: Honestly, I only remember the first 50 and last 50 pages of this book, because well those are the only parts really interesting. The first 50 are funny and the last 50 are uhgg sad then happy then gushy and then slightly related to the plot of the next book.
Book Five Soul of Fire: Okay now this is where he starts making ridiculous political arguments, but hey at least at this point the books aren't yet about forcing his political rhetoric down the audience's throat, needlessly adding hundreds of pages for no reason...yet. Sure the argument is only loosely plot relevant, but he keeps it to less than a tenth of the book. So originally I didn't even notice. That is until later when I wanted to chart the crazy.
It helps that this is one of the more forgettable ones that I only read for the comedy of, Sorry hunny she's not my wife... yeah I am, no you're not... okay maybe in weird culturally I can't believe that constitutes marriage kind of way you are but I didn't say I do.
Anyway. There is the author's rant on why we don't need affirmative action. Now I disagree with that argument but I can understand why some would feel the country has outgrown the need for it, but he makes the argument the most idiotic way, which basically comes down to.
All the peoples the United States and the other western powers have conquered or enslaved have benefited so it's square.
Yeah... I'm writing on that one.
To be fair he also states that most of those atrocities were committed generations ago and most folks alive don't have individual responsibility for them. That I agree with, but it all depends on how you look at the purpose of affirmative action and the disparity of wealth and power between WASP males, women and minorities.
In other words I think he misunderstood(or didn't care about... down cynical and bitter me down) the opposition's argument and then stuffed a bunch of crazy straw men in the book.
By the way he's gonna repeat that from this book on, again, and again, and again, to the point where its almost... well not almost, insulting. This is a good point to explain what a strawman is.
In logical debate a strawman argument is a rebuttal to another argument that distorts or exaggerates the original argument and then rebuts this distortion.
Like
or More seriously
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Book Six Faith of the Fallen: This is my favorite in the series. And its also the one I reread the most. BUUUUUT. Yeah, remember that straw man thing I said earlier. I'm conflicted. The straw man political diatribes, characters, and society further the plot and show clear character motivations. On the other hand (copy and pasted from the above on Soul of Fire your going to hear a lot of this).
I think he misunderstood, or didn't care about the opposition's argument and then stuffed a bunch of crazy strawmen in the book. Except this time its not quarantined to a few peaces of throwaway dialog and one or two minor expendable characters. The entire plot depends on these strawmen being these strawmen. And well. It makes for great drama.
The entire book is a treatise on why socialism and government regulation of well anything are bad.
As you can guess. I'm writing on that.
Book Seven: Pillars of Creation Honestly this book is so different from the others I skimmed it. It's not bad. Goodkind just decided to take a break from the primary characters and follow someone else this time around. The main characters get cameos though.
Book Eight: Naked Empire
To whatever end. Where is Hero. Where is the quest. Where is the horn blowing in the wind. They are all gone. Like grass on the meadow.
Must have faith in my favorite author. He's not crazy. He's not crazy. He won't ruin the series forever.
This book serves no other purpose than as a setting for his strawman political argument to why we need the death penalty. There is no plot. It exists solely so the heroes can go,"This is why you kill criminals". And for hundreds of pages condemn anybody who doesn't support their view.
After that, for the next three there aren't anymore new political arguments, just self-righteous condemnations of anybody who disagrees with the old ones. To be fair they're at least better than 8 and have a plot. Well that and death soccer.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Why the heck does a wizard need a sword? A gun maybe, but a sword?
I've decided to wet my feet with blogging after a two month hiatus. I will write on all the crazy stuff that happened later but its personal so I won't right now. Instead I just want to get back to writing. There is lots of news stuff I can write about and I will eventually, but for now I want to do something fun, yet serious so. I'm going to write a series of articles on my favorite book series. Some will be serious rebuttals to political arguments made in the series, others will be reviews of the series itself and one will be a rant about why I hate the tv show that's based on it, but first a little background.
The series is Sword of Truth and it was one of my favorite book series in highschool. I am a bit of a science fiction and fantasy nerd and it was probably the series that codified that aspect of my personality, if I don't count Animorphs or Magic the Gathering Books.
The first book is more or less a standard retelling of the heroes' journey. Part of me wants to call the series cynical for the violence, and "oh my god I can't believe he wrote a character doing that!" moments but ultimately the morality is fairly black and white throughout it. If you're a villain you are really, really, really evil, and if your a hero you're "portrayed" as being some sort of saint being the last thing between the villains and the apocalypse.
The problem with that is as the series goes on the characters become more and more self-righteous, leading to points where anyone with half a brain can tell they are being a bit hypocritical. It also leads to moments where out of nowhere the characters will give political diatribes that have little or nothing to do with the plot and are severely flawed in logic.
Despite that I still love the book series. Especially the first 6 books.
The reason why I'm thinking about it now is that recently the series final of the tv show its based of of aired. I love to hate that show.
The series is Sword of Truth and it was one of my favorite book series in highschool. I am a bit of a science fiction and fantasy nerd and it was probably the series that codified that aspect of my personality, if I don't count Animorphs or Magic the Gathering Books.
The first book is more or less a standard retelling of the heroes' journey. Part of me wants to call the series cynical for the violence, and "oh my god I can't believe he wrote a character doing that!" moments but ultimately the morality is fairly black and white throughout it. If you're a villain you are really, really, really evil, and if your a hero you're "portrayed" as being some sort of saint being the last thing between the villains and the apocalypse.
The problem with that is as the series goes on the characters become more and more self-righteous, leading to points where anyone with half a brain can tell they are being a bit hypocritical. It also leads to moments where out of nowhere the characters will give political diatribes that have little or nothing to do with the plot and are severely flawed in logic.
Despite that I still love the book series. Especially the first 6 books.
The reason why I'm thinking about it now is that recently the series final of the tv show its based of of aired. I love to hate that show.
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