/lit/ - Literature

>>22531127
let me explain how badly the point can be missed using extreme bias

>>22531127
fascism is a dead end just like any other political ideology .

Find God.

>>22531127
robert heinlein was unironically a schizo, fucking guy went from sexual libertine hippie to ayn rand-loving libertarian to neofascist in the span of a few years
you shouldn't trust the opinions of someone who will change their entire core beliefs at the drop of a hat

>>22531322
He just believed that the tree of liberty requests blood sacrifices like any good American.

>>22531322
>you shouldn't trust the opinions of someone who will change their entire core beliefs at the drop of a hat
i probably should not have graduated if not for exacting selection criteria

>>22531127
Define "Fascism"

>civilians still have rights
>anyone can join the military to become a citizen
>you can even serve in non-military roles for citizenship
>there’s still voting, freedom of speech, etc
Explain how it’s “fascism” you politically-illiterate baboon

>>22531401
It's more a junta than fascism. Everybody just equates fascism with militarism. Very ignorant

>>22531322
>people CAN'T change their points views

>>22531636
NTA, but yeah, they can't

>>22531322
I've notice that line between full blown libertarians and neo-fascist is grey

>>22531127
this book is kinda not great

>another thread where someone doesn't know what Fascism is, let alone even reading a single work written by an actual Fascist

This re-run again?

>>22531713
>i-it's not actually Fascism guys

>>22531717
Define "Fascism"

>>22531747
stuff I don't like

>>22531752
So you are a fascist?

Love this book.

>>22531127
>a democratic republic is le fascist
it's so tiring

>>22531322
>people can't write books that don't reflect their personal beliefs
seriously do you guys even read anything that isn't modern YA slop?

>>22531884
To be fair, Heinlein's best work was his "YA slop"

it was a good book
i dont care about the message
i read books for the story and characters
if i wanted to read about philosophy or politics or something I would read a textbook
you dorks sit around making a million threads about Hegel and Schopenhauer and Stirner and a bunch of other virgins
who gives a fuck

>>22531127
This book is the only reason I was able to get through recruit training.
>>22531439
It is not even a junta. It is a democratic republic with limited franchise. Hell, you can not even vote while you are still doing national service. When Rico decides to go career, one of the things he has to consider is that he will not be able to actually vote until he retires.

Apes are we in the 3rd or 4th "Space War"?

One thing that always gets me is how poorly the movie, and thus the public perception, sees how the military relates to civilians in the novel. In the book the military recruiters don't wear their prosthetics to showcase the horrors of war and the painful price of participation in the state is. Then once they get past that the protagonist is whittled down from any possible position to the last catch-all, the infantry.

Fascism is defined so poorly and broadly I must believe it intentional. Yet one key component is masculinization of sacrifice, and that's simply not present in the work. Johnny's father scoffs at the military, its very clear that "having the vote" isn't the end all or be all of their society and you can become extremely wealthy and successful without it. The class they have on morality doesn't even have a grade attached to it because actively participating even in the core philosophy of the government isn't necessary beyond giving it the respect of listening to it. Is there any other fascist regime where you can goof off and mouth off to the distinguished veteran lecturing you on the moral beliefs of the state? What fascist state is it where you have wealthy prosperous citizenry that don't engage at all in the service?

Heinlein was a schizophrenic extremist, a man who fell in love with every idea he encountered it seems and published his passionate affairs for the benefit of literate mankind. But people's reactions to his work almost seems to give him a secondary career as the Rorschach test with the most Hugo Awards bar none. One must imagine that people have any issue with being asked anything by anyone else, Randians in leftist dashikis.

>>22531693
Real libertarians are just fascists on an individual level. Fake libertarians are leftist crypto-LaVey fags. A real libertarian is a moralist, an individualist, a lover of freedom, excellence, and self-sufficiency, and someone who understands the world is a dangerous place in which only self-reliant people thrive, and that you can't solve problems with some gay nanny government giving everybody handouts and coddling them. A real libertarian is thus just one realization (the state is inevitable and necessary, so might as well model it on all the virtues just described) away from fascism.

