STARSHIP TROOPERS, Part 1: HEINLEIN | Brows Held High

LISTEN UP YOU APES! This is the first of a three part series.
CORRECTIONS:
- Heinlein's Navy isn't all female, the positions of starship pilot were prioritized for women.
- during the lead-in to the Fanon part I say "Juan Rico" when I meant to refer to Ramon Magsaysay-likely the inspiration for the character
- I fail to mention that the 3rd act of Stranger in a Strange Land is about Smith founding a sex cult
- I also don't mention the 2nd alien race from the book, The Skinnies, because they seemed pretty irrelevant to the topic
- I didn't show enough of Michael's cats. So sorry.
More information to follow. DISMISSED.
00:00 Everyone Drops
04:41 Lazarus Long and The Competent Man
13:59 Space Marines, Command and Control
20:34 History and Moral Philosophy
26:16 By His Bootstraps -- All You Zombies
29:34 Boy's Life - Be Prepared
31:44 Mobile Infantry and Fleet Don't Mix
38:06 1-2-3-4-I Love Marine Corps
46:52 Who Does Not Get Citizenship?
49:46 "Juan" Rico
54:09 This Pompous Fraud, Karl Marx
59:02 There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Life
1:04:53 A Martian Pronunciation Guide
1:08:00 End Credits
Follow me on Twitter: / kylekallgren
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Also Ko-Fi is A Thing That Exists: ko-fi.com/kylekallgren

[@Calpsotoma]

"My family was written by Aaron Sorken" One of the best lines. 🦄

[@basilmemories]

this hits extra hard if you grew up in a military family and grow up kinda steeped in the culture. I grew up traveling around and on bases. I didn't know it then, but mom had depression, keep that in the back of your mind. On the base you had access to free healthcare, your apartment was free, the local commissary and bx had lower prices since the us government leveraged better prices for people. there were parks on base, a school on base, a pool on base, a bowling alley/gym on base, a theater on base, essentially an entire town on base. A home on base. the price was everyone's service in one way or another, but the service we all provided was valued very differently. For dad it was 20-odd years in the navy, on ships and (thank god) having the luck to never end up in active combat, but a lot of time on a ship loaded down with asbestos-laden paint and away from his family. he joined up because mom and him knew that they couldn't afford to raise a child otherwise. For mom, it was constant emotional support when he was at home and abroad. It was effectively raising a child who was an absolute hellion. For me, it was trying not to be hurt when every major event passed, and dad wasn't there, and to be as good as possible when he was home. I remember one time mom taking me aside and saying that it was our job to be his "safe haven" to come home to. A military wife was a military wife, a child was a military brat. after 14 years and two reconciliations, they divorced. That was when the paradigm shifted and we found out our real "worth" in the eyes of the system. See, a divorced woman gets pretty much one benefit: she gets to claim some of his retirement (in value, it doesn't actually come out of his money) when she claims social security. that's... pretty much it. no extended benefits or healthcare, any additional coverage for herself. No compensation for the emotional labor she did. Despite the culture being that a military wife stood by her husband and was the rock in troubled waters, the actuality was that no matter how many years she provided that service, she would get nothing from the government in the case of a divorce. sure, if she filled out the right paperwork she might get money to help raise her child, but nearly all benefits would apply only to the child herself (in the form of healthcare until the age of 20). My mom's depression crippled her, making her unable to even fill out the form that would net us that money, and everyone, raised on bootstrapping and society's then abundant lack of empathy towards mental health conditions at the time, said it was her own damn fault and that she should have just toughed through the collapse of her world and filed the paperwork. Years later, this bootstrap mentality haunts us and the rest of my extended family. I feel guilty for being just disabled enough to effectively be unemployable, but not visibly disabled enough to get ssdi, even though i know damn well that's utterly illogical. Mom feels guilty that the job she ended up taking (preschool teacher) doesn't pay enough to buy a house, even though she knows damn well that she could work for three lifetimes and not be able to afford one. We should be able to kill our own hogs, comfort the suffering, make a home meal, keep our finances in check, and have working legs that don't buckle under mere walking. And if we can't? We might as well be insects.

[@dwc1964]

this needs more likes

[@ralphjosephacobo8014]

For what little it's worth man, sorry you had to go through that.

[@Vesperitis]

Damn.

