Ender's Game

There was no doubt in Ender's mind. There was no help for him. Whatever he faced, now and forever, no one would save him from it. Peter might be scum, but Peter had been right, always right; the power to cause pain is the only power that matters, the power to kill and destroy, because if you can't kill you are always subject to those who can, and nothing, no one will ever save you.

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This ideology is one that really stood out to me while reading Ender’s Game. I suppose the reason it stood out to me is because it is ideology that is very much a part of our society today. After all, how do we justify the time and money spent creating weapons that have the potential to wipe out entire civilizations. We justify it the same way it is justified in Scott Card’s novel. We tell ourselves that “the power to cause pain is the only power that matters, the power to kill and destroy, because if you can’t kill you are always subject to those who can, and nothing, no one will ever save you.”

This is, indeed, the American way. We are living in a day in age where size matters. That being said, I don’t think that Americans (in general) support the production of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) because they want to kill and destroy. On the contrary, I believe that Americans (in general) support the production of these WMD’s in order to minimize the likelihood of such pain. We believe that if we let it be known that these weapons do exist and they are readily available to us if and when we so choose then others will think twice about attacking us. I guess it’s the whole cliché, “the best offense is a good defense.” In short, if people know that attacks on American soil will not be taken lightly that we have the means to answer back (defend ourselves) and are more than willing to do so they won’t bother showing up on the offensive line.