Fascism is fundamentally just the doctrine that excellent societies have a communal nexus. Read The Warwolf by Hermann Löns, one of the classics of völkisch literature, for an example of how libertarian militias and fascist Männerbünde are a hop and a jump away from one another.

>>22531959
>Heinlein was a schizophrenic extremist
early signs of this illness are apparently not true but that's just something i've heard before

>>22531973
Maybe I shouldn't have used a medical term, I should rather have described him as someone who was both mercurial but deeply passionate. Heinlein at any given point writing his works was deeply invested and believed in the concepts behind them. I'd argue that also his different works aren't entirely different and he can write lovingly about a society he disagrees with. For instance in Citizen of the Galaxy he clearly believes that the Free Traders have a very interesting and well working society with intricate mores and systems that produces the wealthiest class of people in the galaxy but at the same time its explicitly a gilded cage that our protagonist must reject. Heinlein is a man of dualities which frightens the single and simple minded.

>>22531127

everyone evolving on the political spectrum becomes fascinated by fascism or goes through a phase, even actively hating it gives it this deep shadow and it's illumined opposite is what is morally acceptable. fascism ultimately functions as a nietzschean death-drive which explains the glory and militarism

>>22531388
checked, hh

>>22531127
>>22531388
>everything not communism is perforce le fascism

>>22531388
Read the book kek, he sets out his vision of what American society ought to be: a sexless dictatorship of the army and WW2 veterans waging perpetual war against communists in East Asia (the bugs).

>>22531322
hes literally every zoomer

>>22531298
spbp
>>22531127
I agree because all others disagree (refreshing)

>>22531127
>WHITE POWER
fresh oc

>>22531322
This lib leftst - libertarian pipeline is well is well known as well as the libertarian - fascist pipeline. Nothing crazy out of the ordinary. It's just unusual to have your journey recorded as you pass through.

>>22531298
Christianity is also a failed political doctrine.

>>22532170
>Girls are simply wonderful. Just to stand on a corner and watch them going past is delightful. They don't walk. At least not what we do when we walk.

>>22532227
>disgusting american glownigger gayops from top to bottom
You will never be a European.

>>22531322
Retard. Big Bob H was into EXPLORING different views and worlds. A writer is not his characters.

>>22531127
>limited democracy is fascism
By the definition of fascism you retards keep using, the US was fascist until 1920.

>>22532170
>dictatorship of the army
>with voting
Did you read the book? The whole reason people join the military for citizenship is because only citizens can vote.

star ship troopers is like some weird mix of globohomo with fascism. The main character is a flip if i recall. the movie made everyone white but in the book its multicultrual human facism against spider aliens

>>22532257
>I’m from Beunos Aires and I say kill ‘em all!

let met guess?
/lit/ is a Le Guin place?

>>22532241
>You will never be a European
actually you are wrong meine mutti aus deutschland uber alles
>europe is about to get exciting again

>>22532295
no one on /lit/ knows who's that

>>22532295
No, we're a PKD board.

>>22531959
You have a pleasant way with words

>>22532257
Rico being Filipino is only mentioned once very late, in an inserted self-reflective chapter around two-thirds the way into the book, and used merely as a device to praise a contemporary Filipino general known for massacring communists. It's entirely tangential to the plot and characterisation and only exists to cement that the bugs are intended as an analogy of Asiatic communism and the Chinese human wave attacks of the Korean war.

>>22532233
And that's the entirity of Heinlin's bizarre stilted attempt at eros in the book. That and a dance where nothing happens. Something an eight year old boy would think before blushing and running away in fear.

>>22532455
>only exists to cement that the bugs are intended as an analogy of Asiatic communism and the Chinese human wave attacks of the Korean war.
Reddit take

>>22532252
Yes, a dictatorship of the serving US army and WW2 veterans should rule America to the exclusion of the general population and fight a heroic land war in all of East Asia (Korea, Vietnam, China, etc.) against communist bugs.