[@auldthymer]

Oh, wow! I was an Air Force brat. We moved nearly every two years: I learned roots are for cowards and friends are replaceable. I don't think my mother ever dealt with her depression -- but I blamed myself for it. One of my brothers looks at the four of us children and says we are all scarred. He's right. 🦄

[@auldthymer]

@@paintedjaguar Your points are all true -- I've experienced all of them. (It's possible my parents were unhappy at the time...)

[@harlanhardway5955]

Your dad explaining the records office in order to explain his tendency to explain is hillareous

[@obiwanobiwan13]

"You look very Rembrandt." *"Rembrandt at what age?"* I love your dad already, Kyle... xD

[@gupdoo3]

🦄 the whole "specialization is for insects"/"it feels like you constantly have to fight for your right to live" really hits hard when you're disabled huh

[@ojrmk1]

Yeah, the whole 'self sufficiency' and outlooks such as Libertarianism kinds of falls apart if you are, through no fault of your own, unable to be as 'self-sufficient' as other. I suppose the outlook for us disabled peeps should be "Guess I'll just die then!"

[@Msoulwing]

This is why you should try to take a positive message away instead. While I disagree that something given has *no* value, things you struggle for do accrue more sentimental value (this is why Dark Souls is satisfying). And while even a fully able person isn't gonna live up to that entire list, learning new skills is fun and useful.

[@jessielefey]

@@Msoulwing Or, we can just critique him and not try to twist his words into something more palatable. And I say that as someone who *was* a huge Heinlein fan, and the damage it did to me the second I had to figure out the difference between an excuse and a reason because I'd been taught *everything* is an excuse when my body failed me at fourteen. If everyone is a generalist, nobody is good at anything. Specialization is literally what allows civilization. His mobile infantry would be earthbound if not for the pilots and their specialized knowledge. If there were no farmers, there could be no factories, no scientists, no military. And there is no such thing as unskilled labour, just undervalued labour. If you don't think so, I hope you only ever get served by freshly hired teenagers on their first job for a week the next time it's safe for you go to a restaurant, or challenge the career farm hands to a harvesting race.

[@Msoulwing]

@@jessielefey Oh I figured out that "everything is an excuse" is nonsense in elementary school. Some people just can't be bothered to care about reality. And yes, taking this character's words as literal gospel would indeed be *ridiculous* in real life, which is why I think it's a good idea to not do so. You can critique the work as much as you want, but I do think there are good ideas to be found in there even if they're jumbled in with some nonsense. Your last point seems contradictory. The concept of specialization relies on the existence of different levels of skill, which necessitates a comparative lack of skill. There are likely hundreds of professions where I would be rightfully deemed "unskilled" due to not having the relevant skills. (Also I didn't mention unskilled labor in my post, so I have no idea why you're arguing about it).

[@TindraSan]

ppl all vary in skills, that's just fact. And I think with a better system, everyone could be contributing to society, be it spiritually or practically. The satisfaction of a job well done, to do your very best to the point of hurting for it, I think is better strived for in things like pet projects or a home cooked meal made from scratch. Not so much the work we do to pay our bills, rather it's simply surviving another day and maybe have some cash left for leisure that's the reward there. I personally think the means to live a decent life should just be given to us, so we could have time and energy to strive for excellence and innovation on our own time with things we truly feel passion for. People would work hard to afford self indulgence if it felt like an achievable goal. But as things are currently, struggling to simply get by, let alone live decently and comfortably gets in the way of that. At the very least that's how it is for me, as someone who's brain chemicals make working in a way and the amount that fits the standards being put on all of us simply impossible.

[@47Jaspers]

Big shout out to Kyle for sweating buckets in military fatigues under studio lights for a full hour of screen time. Your dedication is impeccable, my good man.

[@Flowtail]

Kyle is a true chad for shouting "THIS IS A BIT AND I AM RUNNING WITH IT" without collapsing into giggles

[@ronethegreat9]

was just about to comment the same thing, glad to see im not the only one who thought that was good

[@voidify3]

"Zizek is the elvis of philosophy: everyone can do a funny impression of him and there are about a hundred people of colour doing the same thing that you'd be better off listening to" UNDERRATED MOMENT

[@mattlanguedoc8634]

False: Zizek is impossible to do an impression of. I've tried, and I just ended up getting saliva everywhere.

[@voidify3]

@@mattlanguedoc8634 oh come on say it with me: _byur eedeeologee_

[@FabalociousDee]

I had to pause and rewind. Perfect read, perfectly delivered.

