I pity the poverty of your wealth. You! I’ve just awarded you the prize for the hundred-meter dash. Does it make you happy?"
"Uh, I suppose it would."
"No dodging, please. You have the prize — here, I’ll write it out: ‘Grand prize for the championship, one hundred-meter sprint.’ " He had actually come back to my seat and pinned it on my chest. "There! Are you happy? You value it — or don’t you?"
I was sore. ... I ripped it off and chucked it at him.
Mr. Dubois had looked surprised. "It doesn’t make you happy?"
"You know darn well I placed fourth!"
Here, Johnny shows more integrity than the entire SJW movement combined. He didn't earn the championship, he admits that, and he takes no satisfaction in the fake "award."
But SJWs... SJWs only seem capable of seeing the award itself. They shower themselves in them, and wonder why they still feel so empty. Then, instead of reflecting on themselves for even a moment, they declare that everybody else is keeping them down and hogging all the awards -- never realizing that it's the achievement that's important enough to commemorate, not the award itself.
You know, you're right. At the end of the court martial, Spieksma (the Court) says,
"The Court will not permit you to resign. The Court wishes to add that your punishment is light simply because this Court possesses no jurisdiction to assign greater punishment. The authority which remanded you specified a field court-martial — why it so chose, this Court will not speculate. But had you been remanded for general court-martial, it seems certain that the evidence before this Court would have caused a general court to sentence you to hang by the neck until dead.
And at the beginning, the remanding officer is listed as Captain Ian Frankel. So indeed, the Captain was merciful to the poor bastard yet again by sending him to something less serious than a general court-martial. It was that Court that gave the maximum punishment, not Captain Frankel. He -- along with Sergeant Zim -- tried to go easy the entire time.
What stuck with me the most here is the mercy that M.I. shows to its people. Everyone was doing their best to look the other way when the recruit struck Sgt. Zim. They know, as we learn, that this sort of thing happens -- but they also know that it must not be allowed to happen. The Captain must have seen Zim's black eye, but ignored it until he couldn't anymore -- and at that point, he gave the maximum punishment he was allowed to give. Even though the men expressed a Christlike desire to take his punishment for him -- a smaller version of the Service they provide to the Terran Federation -- they know that they cannot. It can't be any other way, so the Captain makes Zim swear to quickly whoop the ass of the next recruit to try -- an act, ironically, of supreme mercy.
The discussion of value was very interesting, as well. It reminds me of an old story: the company calls out a contractor to fix their machine. He replaces a single screw and hands them a bill for $10,000. The manager says, 10,000 for one screw is ridiculous! I want an itemized bill! The contractor writes: 1 screw, .10. Knowing where to put it: $9999.90.
So I've always found it a bit of a bummer that Doogie Howser, Military Psychic is instead just plain Carl, Military Electronics Nerd in the book. It's an interesting concept portrayed pretty well by Neil Patrick Harris. Honestly, though, the idea was rather wasted by the script: Harris' character pretty much exists to give the iconic "It's Afraid!" line at the end of the movie. Anyway:
Heinlein does a great job hooking the reader's attention in these opening chapters, especially considering that much of it consists of lengthy speeches by various teachers and military men laying out their philosophy. The most famous one even made it (with a few changes) into the movie:
Anyone who clings to the historically untrue — and thoroughly immoral — doctrine that ‘violence never settles anything’ I would advise to conjure up the ghosts of Napoleon Bonaparte and of the Duke of Wellington and let them debate it. The ghost of Hitler could referee, and the jury might well be the Dodo, the Great Auk, and the Passenger Pigeon. Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedoms."
There is an interesting contrast and comparison here between Heinlein and Roddenberry('s writers). As much as I love Star Trek, Picard is wrong when he contradicts Colonel DuBois that "power flows from the barrel of a gun." Even Trek seems to concede this with the Hugh debacle: Picard had a chance to destroy the Borg forever, but got cold feet and decided not to go through with it, a mistake that lead to an untold amount of death and suffering at their cybernetic hands throughout the galaxy. Indeed, the writers seemed to concede this point in spectacular fashion with an entire series called Deep Space Nine. Sure, Sisko attempted diplomacy at various points -- but talking is never the answer, not against the implacable Dominion. It took the Federation years of grit, tenacity, blood and sweat to finally throw off their would-be oppressors. DuBois understood this, while Picard railed against it -- and even in Trek's optimistic world, indirectly made the whole galaxy pay for his decision.
Yep, this. Not to mention that the film practically opens with the Bugs destroying Buenos Aires. What are the Terrans supposed to do at that point? Some (including wiki) have speculated that the humans attacked first, but that just isn't in the film. It also tacitly acknowledges that the war as presented is just: I'm quite sure the Bugs would have been extremely pissed if humans nuked Hive Cluster 16 or whatever. Why wouldn't they be?
So it's a movie about coming of age and fighting a 100% justified war in defense of (as you said) a very free and prosperous society. I mean, they let their boot camp trainees just quit at any time. Some repressive nightmare.
All right, I'll read Starship Troopers with you epic gamers. Some fun info that I came up with after a quick search: Heinlein won Hugo Awards for four novels (back when awards might have meant something, no less): Double Star, published in 1956, Starship Troopers (1959), Stranger in a Strange Land (1961), and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966).
Starship Troopers is on the reading lists of four out of five of the US military academies, and was made into a film adaptation by Robocop director Paul Verhoeven in 1997. While it's said Verhoeven was satirizing the society he portrayed, Heinlein... probably wasn't. It is also most likely the original appearance of >!powered armor!< in all of literature. Looking forward to it, fellas!
I've read Friendship is Optimal. It's much better than it has any right to be, and I didn't really detect any wokeness. I've also read Methods of Rationality, and enjoyed it too, though the other criticisms of it are correct. It is full of itself and Harry definitely has Mary Sue tendencies. Still, I stand by my assessment that it's an enjoyable read for a fanfic. Not really sure about LessWrong.
What do you want to know?
I will say that Trump got the "second" most votes in history. Despite all their institutional power, we have successfully gained a lot of hearts and minds.