My previous poll, btw, was provoked by somebody reccing

[conuly]

a "rationalist Animorphs fanfic" by somebody with the username what_would_ender_do.

Which I'm not going to read, because that does not sound like something I want to get invested in. What I said is that this sure is an interesting pen name, and what I thought is that it's not even a little surprising that somebody with that particular Ender's Game reference in their username calls themself a rationalist.

The person making this rec also defined rationalist fic as fiction that doesn't make you ask why the protagonist went up to the roof to escape a serial killer rather than by fleeing out the front door and - I mean, does this need explaining? People are kinda dumb in lots of obvious and less obvious ways. Yes, even you and me. No matter how smart you are, you can't get over the fatal flaw of being human. And being stressed or scared or afraid for your life doesn't make your decision-making any better.

Anyway, the answer to the question "What would Ender do?" is "kill another kid, then simultaneously convince himself that it was absolutely necessary and there was no alternative and also that he didn't really kill anybody after all". Poor him. He's so put-upon, being both space-Jesus and also space-Hitler, and the very smartest person in the room. I'm sure he has his reasons, but that doesn't mean I have to endorse them.

Comments

[ioplokon]

Rationalism, rationalization, same diff...

But yeah, always weird when like, grown adults are like, treating Ender's Game as serious philosophy and not like... literally the worldview of a child?

[conuly]

A child who has been callously and deliberately traumatized over the course of his entire childhood, no less.