[@latieraeve]

I come here for education and hot takes. I'm never disappointed

[@mattgilbert7347]

Nothing like the pathologies of the left to undermine our project. Politics as moral performance, critique as moral performance. A low point in a half-decent analysis.

[@Rhino-n-Chips]

"My first Heinlein was Stranger in a Stranger Land" Shit, one hell of an introduction to him. The book about the alien that makes a worldwide sex cult, kills everyone who disagrees, brainwashes gay people to be straight, tells his followers to eat his corpse and this is all supposed to be a good thing. 🦏

[@EphemeralTao]

I don't know that Heinlein intended Valentine's religion to be an example of his own ideals; but more simply playing with the concepts of morality and social mores. He wrote a lot that in some ways could be considered "trolling" of the self-appointed moral guardians of his day (such as the emphasis on incest in his later works). To take any particular work and claim it is and exemplar of Heinlein's own beliefs is to ignore his rather extensive non-fiction writings on the subject of morality, or the way that his own worldview evolved over time. There is a good deal of overlap, certainly; but there is also more than a little contradiction as well.

[@falconJB]

You left out the part where he has a woman explain that when women get raped its almost always because they wanted it. Yeah, Stranger in a Stranger Land is a hell of a place to start.

[@mathieuleader8601]

reminds me of Futurama's beast with a billion backs

[@OneTwoFreeForAll]

I mean, non-Earthling that creates a worldwide cult that kills non-adherents, forces gay people to be straight, and whose followers eat the body & blood of the leader sounds like at least one interpretation of Christianity.

[@timsn274]

@@OneTwoFreeForAll As I recall, he did not force gay people to be straight. In fact, there are hints at exactly the opposite.

[@Elfos64]

Part of me was hoping you'd bring up the Mark Twain story about the greatest general. The gist of it is that there was this colossal military nerd who knew all the great generals and all their tactics and victories, what made them great. When he died, he went to heaven and had the opportunity to ask St. Peter a question. He asked who the greatest general of all time was, and St. Peter pointed to a man standing nearby. The military nerd was confused. "there must be some mistake, I know that man. He's no general, he's a commoner". Peter replied "as you knew him, yes, he was a mere commoner. But if he had been a general, he would have been the greatest who ever lived". A quote also comes to mind: "the greatest general is the one who hates war". Meaning one who doesn't relish in the testosterone and carnage, but rather one who wants the war to end with enough survivors that its end can be enjoyed, and the opposing side with enough survivors that moral integrity is preserved.

[@digitaljanus]

The Nation's Jeet Heer noted a couple years ago that military history nerds love to lionize aristocrats who lose, like Robert E. Lee and Erwin Rommel, while ignoring plebians who win, like Omar Bradley and Võ Nguyên Giáp (the latter is probably the greatest general of the 20th century).

[@triggerme6144]

that doesn't make sense. He asked who was the greatest general, not who could've been the best general.

[@triggerme6144]

@@digitaljanus The reason Lee and Rommel are remembered and lionized is because of their accomplishments. Lee was outnumbered and out gunned at nearly every engagement during the Civil War, yet he won on multiple occasions, not only once but several times. Rommel is remembered mainly due to his blitz across Europe, which set the precedent for modern mobile warfare along with Patton. Omar Bradley was set up to win. He had numbers, better supplies, better and more equipment, and a military doctrine that was better suited to such a large force, which focused around flexible teams of soldiers, allowing for individual action. Giap was mainly known for his guerilla warfare and while successful, was never put under real pressure. Once again Giap had more men, basically a limitless amount and used standard tactics for a modern guerilla force. Though this was only good for a defensive and counter offensive role. Anytime the Vietcong openly attacked American positions, they were slaughtered and relied on world war 1 era tactics, aka running over open fields while being shot at by a machine guns after a bombardment.

[@matrixman124]

That sounds so perfectly Twain

[@dylanrodrigues]

Trigger Me6 yes, and the next you're going to say Subutai and Khalid ibn al-Walid weren't actually the greatest generals of all time because they're set up to win quote on quote...

[@matheusvillela9150]

"But it wasn't a revolution", writes Heinlein before describing the concept of a revolution.

[@List-pg2vb]

Likewise, Heinlein's "bold takes" on economics are what you literally learn day 1 in Econ 101, about the relationship of monetary price, market value and utility.

[@dreyri2736]

The fact that he says "it was more like what happened in Russia in 1917" in the same sentence feels like he's making some tongue-in-cheek reference or making fun of communism again, implying the bolshevik revolution was not really a revolution like some collective uprising of the working class but more of a regime change.

