this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2024
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@gerikson @RememberTheApollo_ to be fair Heinlein had some fascist tendencies too even if Stranger In A Strange Land was just good (although I read it so long ago that I might have overlooked stuff)
@blikkie @gerikson @RememberTheApollo_ The bits about homosexuality haven't aged very well and there's a certain amount of "society shouldn't inhibit hot young women's natural desire to fuck curmudgeonly ageing authors".
@chaucerburnt @blikkie @gerikson @RememberTheApollo_ one of the tendencies that kept so much male written fiction from the mid 20th century from being truly radical. Weirdly a lot of Sci Fi is much more revealing of its time of authorship even to the decade than things like Pride and Prejudice or King Lear.
@jayalane @blikkie @gerikson @RememberTheApollo_ huge vision in the scientific sphere, far less on social issues - though despite the failures, I think SIASL still did better than many on questioning the social status quo.
@chaucerburnt @blikkie @gerikson @RememberTheApollo_ it was my first exposure to carney culture and tattoos. Actually reasonable prep for the 3rd millennium so far. I think the lessons are that the people in the powerful groups really can't escape the societal blindness that position entails, blindness of their own society and time, and that reading of works non-hegemonic authors is needful to find the most free and innovative visions of the future.
@chaucerburnt @gerikson @RememberTheApollo_ thanks. I read the book 20 years or so ago, so I don't trust any memory I have of it.
@blikkie @gerikson @RememberTheApollo_ to be fair to RAH, it's an ambitious book; he was trying to recognise and challenge society's assumptions, including his own, and nobody is likely to do that flawlessly.
@blikkie @gerikson @RememberTheApollo_ One way to read Stranger in a Strange Land is what happens when our society is visited by a radical pacifist (who knows how to protect himself). Another way to read it is "our society is stupid and we know better how it should work". I can see how Musk might be inclined to follow one of these interpretations over the other.