[UUPoly-L] Evoking Heinlein

[SESpruiell@aol.com]

Dear "Cat":
 
I own quite a few of Heinlein's work, although not all of them. Most  of what 
I own can be included in, 
what I choose to call, "The Lazarus Long" series, some of  which I quoted and 
draw most of my conclusions from.  Suffice it to say  that Heinlein was 
certainly a prolific writer.  Your collection is  obviously more extensive than my 
own.  Your evaluation appears to be  valid.
 
As an Afrikan American I did find what I thought to be some of what I  
concluded to be Heinlein's "racial disposition" disconcerting.  However, I  find 
your explanation to be plausible, and since I am a fan of Heinlein's, I am  
cheerfully disposed ( and relieved) to accept the explanation that you have  given.
 
 
Selah Eric Spruiell
 
 
On Tues, 19 Aug 2008 18:23:03 -0700
"Catherine Deville" _catdeville@cox.net_ (mailto:catdeville@cox.net)  wrote:

The "universal consensus" can often be wrong. Heinlein was a  brilliant
author, and as such he likes to make us think.  He includes  many provocative
and intriguing ideas in his works... 
 
His viewpoints, taken from his novels, range from radically left wing,  to
"stridently right wing", and he sometimes sets up "utopian" societies,  and
then examines them from the perspective of the outlaw individualist, and  yet
in several cases that outlaw individualist is shown to be na?ve and  juvenile
in his understanding of how politics and society actually work. It's  been
said (and it's valid, I believe), that "Often critics take one aspect of  a
postulated society or commentary about some aspect of society, and  ignore
the full context in which it was presented."  His most consistent  threads
are libertarianism, anti-authoritarianism, free thinking (supporting  the
separation of church and state and railing against the evils of  theocratic
governments), anti-conscription, socialism (*and*  anti-Communism... Heinlein
understood the difference), anti-racism,  individualism/self-determination,
and sexual positivism and  liberation.

Finally, as to his being racist or a white supremacist... I'd  say that's the
same kind of misinterpretation of his work that makes him a  misogynist.  One
has to examine the works of an individual from the  context of the world in
which that individual derived.  And considering  the date of Heinlein's birth
(1907), if you examine his work in context, you  recognize that he was very
forward thinking for his generation. 



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