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I, sometimes, wonder if the accusations of fascism towards Starship Troopers is the thundering realization on the accuser's part that they would be excluded from citizenship.
Not many veterans in the Hollywoodland landscape or press rooms.
WE wouldn't get to vote or have any direct say in how the government was run? But we're the highly educated (HA! Not actors!) elite! Any system that keeps US from being an actual elite must be fascist!
Even I would be excluded from the franchise, I took a medical before my term was completed. I think, though, that if my vote was on the line I would have demanded alternate service for that last year (as is my right under the system shown).
I don't let it worry me.
I am constantly amused and worried that the things that are often cited in Starship Troopers as being fascist are present in our current mode of government, and the critic cannot see what they're doing.
So much for highly educated.
"Like most intellectuals, he's intensely stupid." -- Marquise de Merteuil
I'm not so sure...if you had completed Basic (the guy they mentioned who took alternate service couldn't complete Basic for the MI) and were injured in line-of-duty, that would probably count as having served and get you your vote.
ReplyDeleteTo be a Citizen you had to have completed Federal Service for a full term or the duration, whichever the Federal Service said you had to serve.
DeleteYou could voluntarily withdraw at any time.
And as long as you are willing to serve the Federal Service has to find you a job to serve in until your term is over.
Examples in the book include an older MI recruit who was injured so he couldn't complete MI training and ended in the Navy. Another is at the induction center when Rico first goes to sign up and one of the Federals says basically that if an applicant is blind and can't do anything lse, the government will find a job, like counting spines on caterpillars by touch.
It's the act of serving and completion that makes you a citizen. You've basically paid for your citizenship with your time and body.
As Angus pointed out, the only thing that non-citizenship restricted was The Vote. Not a citizen, no vote for you.