>>22532460
No, it's what the novel is. Dopey cold war YA.

>>22532459
Sorry it's not Martin when he tells you the taste & texture of semen.

>>22532473
Wrong.

Yeah for some reason this topic makes the draftdoggers really assmad.

>>22532485
If the president doesn't fight, why should anyone? Mental cucks are cringe

>>22532455
>contemporary Filipino general
Aguinaldo was a general who fought in the revolutionary war against Spain and later America. That happened, like, 40 years before Heinlein sat down to write Starship Troopers

>>22532494
Ramon Magsaysay is the Filipino leader he signals out, he crushed the communist Hukbalahap Rebellion in the 1950s, contemporary to the Chinese civil war, Korean war, and Malaya insurgency etc.:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramon_Magsaysay
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hukbalahap_Rebellion
https://history.army.mil/books/coldwar/huk/ch5.htm

>I said, "There ought to be one named Magsaysay."
>Bennie said, "What?"
>"Ramon Magsaysay," I explained. "Great man, great soldier -- probably be chief of psychological warfare if he were alive today. Didn't you ever study any history?"

A few lines later we get the only mention of Rico's ethniciity, that his native languague is Tagalog, and the chapter ends a few lines after that never to be mentioned again.

>>22531322
maybe the problem is that in the political compass, not in his ideology

>>22531127
Start with the Argentinians

>>22531322
You're an idiot. He's exploring different perspectives, not writing a manifesto.

>>22531322
Third post best post

>>22533666
>>22532251
>>22531884
That argument could hold for many other authors, but not for Heinlein - he actually, deeply, zealously believed whatever he wrote about at the time. The guy gave like a bazillion interviews, you can read them all.
>"Yes we NEED to nuke the fucking commie subhumans and then gas the survivors"
two years later
>"Yes we need to exterminate religious people in the streets"
two years later
>"Yes we NEED to disband the government and unmake law as a concept"
two years later
>"Yes we NEED to lower the age of consent"
two years later
>"Yes we NEED to cure everyone who still believes in violence"

>>22532229
Thing is - Heinlein went from hawkish nanny-state fascist, to radical libertarian, to free love hippie, to, eventually, ultra-pacifist activist.

>>22533690
>he actually, deeply, zealously believed whatever he wrote about at the time
It's like he really loved various ideologies, but he only enjoyed every one while it was fresh in his head and filling him with convert's zeal. Once it became old and familiar, he dumped it and converted to something more hip, which seemingly gave him a lot of creative drive.

>>22533690
I'll look up some interviews then, that'd be interesting if what you say is true.

>nuke commies
Starship Troopers
>exterminate religious people
???
>disband the government
Moon is a Harsh Mistress
>lower AOC
???
>cure everyone who believes in violence
Stranger in a Strange Land?

>>22531298
I found God through Leibniz and Spinoza

>>22532344
>we're a PKD board
so true

>>22531322
So you can't be free to explore ideas?
It's the opposite of a schizo, it's the sign of a sound mind.

>>22533690
don't forget
> ''I am a woman now''

>>22533798
Did he pioneer the fascist to troon pipeline?

>>22533783
I love him so much bros

>>22533822
Quite possible

>>22531747
>Class Collaberation and unification/coordination of all aspects of society
>Primacy of autarky, tied to Nationalism
>Healthy practices become a moral responsibility
>Military-like political structure with authority and responsbility tied together
>Neither left nor right but Prussian style realpolitik

>>22531747
Fascism is a far-right political ideology characterized by authoritarianism, nationalism, and a suppression of individual freedoms, often involving the glorification of a centralized, autocratic leader. It differs from socialism, which is a left-wing ideology focused on collective ownership of resources and the pursuit of economic equality, as fascism promotes extreme nationalism and emphasizes a strong hierarchy, whereas socialism seeks to reduce economic disparities through collective ownership and social programs.

