Well, we are getting pretty far afield. But I feel mildly curious as to why I didn't get my point across before, so here goes.
Orson Scott Card wrote the scenario I described with the African-American character. I compared this to his Homecoming series in order to illustrate why my view of his writing in general has changed in the time since I read the two stories. Today I have no wish to read Card and cannot fully enjoy stories I enjoyed before. (Hence I did not recall Shedemei's name.)
Immediately after reading the other series I would have rejected any claim that the DNA scene had a racist message. Clearly, the author constructed the scenario that made that scene possible in order to convey an anti-racist message. No reasonable person, I thought, would approve of the bigoted society (replete with legal violence and threats) that led to the events in question. It seemed to follow that no reasonable reader could take that scene as a model for society to follow.
I had exactly the same reaction when I read Homecoming for the first time. It seemed self-evident that Shedemei's marriage etc could never happen without violence, and other oppression, of the sort that the gay character describes. "Therefore" (I might have said) the author plainly did not intend it as a model or as the One True Moral Path for gay people.
It turns out Card sees the matter differently. The link has him explicitly making a host of statements inconsistent with my previous impression, including an endorsement of legal violence to discourage homosexuality. ("Laws against homosexual behavior should remain on the books, not to be indiscriminately enforced against anyone who happens to be caught violating them, but to be used when necessary to send a clear message that those whoflagrantly violate society's regulation of sexual behavior cannot be permitted to remain as acceptable, equal citizens within that society. " Emphasis added.) After discovering this I lost all trust in his thinking.
Okay. (The fact that I didn't until just now remember the scene you describe in the Alvin series hindered understanding; I think mostly your inferences were presented out of order for my ease of understanding and that explains the rest.)
That understood, why does it matter what's going on in the author's head, as long as the book is good? Are you concerned that you will be propagandized by a laughable-if-present, subtle-if-intended-at-all attempt at a "utopian" society where gays are mistreated? I don't think the society which persecuted the ga...
So, I was on TV Tropes creating an article, and I thought maybe you guys could help me add fictional as well as notable Real Life examples to the trope. Here's a copy of the description:
Some kids who are more intelligent than other kids the same age might grow up acting their intellectual age, forsaking interaction with other children their age which they deem to be boring and unfulfilling, if not outright painful or worse. This can be especially bad if they make a habit of pointing out to other kids what they think they are doing wrong, asking uncomfortable questions, or acting smug and superior. Instead, they prefer the company of books which can either efficiently and consistenty entertain them either by allowing them to escape the dreary world they think they live in or by actually answering their questions, or that of adults who can actually teach them stuff and provide an interesting feedback.
When those kids grow up they might end up being very disappointed by those adult figures they used to respect enough to discuss stuff with. If they have outgrown the Insufferable Genius phase they might go through a backlash face where they undertake Man Child activities as they rediscover (oftentimes with the aid of scientific material) how to interact with the vast majority of mankind as well as their peers[[hottip:*:these characters tend to be as different from each other as they are from the mainstream, connecting through each other through common interests, often of a geeky nature, or through work]]. Having no practice, no natural social skills, they can still become fascinated with societal behavior, and actively strive to learn a lot about them, in a quest to feel "together" with everyone else and to be loved and appreciated for who they are. Cognitive Sciences are a very favoured way for them to understand how people behave in ways that don't seem to make any sense, and learn some humility on the way. Evolutionary Psychology helps them understand that there is a perfectly good reason these systematic errors were hardwired into the human brain. Pick Up Arts are they way they try to apply that knowledge to succeed in their romantic lives, or at least to understand exactly why they don't and others do. There's also other fields of psychology and sociology, political sciences, economics, graphology, neurolinguistic programming, body language.., However, it's all book knowledge, and these characters are usually poor at application, at least until the get more practice done. And there are rather big holes in their knowledge.They might genuinely not realize how rude they can be. However, given that they tend to have few friends and that it often took them much effort to acquire said friends, you can expect them to be fiercely loyal and supportive to them, Characters who achieve success in their journey might become A Gentleman/Lady And A Scholar. Examples:
I mentioned this place by name because I got the impression many guys here do fit this trope to an extent. As such, I'm sure you'd have paid more attention than others to fictional embodiments of the trope. I also think it'd be interesting fodder for discussion. I apologize in advance if the article is inadvertently offensive: I tend to be Innocently Insensitive myself, and would gladly welcome help to improve on this article's accuracy and range.