Posted on 05/08/2014 7:29:55 PM PDT by Perdogg
Robert Heinlein could not win a Hugo Award today.
If you are a fan of science fiction, you know how shocking that statement is. If you are not a science fiction fan, I salute you for having better things to do with your time than read stories about space princesses being rescued from bug-eyed monsters by stalwart and clean-limbed fighting men of Virginia; but please let me explain why this is shocking.
(Excerpt) Read more at intercollegiatereview.com ...
ping
I’ve read this earlier. Reminded me of Starship Troopers and how they limiting the vote to the military. I’d seriously consider running for office on such a platform. What’s wrong with the idea?
I’m rereading the Edgar Rice Burroughs Venus series now.
I didn’t recognize it when I read it as a teenager but its an anti communist story.
I think a critical component to voting should be paying taxes. That doesn't mean everybody has to be rich. We need a tax structure where everybody pays something. That "something" immediately makes all but the uber-warped liberals into somewhat of a fiscal conservative. The current freebie structure we have make a big voting block who vote to fill their pockets with money from those who pay taxes.
It’s a concept which appeals to many in the military.
But other than that...no.
So only government employees who are trained to follow orders no mater what can vote? And you don’t see a flaw in that?
Thanks for the tip. I haven’t read any John C. Wright, but I’ve just ordered his Chaos trilogy from Amazon, in used paperbacks. Looks promising.
Heinlein would be required reading if I were a high school English teacher. My English teacher had us read The Puppet Masters and I think read it 5 more times over the summer.
Nothing is wrong with the concept as long as you really grok (sorry I’m a Heinlein fan) it. It was more complicated than just allowing the military to vote.
If R.A.H. were still with us; I suspect he’d be reading John Scalzi & Robert J. Sawyer. Both of them have won Hugo’s and have written novels with STRONGLY Heinleinian themes.
If you’ve missed it; find and read Sawyer’s “Calculating God”!
Back in the mid-1980s while I was in the U.S.Navy, I bought a sci-fi anthology that featured all female authors. I also bought a couple more sci-fi novels written by men. Who had written what didn’t matter to me until I got into the anthology and found some of the short stories were about lesbians.
I’m not interested in the stories of lesbians or other homosexuals. This would include others, such as straights, involved in S&M - not interested.
Mel Brooks on Blazing New Comedic Trails in ‘Blazing Saddles’
https://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie-news/mel-brooks-on-blazing-new-comedic-trails-in—blazing-saddles-215405381.html
“They can’t make that movie today because everybody’s so politically correct. You know, the NAACP would stop a great movie that would do such a great service to black people because of the N-word,” says Brooks. “You’ve got to really examine these things and see what’s right and what’s wrong. Politically correct is absolutely wrong. Because it inhibits the freedom of thought. I’m so lucky that they weren’t so strong then and that the people that let things happen on the screen weren’t so powerful then. I was very lucky.”
I’m still trying to finish the Nebula 1958 Anthology.
Seems to be a lot of prissiness among SciFi writings fans. Didn’t know that this even existed. Well, I guess political correctness infects even those who like non-existent worlds and people.
I’ve met a lot of Sci Fi actors/actresses and some writers. Found them to be very nice, educated, and friendly, even after spending hours at SciFi conventions. They seem to have a high regards for most of their colleagues (don’t get me started on the Shatner/Takei issue).
Why can’t we all just get along?
If you want to read or hear really nasty PC stuff, go to any American university campus today. Just tell the Moslem students that you are Jewish and see what happens. Tell the Marxists that marxism has killed more people than any other “ism” and they will deny it, justify it, or try to silence you.
Do the old Charles Bronson “finger pointing as a gun” gesture and you’ll end up in jail, even if you are 5 years old.
Say something negative about a liberal woman (esp. if it is true), and you are labelled a mysognist or whatever despite the fact that you are married to a woman. Now, if you are a man and married to a man, you might get away with it. If not, you’re toast.
Let’s let Sci-Fi writing remain one of the last PC-untouched bastions of literature. Otherwise, “beam me up Scotty, there’s no intelligent life down here.”
It's gone in the US, and in the Western World for the foreseeable future. The why’s are complicated. There's a ton of legal and political history, and it's not all bad. The truth is, the so-called “givers” haven't always treated the so-called “takers” like humans (and the meaning of those concepts has changed radically troughout time), and it sort reinforces the idea that people can't be trusted to treat people like people. It's human nature. If only someone besides humans would take charge...
SciFi in the 1950-70’s was different. I like it better than today's, in general (George RR Martin... his Song of Ice and Fire/ Game of Thrones series is a masterpiece [and HBO does a great adaptation], I wish he'd finish it already.)
But, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Starship Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land, etc, are awesome. Written by a man who loved humanity and loved in country. By the way, same can be said for Slaughterhouse Five, Breakfast of Champions, and Cat Cradle, different people, different perspectives, but the same love of mankind in general and the American way in particular, but very different.
I'll finish “The Mote in God's Eye” tonight, which has some of that same militaristic honor vibe, and some cool human nature commentary. A great book.
Orson Scott Card wrote Ender’s Game for every kid who though they were smart but misunderstood. The other books in the Ender Quintet were Antrhobology 101 for Americans who though they could understand other people and other groups by applying their own views to explain the actions of others (another masterpiece, and I wish he'd write about whoever created that virus). Card has some beliefs that people who loved his work and his philosophy thought intolerant. they were surprised, and that shock made them mad. I think it's ironic given his message. As a SciFi writer, he's brilliant.
Also, read Patrick O’Brian. Not Sci Fi, at all, but a similar old school philosophy that won't be popular now, but was an awesome series.
But, in the end, I think this is simple. Until the late 1960’s, then changing through about 1980, our society started to reject the pre-196(4/5-ish) American culture, in favor of some Post-modern, more equitable beliefs, and that change included the arts, movies, literature, TV, etc. That wasn't all bad. There were major inequities and cultural failings in our country and Western culture that were ignored. The problem was that we started ignoring the good stuff that was there, and too many of today's people forget the good.
It's a shame. It's also probably a luxury of being rich and safe, or fat dumb and happy for too long.
False.
Federal Service Guarantees Citizenship.
You’re probably correct, I’ve not read the book for awhile!
It would be reasonable if it included the hard civic service in the book, too.
But today it might fail because only 1.5% are active military. We’d see public school teachers, environmentalists, NGO workers and other left dominated groups say they serve the public, they get to vote.
Michael Savage proposed a system where anyone collecting federal benefits, from a federal civilian employee to someone collecting TANF or Section 8 housing vouchers or SNAP food benefits or Medicaid is ineligible to vote. If you live even partially at the benefit of the treasury, you don’t get to vote on how the money is apportioned.
Analog ran a story called The Vaults of Permian Love. I started reading it, groaned when I got to the lesbian, but stuck it out and was pleasantly surprised by the story. There were no lesbian love scenes, but the fact that one character was a lesbian was crucial to the rather interesting premise of the story, not just a gratuitous drop-in.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.