>>22533950
>Class Collaberation and unification/coordination of all aspects of society
Social groups that are capable of collaboration are inherently not classes. Forced subservience and exploitation is not collaboration.

>Primacy of autarky, tied to Nationalism
Fair enough.

>Healthy practices become a moral responsibility
Every ideology ever presents it's practices as healthy and adherence to them as a moral responcibiliy. That's literally all that an ideology is.

>Military-like political structure with authority and responsbility tied together
Every political hierarchy is "military like", since military structure is not inherently different from any other organizational hiearachy.

>Neither left nor right but Prussian style realpolitik
That's just a word salad.

>>22531747
Fascism, a controversial 20th-century political ideology, embodies authoritarianism with a strong central government. It shuns democracy, often opting for dictatorship. Nationalism is central, emphasizing cultural identity and sometimes fostering xenophobia. Fascist regimes tend to be totalitarian, suppressing freedoms and dissent.

They reject democracy due to perceived failures. Economically, fascism supports corporatism, coordinating labor and business with state oversight. Leaders cultivate a cult of personality. Opposition faces harsh repression, and militarism is glorified.

Propaganda and mass mobilization are common, and fascism often opposes left-wing ideologies, leading to violence. Some forms promote racial and ethnic superiority, resulting in discrimination and persecution.

Fascist states control the economy, while opposing liberal values like individualism. Expansionist ambitions can lead to aggressive wars. Variations exist across countries and contexts, with notable examples like Italian fascism under Mussolini and Nazi fascism under Hitler. Understanding fascism requires exploring its historical and ideological nuances.

>>22533986
>Social groups that are capable of collaboration are inherently not classes. Forced subservience and exploitation is not collaboration.
Marxist world-view, don't care. Leader/follower, elites/commons.

>Every ideology ever presents it's practices as healthy and adherence to them as a moral responcibiliy. That's literally all that an ideology is
No. You either purposefully misunderstand or i did not make it clear. Their is a moral obligation on part of the individual to engage in healthy pursuits and disdain unhealthy ones.

>Every political hierarchy is "military like", since military structure is not inherently different from any other organizational hiearachy.
If you think is is true, im not prepared to argue it. Suffice to say that at every level an executive makes the final decision in a military structure, not a vote, or public opinion.

>That's just a word salad.
Capitalists do what is best for the free market, even if it damage their constiutents. Communists keep fostering and supporting communist politices, even when things get worse. Fascists, are more practical and take what works from any idealogy provided it aids the nation/state/people.

Fascism is a political ideology characterized by the systematic suppression of individualism. It prioritizes the collective identity of the nation over the rights and freedoms of individuals. Under fascism, the state assumes absolute authority, imposing strict control over all aspects of society, including political dissent, media, and personal beliefs. Individual rights and liberties are often curtailed or subordinated to the state's interests, leading to a pervasive atmosphere of conformity and obedience. The goal of suppressing individualism in fascism is to create a homogenous society that aligns with the ruling party's vision and ideology, often resulting in a climate of fear and repression for those who dissent or deviate from the prescribed norms.

>>22534024
>Suffice to say that at every level an executive makes the final decision in a military structure, not a vote, or public opinion.
Guys, should we tell him?

>>22534024
>Marxist world-view, don't care. Leader/follower, elites/commons.
Elites/commons cannot collaborate by definition. If they can they they are not elites/commons.

>Their is a moral obligation on part of the individual to engage in healthy pursuits and disdain unhealthy ones.
Take a look out the window and tell me your society does not present muh democracy and muh tolerance and muh troon nigger rights as healthy, and does not make it a moral obligation on part of the individual to engage in it, branding anyone who refuses as an immoral freak.

>Capitalists do what is best for the free market, even if it damage their constiutents. Communists keep fostering and supporting communist politices, even when things get worse. Fascists, are more practical and take what works from any idealogy provided it aids the nation/state/people.
Capitalists and communists equally claim that they are more practical and take what works from any idealogy provided it aids the nation/state/people. Everyone claims that he's only doing what is necessary for the benefit of everyone.

