I'm not sure what gives you the idea that The Federation is a dystopia. I think The Federation of Starship Troopers has some things in common with that of Star Trek, in that Earth itself is peaceful and prosperous, and most of the interesting stuff happens out on the frontier. As Johnny's father says when he's trying to discourage his enlistment:
If there were a war, I'll be the first to cheer you on -- and to put the business on a war footing. But there isn't, and praise God there never will be again. We've outgrown wars. This planet is now peaceful and happy and we enjoy good enough relations with other planets.
They don't do much fighting or have much need for an active military, and what conflicts there are seem to be relatively minor incursions of the type we see in chapter 1. So I think you're right that enlistment in service (not the military, per-se, as lots of the jobs they list in ch. 2 and throughout the book are non-military in nature) is used as a social/virtue signal in many cases.
(For others that have read the book before, please note that I am trying to avoid spoiling anything for those that haven't.)
I think it's actually statements like that from Johnny's father that give me the idea. It's almost too perfect with things like "outgrown wars." I guess I get the feeling that combined with the knowledge of the raid in the first chapter that the government has put up a facade.
Perhaps I'm totally off base, I do think getting some context to the first chapter will help. But hey, thinking about it at this point being blind to the rest of the book is part of it for me...
Remember when this book was written. This was right after WWII. A lot of people thought that we'd never do something like that again. A war to end all wars.
I'm not sure what gives you the idea that The Federation is a dystopia. I think The Federation of Starship Troopers has some things in common with that of Star Trek, in that Earth itself is peaceful and prosperous, and most of the interesting stuff happens out on the frontier. As Johnny's father says when he's trying to discourage his enlistment:
They don't do much fighting or have much need for an active military, and what conflicts there are seem to be relatively minor incursions of the type we see in chapter 1. So I think you're right that enlistment in service (not the military, per-se, as lots of the jobs they list in ch. 2 and throughout the book are non-military in nature) is used as a social/virtue signal in many cases.
(For others that have read the book before, please note that I am trying to avoid spoiling anything for those that haven't.)
I think it's actually statements like that from Johnny's father that give me the idea. It's almost too perfect with things like "outgrown wars." I guess I get the feeling that combined with the knowledge of the raid in the first chapter that the government has put up a facade.
Perhaps I'm totally off base, I do think getting some context to the first chapter will help. But hey, thinking about it at this point being blind to the rest of the book is part of it for me...
Remember when this book was written. This was right after WWII. A lot of people thought that we'd never do something like that again. A war to end all wars.