Comments by "Crazy Eyes" (@CrizzyEyes) on "The Starship Troopers Discourse" video.
-
Heinlein's novel doesn't really depict Fascism. The idea of a hardcore meritocratic state in which you must serve in the military to vote seems ghastly to us now, but strictly speaking, it simply isn't Fascism, just an idea that could potentially coexist with Fascism. Heinlein toys with the idea because he was frustrated with genuinely awful decisions made by civilians in our government during the Cold War, and had served in the military himself.
Fascism is kind of a flash-in-the-pan ideology that has little to no relevance today, because it is by its very origin a reaction to Communism. However, the things that Fascist states had in common were:
- a body of voters who are completely desperate and faced with choosing between radical ideologies in the wake of a weak sitting government before the Fascists arrive
- a call back to the most glorious period in that nation's or people's history and a claim to be able to return to that former glory
- seizing the means of production, not unlike Communism, to both modernize and control industry (remember, Fascism was relevant when most of Europe still needed to industrialize, badly, especially Italy)
- blaming a specific group of people for most if not all of the woes the nation currently faces (again, not unlike Communism)
- and of course, totalitarian control of the government
Helldivers depicts a government much closer to Fascism than Starship Troopers. However, my personal theory is that it is a plutocracy run by defense and arms contractors that manufacture reasons to go to war to perpetuate their own profits. It explains why the government seems to wage war so inefficiently; it's like the mistakes and ulterior motives that came up with the F-35 taken into overdrive, and put in control of the entire human species for a few hundred years.
29
-
15
-
7
-
6
-
4
-
3
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
1
-
1
-
1
-
1
-
1
-
1
-
1
-
1