>>22531747
From the liberal perspective? Fascism is everything that contradicts that which is considered good to the liberal and the marxist worldviews.
Fascism, as a baseline, is the seeking, and acceptance of truths, such as "we are not equal and that is okay". You likely won't believe me here but fascism isn't politics, fascism is unity. If you compare all the fascist ideas, they only have a few overlapping themes: unity and anti-ususry. Oswald Mosley's fascism heavily contradict Italian fascism, both of which had almost nothing similar to Fraco's "fascism" or falangism, which falls under the umbrella term of fascism.
Now I'm not here to "convert" -- People don't even like the truth anyways. Let's talk about the book and what it is actually talking about. What that book is actually criticising is totalitarianism, the selfish individualists, the feckless collectivists, and the ignorant followers that do not know they are, too, are engaging in the things they hate the "other guy" for doing. This book, if it is criticising "fascism", is only criticising the vapid, liberal worldview idea of what fascism is, which is not what fascism is.
It's like how the US took part over the abandoned colonialist campaign for France against vietnam under the guise of fighting an ideology they repeatedly supported and put into power in other locations. That is what he was criticising. Not vietnam, the idea behind what the US did there. If you are confused, you need to recall that framing is everything.
>>22533977
>Fascism is a far-right political ideology
This is false. It is not "far-right". You're using the made-up liberal-worldview interpretation of fascism. The right-left dichotomy you are thinking of, and the only way you were trained to think, is just liberal/democratic pluralism used to keep the status quo going. Think about the people who "don't vote" because "it doesn't matter" -- Even if they don't fully realize it, they recognize the system for what it is.

>>22534045
Under this definition the USSR and Mao's china were fascist, and 1930's Italy doesn't fall under this. (See the allowance of Evola to criticize Italy's government in various magazines)
Try again.

>>22534085
>and acceptance of truths, such as "we are not equal and that is okay".
Does not contradict either Marxism or Liberalism. Liberals flat out state that Fascists are not equal to anyone else (as they are worse) and that is good. Marxism flat out states that no worker is inherently equal and that is good.

>unity and anti-ususry
So, a little regional Capitalist reaction to the global capital? Wow.

>>22534133
>So, a little regional Capitalist reaction to the global capital? Wow.

indeed that's why I admire anglofrenchamerican democracies which destroyed fascist latecomers such as Germany and Japan who wanted to do to Russians and Chinese what they already did in north America and Africa

>>22531959
>the public perception of the military
I have talked to people about this book and many of them fall into the same category, not liking the book because of the way it portrays the militaristic fascist government. Everyone I know conflates it with a totalitarian regime. My theory is that, because most people have seen the movie first, they are expecting the same over the top cant miss it satire which permeates through it. So when they get to reading the book, they are affronted with what at a surface level comes across and authors self indulgent fantasy, they get turned off before and do not read far enough to discover all the little moments Johnny questions the world around him.

So how easy to read is this book? I remember reading Stranger In A Strange Land as a teenager and it being a wild schizo mess

>>22535075
It’s an easy read and it’s a short book. The whole book is from Johnny’s perspective, and since Johnny is basically the common denominator way the book handles complex themes is by teasing them as little half thoughts of Johnnys. You follow Johnny on journey as he experiences becoming sentient in on his path of least resistance.

>>22535075
I consider it the last Heinlein Juvenile. Its simple to the point of didactism, but still approaches hefty topics with consistent and interesting ideology through the entire world of the novel.

>>22534080
>Elites/commons cannot collaborate by definition. If they can they they are not elites/commons.
Marxist world-view. Elites and commons can and have collaborated throughout all of history, sometimes badly, sometimes well.

>Take a look out the window and tell me your society does not present muh democracy and muh tolerance and muh troon nigger rights as healthy, and does not make it a moral obligation on part of the individual to engage in it, branding anyone who refuses as an immoral freak.
Because the current system presents weird shit as moral obligations does not mean that Fascism does not impose a moral obligation on its citizens to be healthy and physically active.