[@Flowtail]

I sense that i'll be hearing Red's "It's time for 𝒟𝑒𝑒𝓅 𝒯𝒽𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽𝓉𝓈 with Heinlein" in my mind a lot

[@TakenOutAndShod]

Long ago a friend of mine described Heinlein's favourite subjects as "Sex, religion, and politics; generally in the same bathtub." 🦄

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

That's a brilliant quote! Consider it stolen!

[@Tamlinearthly]

Heinlein's favorite subject is the many socially sound and philosophically compelling reasons that women should be nude around him at all times.

[@hemidas]

He'd love Facebook then.😆

[@sudevsen]

The Borgias

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

@@sudevsen IN SPAAAAACE! :-)

[@CthulhusBFF2]

Heinlein: *writes an all-female Navy for the benefit of the straight male Army characters* 🦄 Me: *headcanons a lesbian version of the Village People for the Starship Trooperverse who sing a sapphic rendition of ‘In The Navy’ for recruitment ads*

[@crypticmrchimes]

Is it possible to see this rendition?

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

Sapphic shanties for the win!

[@johannamegido8465]

would you say margaret thatcher had girl power?

[@CthulhusBFF2]

@@crypticmrchimes Regrettably I’ve yet to find a female cover of In The Navy, but hopefully that’ll change someday

[@CthulhusBFF2]

@@johannamegido8465 only in the sense that she demonstrated that a woman can be just as much of a conservative butthole as any man, but that’s not saying much

[@leaguesmanoframsgate]

🦄"It feels like I constantly have to justify my right to live" Well yes. It would. That's the oppression of language, the oppression of thought. I doubt it's a coincidence that this comes after a discussion of Fanon, and any doubt is gone when you recall that the quote under his name is "all modes of oppression resemble one another". The in-group forces the out-group to want to be in the in-group, because the alternative is unthinkable. Almost literally unthinkable. Whether you're non-white, non-straight, non-cis, non-abled, non-male, or any of the infinite variations thereof: you are forced to think in the language of the cishet white man, to justify your existence as though under threat from the Inquisitor in Red Dwarf only in those terms. And that's the biggest trick - it invokes struggle as something done automatically. This language, this ideology, co-opts the language of struggle to reflect it as rugged, red-blooded, individualistic machismo. It's the hustle. It's the grind. It's something to be celebrated. It's every heartwarming story about a high-school robotics club building a wheelchair for a disabled child whose parents couldn't stump up twenty thousand dollars for the production model, or about the six-year-old operating a lemonade stand to pay for his mother's cancer treatment, or any of that other bullshit. It's the idea that struggle is not only the default, but the most noble option, and that by struggling to improve, the out-group proves its worth. It's the philosophy of trickle-down economics applied to actual people and lives. It's the idea, ingrained into the heads of the out-group by the in-group, that rather than demanding a seat at the table, their interests are best served by doing more elaborate tricks to get more scraps; that while the in-group's inherent dignity and value is a truth held to be self-evident, the out-group, any out-group, must earn it. Kyle knows that, of course. But I wanted to say it anyway. Had to get it out of my head, I suppose. Life to not-fascism.

[@Djinsin]

This might be my favorite comment I've ever seen on anything

[@leaguesmanoframsgate]

@@Hiraghm Heinlein was wrong then and you're wrong now, which you'd know if you bothered to question who exactly it is you need to justify yourself /to/. Also, "evolutionary heritage" is a pile of garbage used to justify and lionize the worst impulses of the worst men, so do consider an actual argument in future.

[@michaelortiz1561]

@@leaguesmanoframsgate rather elitist of you thanks

[@leaguesmanoframsgate]

@@michaelortiz1561 I'm sorry for not sitting the previous commenter down with a nice cup of tea to gently guide them through why "the evolutionary heritage of men is sacrifice" is a completely deranged position unsupported by any reputable science. I thought Kyle's video did a fairly decent job of explaining that. Apparently not. Also, why on Earth is telling people that *men aren't disposable jizz machines, that's the brain worms talking* elitist to you?

[@loftus4453]

@@leaguesmanoframsgate misread your comment at first. I agree with your analysis - so glad you left the comment.

