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this post was submitted on 11 Apr 2024
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Asklemmy
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+1 the movie is pure epic satire
I do like PKD as an author, I just never quite liked Starship Troopers the book, even though it's got some nice Forever War vibes to it
Heinlein not PKD.
Starship Troopers is Heinlein not Dick, and it's fascist nonsense. Verhoeven was right to throw the book in the bin after two chapters and the movie rules.
Heinlein experiments with loads of social structures and governments. Starship Troopers is the fascist example, not an example of all his work.
It's been a while since I've read it but what was fascist about it? That only people who served got to vote? It was either/or iirc, you could not vote while in the military, only after you left, and if you did you could not return. Not exactly Nazi Germany.
Only ex military caste have power because they are the only people who can vote or hold public office.
There's this respected teacher guy in it who goes on about how violence solves everything, hero's main trajectory is for him to become really on board with that setup. Bunch of capital punishment, whipping etc.
I don’t think that’s entirely accurate. There were other paths to citizenship (iirc something akin to the peace corps and perhaps even business success? It’s been a while since I read it). But it wasn’t just military. It’s just that military was the easiest for most people.
Been a long time since I read it too but basically you had to do federal service and military was the most popular branch of that. But the book is mostly interested in military and high up characters talk about their military background etc. It's definitely fascist.
Probably because Starship Troopers isn't PKD. It's Heinlein.
Kind of funny to imagine what it would have been like if it had been written by PKD. Johny Rico would have spent 1/3 of the book going through a divorce and the troopers would have all been on halucinogens.
oh whoops, I've made that mistake for X years then. Solves a mystery too - I hate Heinlein. Stranger in a strange land was dull.
The only book of his I'd recommend is The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. It's quite Anarcho Capitalist, and sexist in places but it's an interesting revolution story regardless and has some interesting ideas in it
Yeah I found it boring as well. But yeah that would explain it!
Funny thing, The Forever War is considered a direct reaction to Starship Troopers, the former as a pacifist take to the latter's militarism.
Learn something new every day!
The Forever War is a book that I'll always point to as a gateway into reading sci-fi, not just watching it.
Such a good book.