>Capitalists and communists equally claim that they are more practical and take what works from any idealogy provided it aids the nation/state/people. Everyone claims that he's only doing what is necessary for the benefit of everyone.
No. Capitalism does not care for the nation/state or people, just the economy. Communism does not make the claim that they it is better for people, only that they are making a society that will be better for people.

>>22534045
>I get my views on political systems strictly from those that oppose that political system

>leftists seething because it's anticommunist
>rightists seething because it's heinlen
>centrists seething because isn't actually fascist
lol

>>22535251
Nta but Im interested in discussing the question of what is left of fascism when you take away the authoritarian/totalitarian nature seen in all historical examples.
>It prioritizes the collective identity of the nation over the rights and freedoms of individuals.
I think this is correct. But then the question arises of how a sosiety can achieve this without his following statement about the assuming of absolute authority. To me it seems that for fascism to work without any of the totalitarian police state nature (that all examples I know of in history turned into) you would either need a benevolent government (like in starship troopers) or a population of made up entirely of morally upstanding characters.
I always thought of fascisms core tenet being “the good of the many outweighs the needs of the few, or the one”. I’m pretty sure Vulcans are fascist.

>>22535319
>You would either need a benevolent government (like in starship troopers) or a population of made up entirely of morally upstanding characters
SST is a liberal paradise, the only thing precluded from civilians is voting. They can engage in almost anything else. There are a handful of professions reserved for Citizens but beyond that it is a liberal paradise and not at all Fascist, authoritarian or totalitarian.

>I always thought of fascisms core tenet being “the good of the many outweighs the needs of the few, or the one”. I’m pretty sure Vulcans are fascist.
I would go less than that in that the needs of the individual can not compromise the wellness of the group

>le what is fascism
I'll give you the easy answer: fascism is nothing, it's pure political nihilism
Sure there's some vague shit about strength and purity but that is just window dressing to get the NPCs on your side. The actual core of fascism is a small group of thugs and social parasites clawing their way into the seat of power. It turns the state into a glorified mafia where the economic gains of productive people are stolen and redistributed to the don and his inner circle. It's not a coincidence this "ideology" came out of Italy.
That's also the reason why fascism always fails, because the people in charge are 90 IQ gangsters with delusions of grandeur, fascism is destined to either collapse on itself or get utterly raped by the first non-dysfunctional society it declares war on
>b-but isn't that just communism
Yes, just replace the bullshit about strength and purity with equality and justice, also you are a gay faggot if you believe in either one

>>22531127
brave new world, how fast can you close the distance. don't you love word problems?

>>22531322
that is the generic high iq young retard to oldtroon pipeline, there is no more common political transformation

>>22535374
>I'll give you the easy answer: fascism is nothing, it's pure political nihilism
Is is the remedy of nihilism, late stage democracy/capitalism is peak nihilism. Your view of fascism is that of a child.

>>22531747
fascism is when things work and look cool

>>22535392
Fascism is arguably the sexiest and cool looking aesthetic.

>>22535344
The paradise fascist state of starship troopers is part of what makes the story so good because it makes the reader challenge their (likely) existing view.

And I like your take better, I’ll have to try to remember it that way. But the Spock quote will live with me forever. I think this central tenet is ultimately its downfall though, because inevitably there will be a case where the wellness of two groups conflict. How would code for disabilities work in such a case. It provides intense benefits for a small group but is a minor nuisance to a much larger one.

Captcha is wank42 we must be on to something.

>>22535075
It's a children's book, an eight year old boy could read and enjoy it.

>>22535450
>The paradise fascist state of starship troopers is part of what makes the story so good because it makes the reader challenge their (likely) existing view.
It's not a paradise fascist state, but a paradise of a liberal state. Only the most competent can vote, only the most worthy can vote. This is the idealized version of democracy.