[@katszulga1888]

Heinlein's space navy wasn't all female, it was just the only place women were allowed to serve in a military capacity. Which meant they could never achieve the highest rank in that military (Sky Marshall) since you had to have worked your way up to officer class in both branches in order to qualify. Letting women be grunts and jarheads was one of my favourite parts of Verhoeven's version.

[@KyleKallgrenBHH]

Ah, whoops.

[@Replicaate]

Same here. I wish Verhoeven had kept the power armour suits, though. But I guess budget couldn't quite pay for those kinds of SFX at the time. Also, my unsolicited Galaxy Brain take: I know the shower scene was there because its a Verhoeven film and in addition to copious gore and satire, there's gotta be tits. BUT in the context of the universe it seems to imply that men and women (in the future military at least) are so used to being around each other that there isn't anything strange or prurient or dangerous about it, it's just a bunch of naked grunts talking shit in the showers as they do. So points for implying a future society devoid of the threat of sexual assault, Paul.

[@saml302]

@@Replicaate rewatching with friends a few years ago we all immediately pointed that out. like, wow no ones mentioned tits or dicks they're just... talking

[@dominiccasts]

@@saml302 Robocop did the same thing IIRC, so I think it's just a Verhoeven-ism.

[@forickgrimaldus8301]

At the time that was very progressive, remember this is the time where people were arguing "stay in the kitchen lady"

[@caseygoddard]

Feels like a contradiction to basically say "don't be an insect" while also saying "be willing to sacrifice yourself for the good of the whole."

[@NugicusStreetPhotography]

I always felt like that expressed the inherant anti-individualism in both Communism and Fascism.

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

Doesn't it just?

[@dairallan]

Its almost as if Fascism is built on internal contradictions...

[@xavierzabie8184]

@@NugicusStreetPhotography communism doesn't say anything about either of these two points so don't bring it into this like it's relevant. Only fascism has this kind of contradiction.

[@n.l.g.6401]

Helluva way to create yourself some noble, unquestioning peons, though.

[@chuckporter9526]

11:25 "You can improve your probability of success if you are willing to increase your tolerance for failure." A year later, this one line has been stuck in my head. I'm the old man at my job, and this bit of wisdom is what I tell all the new hires. Provided the fail state isn't catastrophic, mistakes are more or less tolerable by everyone involved. "Maybe this time is the lesson; next time can be the result."

[@darthmunck]

I had to pause the video at the notion that "It wasn't a revolution. It was like what happened in Russia in 1917". Just...as someone with an interest in revolutionary history, it was so odd to hear the epitome of the modern idea of what a revolution is be so casually referred to as "not a revolution". That's the kind of take that has to come with an explanation...right? Edit: I'm not sure how to write emojis. Imagine a unicorn here.

[@rev.davemoorman3883]

In short, the Russian Revolution merely replace the Czar with the Commissars. The second revolution replaced the Commissars with the plutocrats. The bread lines never ended.

[@onitholope8969]

The slow fade in of the big 'YIKES' during your dad's summary of Farnham's Freehold absolutely sent me, 10/10 for making a discussion of such a yikes book palatable and funny. 🦄

[@fugitiveunknown7806]

I was wondering if he was going to mention Fifth Column, cause yikes.

[@einootspork]

This is the perfect project for Kyle Kallgren! It combines so many of his strengths as a creator - philosophy, sociopolitical analyis, examining unconventional adaptations of source material, acting, and names of famous people with subtitles making fun of them. And it has an intimate personal connection to his life to boot. 🦄

[@helenl3193]

"How would you describe yourself?" "Let's not." *Mood*

[@mkallgren08]

Lololol - I wasn't in the best of places during that interview and have been working on setting boundaries with those I'm close with :) Glad it got a laugh!

[@f00g3n7]

As a Swede, I couldn't help but notice that your dad referred to your grandfather as "Farfar". It is Swedish meaning paternal grandfather. Literally Fatherfather.

[@killjoymcquire6340]

Also Danish 🇩🇰

[@RelativelyBest]

I was thinking that Kallgren sounds very much like a Swedish surname, but weirdly I've never met or heard of anyone by that name before.

[@tobias734]

@@RelativelyBest It's probably an anglified version of Källgren

[@RelativelyBest]

@@tobias734 Oh, right. That makes sense. I guess because Kallgren sounds like it _might_ be a real name, I got focused on that.

[@MackenzieChandlerDunnavant]

As a five year Navy veteran, Philosophy Elvis was on the money. Hyped for the next two parts! I didn't think you could top Atomic Cafe but boy howdy am I loving this. 🦄

[@bobbie3713]

Meaning he was right or wrong?

