> Heinlein most certainly
> did not intend to satirize the military.
Having just finished my re-read of the novel, I can't imagine why I
ever thought that he might be. I've also concluded that this book
doesn't have any female characters of note, and that the movie does
do a tremendous job in updating it for the 90's. I'm not sure that
Heinlein would agree with the changes, though. ;-) At least not at
the time of his writing the novel.
The book does challenge my political/humanist/judicial sensibilities
significantly, though, and I haven't quite figured out just why I
have problems with his proferred ideology or how to articulate them.
Anyway, I feel that any book that makes me think is a good book, so
I guess this one passes that muster.
> His point, which he explains in essay form in
> Expanded Universe, was that our current "18 and alive" (for the US)
> voting rights invites stupidity, unreason, and irresonsibility, and
The "Bread and Circuses" argument also appears in some of his other
fiction. Sometimes I think that a politically mixed group should come
up with a basic exam covering a list of issues and that only people who
score a "passing" grade on the exam should have their votes counted.
That would at least ensure that people understand some percentage of
the issues and the candidates' stances. Of course, that would be
problematical in practice.
Ah well, I've strayed far enough of topic, and I really will be quiet
now.
Pax,
-allen
--
Allen Briggs - end killing - briggs@macbsd.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:07:15 PDT