On 12:21 PM 11/14/96 -0500, Ben Bjostad wrote:
>around to reading it. I agree that Heinlein believed in the power of the
>Human race to pull through anything and advance throughout the galaxy.
>However, I don't agree that he has no tolerance or compassion. What I got out
>of his works was that he had little or no tolerance for those who choose to
>be ignorant. With little exception, his heroes are intelligent,
>quick-thinking, strong, good-looking, etc., but this does not mean that he
>had no tolerance for anyone who isn't. He simply refused to accept that it
>was OK for people to go on beleiving that things were 'good enough'. He had a
As, in the end of "Logic of Empire" his protogonist say, "Things are bound
to get a lot worse before they can get any better." Some people don't like
RAH because his heroes are just what you say, Ben, with the modifier "better
than them"--a fantasy hero is not that hard to accept as your
superior--after all, he has the grace of the Gods, or supernatural powers,
etc., but most Heinlein heroes start as nothing but a carefully prepared and
introduced collection of potential greatness and then do their damnest to
reach the said greatness. Mostly this type of Heinleinian hero is
encountered in his juveniles, "Starman Jones", "Citizen of the Galaxy",
"Double Star" etc.
>good deal of compassion towards women, children, and those who are weak not
>by their own faults. But I do believe that he had little tolerance for those
>who live their lives without once striving to be excellent, just floating
>with the masses.If you wish to understand his social vision better, I'd
>recommend reading his 'Expanded Universe'. It is a collection of his essays,
>his short stories, and his thoughts on the futute, published back in the late
Where, among other things, this so-called sexist dirty old man talks about
letting the women rule the country, since the men, apperantly, are not doing
a superb job of it, and he thinks an all woman Congress/Senate might make a
crucial difference in the better government of the state. Dirty dirty old
maan!:-)
--Cenk [with yet another mail about RAH--blame it on the mail server which
dumped me with 300 mails mostly SF-LIT after a lapse of a couple of days
silence]
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N. Cenk Gokce, Ankara, TR ([log in to unmask])
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