# Urth Digest, Vol 51, Issue 18 *The Urth list — 6 messages, 4 voices, 06 Nov 2008* > Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright > in each message remains with the person who wrote it. > Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original > archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than > retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact. --- ### Stephen Case *06 Nov 2008, 21:12* In response to the comments on it not being a good idea that everyone should vote, this was a main premise in Heinlein's Starship Troopers. In that society, you weren't considered a citizen (and thus allowed to vote) unless you had served a tour in the military. It wasn't mandatory that you served (like in certain contemporary European countries), but you weren't allowed to vote-- you weren't considered to have "earned the right"-- unless you had served. This was a primary motivation (if I recall correctly) of the main character joining up. I'm not sure how much of this was kept in the movie . . . -Steve --- ### Dan'l Danehy-Oakes *06 Nov 2008, 21:28 · in reply to Stephen Case* > On Thu, Nov 6, 2008 at 1:12 PM, Stephen Case wrote: > In response to the comments on it not being a good idea that everyone > should vote, this was a main premise in Heinlein's Starship Troopers. In > that society, you weren't considered a citizen (and thus allowed to vote) > unless you had served a tour in the military. This is often repeated, and NOT true. You had to do a tour of government service, but it did not have to be military. However, once you volunteered, you went where they put you, so you could easily wind up in the military without intending to. > you weren't allowed to vote-- you weren't considered to have "earned > the right"-- unless you had served. It wasn't so much "earning the right," as proving that you were willing to put society ahead of your own personal concerns. And it extended beyond voting; you also had to be a "veteran" to hold public office. ``` Dan'l Danehy-Oakes, writer, trainer, bon vivant ----- http://www.livejournal.com/users/sturgeonslawyer http://www.danehyoakes.com I once absend-mindedly ordered Three Mile Island dressing in a restaurant and, with great presence of mind, they brought Thousand Island Dressing and a bottle of chili sauce. -- T. Pratchett ``` --- ### Adam Thornton *06 Nov 2008, 21:46 · in reply to Stephen Case* > On Nov 6, 2008, at 3:12 PM, Stephen Case wrote: > I'm not sure how much of this was kept in the movie . . . The movie was an excellent adaptation of a cover of a book by Robert A. Heinlein! Adam --- ### Adam Thornton *06 Nov 2008, 21:50 · in reply to Dan'l Danehy-Oakes* > On Nov 6, 2008, at 3:28 PM, Dan'l Danehy-Oakes wrote: > > This is often repeated, and NOT true. You had to do a tour of > government > service, but it did not have to be military. However, once you > volunteered, > you went where they put you, so you could easily wind up in the > military > without intending to. This might be true. It is certainly what _Expanded Universe_ says. But it does not appear to be what the text of _Starship Troopers_ says. There's an excellent essay by David Gifford examining this discrepancy. http://www.nitrosyncretic.com/rah/ftp/fedrlsvc.pdf Adam --- ### Russ Allbery *07 Nov 2008, 00:06 · in reply to Adam Thornton* Adam Thornton writes: > On Nov 6, 2008, at 3:12 PM, Stephen Case wrote: >> I'm not sure how much of this was kept in the movie . . . > The movie was an excellent adaptation of a cover of a book by Robert > A. Heinlein! I dunno, I found the movie an excellent parody of the book. The events of the movie weren't the events of the book, but the society portrayed by the movie is the society that I think the ideas in the book would have created in practice. ``` Russ Allbery (rra at stanford.edu) ``` --- ### Adam Thornton *07 Nov 2008, 03:41 · in reply to Russ Allbery* > On Nov 6, 2008, at 6:06 PM, Russ Allbery wrote: > Adam Thornton writes: >> On Nov 6, 2008, at 3:12 PM, Stephen Case wrote: >>> I'm not sure how much of this was kept in the movie . . . >> The movie was an excellent adaptation of a cover of a book by Robert >> A. Heinlein! > I dunno, I found the movie an excellent parody of the book. The > events of > the movie weren't the events of the book, but the society portrayed > by the > movie is the society that I think the ideas in the book would have > created > in practice. I just like saying "D??gie Hauser." Adam ---