Objectively, I don't care. In terms of a "boycott," I'm not going to stop reading someone who's a good writer just because she...I dunno, believes in the estate tax. That fact isn't going to stop me from buying her book.

On the other hand, I don't think you can totally divorce art from politics. I think that an author's political beliefs will out. Not all authors, not every work, and not to outlandish degrees, but it's often there.

Put another way, Heinlein ruined Heinlein for me, because once I understood his political bent, I could see it constantly in his writing, and, since I don't quite agree with the man, it felt like browbeating.

Secondly, sf is an incredibly political genre. The very notion that space travel is good is a political statement that carries a number of political assumptions, much more so than horror or lit-crit. It is much harder to divorce a sci-fi author from her political leanings.

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What might be more interesting would be a rundown of well-known science fiction writers and their overt political and social views - both right and left-wing.

Of course, then we might have to talk about someone other than Card...

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And then there was his advice to to the Department of Homeland Security last year to spread rumors within the Latino community that emergency rooms are killing patients to harvest their organs for transplants. "'The problem [of hospitals going broke] is hugely exaggerated by illegal aliens who aren't going to pay for anything anyway,' Niven said.": [io9.com]

It's really a tragedy that every time someone buys "Ringworld" they are supporting ideas like these.

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There are some authors I simply don't want to fund. If someone is against gay rights then I don't want to give them my money. If, say, Orson Scott Card were to have a bit of trouble affording a meal, I wouldn't feel particularly hurt by it.

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As for science fiction, literature, music, or film, I'll watch or read it if it meets the criteria above. I support other people's choices not to watch or read it, but not their insistence on boycotting it or refusing to let other people discuss it in public places. I support my mother's personal decisions to not watch Woody Allen films (she finds the marrying his step daughter thing to be off-putting), but if she wanted them banned from the library, I would tell her she's wrong to do that. Likewise, I'm not going to argue with a religious parent who doesn't want her kid to read Harry Potter or the His Dark Materials trilogy, but if the parent calls for those books to be banned from the school, I will again object.

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However I will not read a book by a known communist or sympathizer. There's only so much I would tolerate.

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I really, really hope this era is over.

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But would I refuse to read an author—like, not buy used copies of their books—over politics? No. Not a good strategy for promoting thoughtful debate.

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The author's views are irrelevant - unless he/she inserts them gratuitously into his/her books.

Basically John Ringo is starting to fall into this Category, and I hope his friend and publisher Jim Baen sits him down and has a heartfelt discussion with him before he goes too far down that path.

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