>>22535473
Arnt the statements liberal paradise and only the most competent can vote a direct incompatibility? What is your view on what constitutes a fascist state?

>>22535487
>Arnt the statements liberal paradise and only the most competent can vote a direct incompatibility?
No. Because it resolves the problem with voting. Hence it is a paradise.

>What is your view on what constitutes a fascist state?
>>22533950
This was me.

>>22531388
militarist ethnonationalism

>>22535531
Italy was not ethno-nationalist, the birthplace and founding nation of Classical Fascism.

>>22535473
>>22535450
You're reading the text anachronistically, it's a cold war novel, the proposed military & veteran dictatorships are meant as a cold war response to communist insurgencies (the bugs, i.e. gooks) in East Asia. The government model is the Syngman Rhee regime of South Korea, call that fascist, authoritarian, or whatever you want. The same government type of militaristic strongman would be used throughout the cold war in Asia and beyond as a response to communist insurgencies and movements: Diem in Vietnam, Suharto in Indonesia, Shah in Iran, Mobutu in Congo/Zaire, most Latin American country's (Pinochet in Chile etc.) and so on.

The inclusion of veterans into the imagined government as a privileged class is to place the burden on WW2 veterans, in both the US government and the homeland armies, to establish the military governments and strongmen to wage the bug war against communists because the achievements of the US victory against Japan were being threatened with lost to communist insurgencies and only strongmen like Rhee, Magsaysay, Diem etc. who exterminated "the bugs" could re-secure what the US had won in WW2.

>>22535572
Read the book, you don't have to serve in the military to vote. You can do all manner of things from digging ditches to being a research experiment, the point is provide some sort of value. The most inbred, disabled, fuck-tard must be found a place to be useful if he applies for Citizenship.

This undermines your argument.

>>22535599
Yeah the army has a lot of jobs other than grunt mate, the same in WW2 and the Korean War. The novel is a defence of military government of WW2 vets against communism in East Asia.

>>22535653
It explicitly states there is no requirement to serve in a military capacity, or even in a difficult position. If it did Citizens would be called Veterans or some more vague military term, they are not instead they are referred to a Civilians.

The novel is a shit show of various political positions slapped together to depict a boring Filipino man gradually coming of age and growing in to experience, and said man bitching and crying the entire way through.

The novel is in no way a defense of veterans. It supports skin in the game, which can include military service but does not preclude it. Hell, at one point his father enlists after Rico joins and it begins a bizarre encounter where Rico, the younger son, is superior to the elderly, rich, successful father.

for me it's heinlein's coomer phase

>>22536873
>Not the book about the Astronaut who starts asexual sex cult that gives you super powers the longer you are in

He is a terrible author.

>>22537699
>bisexual sex cult

>>22535751
I don't know what point you're trying to make here. Heinlein wrote a cold war novel in response to the Korean War and communist insurgencies in Asia supporting authoritarian military governments that had already been implemented in Korea and other places which would become a standard anti-communist method until 1991. He had concrete examples in mind, Magsaysay is mentioned directly, and the entire novel is a gloss of the Korean War (bugs = gooks, bug wave attacks = Chinese human wave attacks). That armies and war economies have vast non-combat roles is trivial point and really goes without saying. A military regime by definition will need to administer a society outside of combat and that administration will not be a combat role. In Heinlein's fantasy world the soldiers wear magic suits that take care of nearly all the physical requirements of fighting in any case and have robot dogs do the close quarter engagements.

>>22536873
How does it compare to D. H. Lawrence?

>>22531959
I think a tiny point that's missed is starship troopers is how the terran federation is formed, it's basically a post apocalyptic society after WW3 and a subsequent descent into anarchy, it's foundation wasn't some sort of facist movement but veterans restoring order through vigilante justice which eventually turned into state governance without creating a totalitarian society in the process. I think there's an early cold war perspective in there of a world not consumed by nuclear hellfire but instead lost to anarchy with the civil sector unable to supply leadership leaving only the military personal to establish order