clewis@spectrix.UUCP (Chris Lewis) (09/23/86)
I'd like to suggest that anybody looking for material about the
nonsense about Heinlein being bandied around the net read
"Rah Rah R.A.H." by Spider Robinson in his book "Time Travellers
Strictly Cash" (1980 I think). In it he addresses some points
very close to the ones discussed recently. The book is a
collection of fiction (four "Callahan's Cross-time Saloon" stories)
and some non-fiction.
Regarding the "Aftermath" discussions going on, I like what Spider
wrote (on a slightly different issue): "Anybody believing that
their way-of-life [read: "civil order" in this case] would
somehow survive the magic disappearance of their armed forces
[police and everything else] by one month needs their head examined".
You want proof? What happened in New York City the last time the power
went out for more than a day? What happens when the police go on strike?
Certainly, most people would remain relatively civilized. But some wouldn't.
I'm not a survivalist, but under those circumstances I'd much rather have
a gun (if only to provide food for the ferrets :-) ). Don't get me wrong,
I'd be helping as much as I could ... but....
Other books to read: Lord of the Flies (Golding - main message: the veneer
of civilization is pretty damn thin), Lucifer's Hammer (Niven and Pournelle -
for entertainment if nothing else). Certainly, other major works didn't
deal with this issue (eg: "The Day After", or "On the Beach"), but their
primary intent was the horror of nuclear war itself, not the aftermath.
--
Chris Lewis
UUCP: {utzoo|utcs|yetti|genat|seismo}!mnetor!spectrix!clewis
Phone: (416)-474-1955