a bit of futuristic cultural anthropology

[MaryAnn]

Subject: Some words from Heinlein a half century ago


1. I am aware that the themes of the unwritten stories linking the second and this the third volumes thus briefly stated above have not been established sufficiently to lend conviction, particularly with reference to two notions: the idea that space travel, once apparently firmly established, could fall into disuse, and secondly the idea that the United States could lapse into a dictatorship of superstition. As for the first, consider the exploration of the Vikings a thousand years ago and the colonies they established in North America. Their labors were fruitless; Columbus and his successors had to do it all over again. Space travel in the near future is likely to be a marginal proposition at best, subsidized for military reasons. It could die out - then undergo a renascence through new techniques and through new economic and political pressures. I am not saying these things will happen, I do say they could happen.



As for the second notion, the idea that we could lose our freedom by succumbing to a wave of religious hysteria, I am sorry to say that I consider it possible. I hope that it is not probable. But there is a latent deep strain of religious fanaticism in this, our culture; it is rooted in our history and is has broken out many times in the past. It is with us now; there has been a sharp rise in strongly evangelical sects in this country in recent years, some of which hold beliefs theocratic in the extreme, anti-intellectual, anti-scientific, and anti-libertarian.

It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so, and will follow it by suppressing opposition, subverting all education to seize early the minds of the young, and by killing, locking up, or driving underground all heretics. This is equally true whether the faith is Communism or Holy-Rollerism; indeed it is the bounden duty of the faithful to do so. The custodians of the True Faith cannot logically admit tolerance of heresy to be a virtue.

Nevertheless this business of legislating religious beliefs into law has never been more than sporadically successful in this country - Sunday closings spots, the Prohibition experiment, temporary enclaves of theocracy such as Voliva's Zion, Smith's Nauvoo, a few others. The country is split up into such a variety of faiths and sects that a degree of uneasy tolerance now exists from expedient compromise; the minorities constitute a majority of opposition against each other.

Could it be otherwise here? Could any one sect obtain a working majority at the polls and take over the country? Perhaps not - but a combination of a dynamic evangelist, television, enough money, and modern techniques of advertising and propaganda might make Billy Sunday's efforts look like a corner store compared to Sears Roebuck. Throw in a depression for good measure, promise a material heaven here on earth, add a dash of anti-Semitism, anti-Catholicism, anti-Negroism, and a good large dose of anti-"furriners" in general and anti-intellectuals here at home and the result might be something quite frightening - particularly when one recalls that our voting system is such that a minority distributed as pluralities in enough states can constitute a working majority in Washington.

[talks about the rise of such a thing in the book..]

Impossible? Remember the Klan in the 'Twenties - and how far it got without even a dynamic leader. Remember Karl Marx and note how close that unscientific piece of nonsense called Das Kapital has come to smothering out all freedom of thought on half a planet, without - mind you - the emotional advantage of calling it a religion. The capacity of the human mind for swallowing nonsense and spewing it forth in violent and repressive action has never yet been plumbed.

[ No. I probably never will write the story of [the main bad guy in these books,] Nehemiah Scudder; I dislike him too thoroughly. But I hope that you will go along with me in the idea that he could happen, for the sake of the stories which follow. Whether you believe in the possibility of the postulates of these stories or now, I hope that you a will enjoy them - at my age it would be very inconvenient to have to go back to working for a living. ]

Robert A. Heinlein
October 1952

[Lew]

I've always found Heinlein to be very prescient, as I find this writing.

[SplatterTone]

It might be worth noting that tubalicious set up a politics section ... I think for just such emergencies.

It might be worth noting that George Orwell wrote a book too.
It might be worth noting that we now poop in 1.6 gallon flush toilets.
That's WHERE. Might it be just a matter of time before we get the WHEN and WHAT COLOR?

[MartyNeilan]

the idea that space travel, once apparently firmly established, could fall into disuse,

Well, MA, that actually DID happen if you consider the moon.
We proved we could go there. We proved we could go back. We proved that the ingenuity and courage of our astronauts, engineers, and Gene "failure is not an option" Kranz could solve seemingly unsolvable catastrophies in the middle of space. But we stopped going back about 30 years ago and in all reality it will probably be at least another decade before we get there again - if we ever do.

[SplatterTone]

We don't need no stinkin' space travel. We're riding around on a collar attached to a cat named Orion.

http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_1647_1.asp

And the message is: EAT AT JOE'S.

[Daryl Fletcher]

Well, MA, that actually DID happen if you consider the moon.

...which, of course, is really made out of cheese.

Take a look at http://moon.google.com/ and zoom in all the way.

[Chuck(G)]

"Kilgore Trout once wrote a short story which was a dialogue between two pieces of yeast. They were discussing the possible purposes of life as they ate sugar and suffocated in their own excrement. Because of their limited intelligence, they never came close to guessing that they were making champagne."
- Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions

[TubaRay]

We don't need no stinkin' space travel. We're riding around on a collar attached to a cat named Orion.

http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_1647_1.asp

And the message is: EAT AT JOE'S.

Well. Now that clears up a lot of confusion.

[Kevin Hendrick]

We don't need no stinkin' space travel. We're riding around on a collar attached to a cat named Orion.

http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_1647_1.asp

And the message is: EAT AT JOE'S.

Well. Now that clears up a lot of confusion.

Don't let it bug you, J ... I mean, Ray ...

[MartyNeilan]

There, is that better?

[LoyalTubist]

Didn't the Apollo astronauts really land at some warehouse out in the middle of the desert? For craters, they videotaped them walking into earth craters, namely Amboy Crater, between Barstow and Needles, California, in the middle of the night, hoping that some passing motorist on Route 66 wouldn't stop to watch.

Wait, that was a movie starring James Brolin, O.J. Simpson, and Genevieve Bujold, made about 1978 called, "Capricorn One."

Never mind!