DAA@MIT-MC.ARPA (05/29/85)
From: David A. Adler <DAA@MIT-MC.ARPA> I am not sure if this has been brought up with the recent discussion of RAH's Starship Troopers, but he responds to much of the criticisms of the story in EXPANDED UNIVERSE. Apparently, after a group of local "communists" took out full page ads in newspapers suggesting nuclear disarmament in 1958 RAH got very patriotic. He was shoked by President Eisenhower's decision to cancel nuclear testing. As a result RAH put down the manuscript for THE HERETIC (later STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND) and wrote Starship Troopers. Even RAH wrote "I still can't see how that book got a Hugo." RAH rebuts that the criticisms of the book are usually based on a failure to understand English, including: - "'Veteran' does not mean in English dictionaries or in this novel solely a person who has served in military forces. I concede that in commonest usage today it means a war veteran... but no one hesitates to speak of a veteran fireman or veteran school teacher. In STARSHIP TROOPERS it is stated flatly and more than once that nineteen out of twenty veterans are NOT military veterans. Instead, 95% of voters are what we call today 'former members of federal civil service.'" - "He/she can resign at any time other than during combat, i.e., 100% of the time for 19 out of 20; 99%+ of the time for those in the military branches of federal service." - "There is NO conscription (I am opposed to conscription for any reason at any time, war or peace, and have said so frequently...)." - [Criticism: The government in ST is militaristic] "'Militaristic' is the adjective for the noun 'militarism,' a word of several definitions but not one of them can be correctly applied to the government described in this novel. No military or civil servant can vote or hold office until after he is discharged and is again a civilian. The military tend to be dispised by most civilians and this is made explicit. A career military man is most unlikely ever to vote or hold office; he is more likely to be dead -- and if he does live through it, he'll vote for the first time at 40 or older." - [Criticism: That book glorifies the military] "It does indeed. Specifically the P.B.I., the Poor Bloody Infantry, the mudfoot who places his frail body between his loved home and the war's desolation -- but is rarely appreciated...." RAH's essay seem to answer many of the points that were brought up in the past couple weeks. The essay is quite interesting and can be found on pages 396-402 of the Ace paperback edition. RAH's response to the initial newspaper ads, "Who Are the Heirs of Patrick Henry? Stand up and be Counted," is also interesting. RAH said that "The 'Patick Henry' ad [that RAH took out in response] shocked 'em; ST outraged 'em." Sorry if this information has already been pointed out, but I thought it seemed to be relevant. DAdler (DAA@MIT-MC.ARPA)