Good Heinlein, bad Heinlein

Heinlein is a classic of sci-fi, but nowadays it's fashionable to demonize him because Starship Troopers, his best known book, is considered fascist. But… I loved that book! It means a lot to me. Oh noes, am I the baddie? Or are his critics simply wrong?

Neither. In this essay, I will argue:

1. How Starship Troopers portrays a fascist society.
2. Why the book itself is not, and why it's in fact a good book.
3. That you also need to look at the wider context of Heinlein's other work.

Yes, Starship Troopers portrays a fascist society: one where military service is considered the only contribution to society valuable enough to give you a say. Sure, you can “choose” to be a second-class citizen, uh-huh. That will totally have no real consequences. You… do know what happens when entire categories of people are denied a vote, right? And where have we heard of such a society before? That's right, in the Roman Empire, which indirectly gave us the word “fascist”. Since, you know, they were the first. Funny that.

My main objection is that most of the book doesn't focus on that. In fact the main themes are duty and responsibility. Are you going to tell me those are bad things? Look around you. Look at the politicians running this world in 2022. Think again.

(Also the book features a father and son who part ways over differences only to find new common ground in the end. A happy ending I never had, and now it may be too late.)

( Read more... )