Re: [Marxism] Michael Moorcock/Heinlein's economic analysis

[Douglas Nesbitt <djnesbit@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Regarding the Jonathan Rosenbaum review posted by Louis Proyect,

Rosenbaum's analysis is correct, in my opinion. However, many SF fans,
notably those loyal to anything written by Heinlein, have attacked
Verhoeven's film as an outright distortion of the novel. In my mind,
they do have a point regarding the Nazi and other fascist symbolism
evident in the film, such as the officers' uniforms. These pro-Heinlein
objections are best summarized by Christopher Weuve here:
http://www.kentaurus.com/troopers.htm. However, Weuve misses the
overall point brought up by Rosenbaum's article. Regardless of
Voerheven's portrayal of the novel, Heinlein's government in "Starship
Troopers" comes off like a Tom Clancy novel which could be best
described as "meritocratic multi-ethnic militarism". "Starship
Troopers" is almost Clancy's "Rainbow Six", writ large - an elite group
of rational, physically impeccable, multi-ethnic soldiers who dictate
how the world operates.

It is also interesting to note that "Starship Troopers" was born out of
Heinlein's opposition to the possible test-ban treaties of the late-50s
under Eisenhower. The novel was actually rejected at first, but
eventually published in 1959 and ended up winning the 1960 Hugo - which
is one reason why it is a sin to criticize Heinlein in mainstream SF
fandom. The origins of this novel are further explained in Heinlein's
"Expanded Universe", published in 1980.

At risk of belabouring Heinlein's paternalism and militarism, the
dedication inside "Starship Troopers" reads:

To "Sarge" Arthur George Smith
soldier, citizen, scientist
and to all sergeants anywhere
who have labored to make men
out of boys

~Doug Nesbitt

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