[@MackenzieChandlerDunnavant]

@@bobbie3713 kyle is correct, zizek is philosophy elvis. Zizek is correct though about military people using crude jokes as currency

[@honeyham6788]

"we bond by explaining concepts to each other" oh god if that isn't my family to a T

[@zigzagzoom369]

I feel like this explains so much about Kyle...

[@honeyham6788]

@@zigzagzoom369 i dont want to infer anything about his life

[@MattAndImprov]

I like that this video is so personal and shows it rather than just telling it.

[@HeyitsFizzy]

Love is stored in the infodumping

[@jenliferfronester6429]

I have so, so, so, so, so many feelings on all of this, as a former Marine. This hits a ton of nerves. Honestly, I will probably send them in PM on Twitter for you to either read or not at your leisure (because I'm not entitled to that), but I really appreciate this. The one criticism that I have is that a Marine would never, ever call them "drill sergeants"--that is a fast way to the sand pit in boot camp. They're drill instructors. Thank you so much for this. It speaks to places that will always hurt in me.

[@jenliferfronester6429]

anyway 🦄

[@wildfiregx]

Yeah current marine here. That’s also something that bugs me now anytime I hear it.

[@EphemeralTao]

🦄 Yeah, I'm former Army, and even I knew that.

[@theMoporter]

Who cares, though? It literally doesn't matter outside of the boys club.

[@jenliferfronester6429]

@@theMoporter Because that's the kind of detail that will make some people literally say "this person has no idea what they are talking about" when they are already on the fence about the whole thing. It's also legitimately jarring to the ears if you do know.

[@crowwithaknife1312]

“However, when you’re dealing with those kinds of technicalities, you are allllllready in bad territory” evergreen line

[@MrPooleish]

"My first Heinlein was Stranger in a Strange Land" That's right, it's Martian Sex Cult time Bay-Bee!

[@anyanP]

🦄 Today on “Deep thoughts with Heinlein”: suffering for a cause is good. Unless it’s communism or something. Communism is just wrong.

[@betkiss]

People are strange when your a stranger, faces look ugly when your alone

[@unnamedenemy9]

"you should care about setting aside your individual needs and goals for the good of your society." "so like communi-" "NO."

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

I totally read that comment in Red's voice!

[@elizabethdevido2081]

I see you with your Overly Sarcastic Productions reference...and I commend you.

[@thehammer4607]

Lol, read that in red’s voice

[@Silhouetters]

Once again, Kyle's ability to draw on and reassess multiple, seemingly dislocated, strands of media is spellbinding. 🦄

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

I know, right?

[@xTheUnderscorex]

"Nothing can have value, without being an object of utility. If the thing is useless, so is the labour contained in it; the labour does not count as labour, and therefore creates no value." - Karl Marx, Das Kapital (literally chapter 1, section 1) You had other arguments, right Heinlein?

[@konstantinvindhler7043]

🦄 In russian, there is a word "Злободневный", that roughly translates to "pressingly timely", and ethymologicaly means "to the evils of the day". That is what this essay is, in so many ways. Keep up the great work, with love - from Belarus 2021.

[@CarelessFoolFallsFlat]

I was not expecting such an intimate view of Heinlein's work, but I'm glad you brought in your family to give their perspectives on their experiences and Heinlein's novels. 🦄

[@marrons6699]

Heinlein? The guy who made wrote about a superhuman sex cult in that OSP video?

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

The very same. And Verhoeven, the guy who turned Heinlein's fashy, militaristic wankfest into its own satire!

[@doppelrutsch9540]

Also arguably the most influential SF author of the 20th century. For good and bad.

[@falconJB]

@@doppelrutsch9540 I think that would be a hard argument to win.

[@doppelrutsch9540]

@@falconJB For whom?

[@falconJB]

@@doppelrutsch9540 For the one claiming that Heinlein is the most influential in a century that included Asimov, Dick, Herbert, Clarke, Bradbury, Orwell, and even Vern's later works.

[@paradactyl3729]

Deep thoughts with Heinlein: Trans rights, but only if they can breed. Edit: No amount of work can turn mud into an apple pie? I am disappointed that the author of Farmer in The Sky forgot how agriculture works. Edit: Sudden thought about my years spent reading Heinlein. His women are smart, strong, competent, and sexy. That cannot be denied. But I have a real hard time telling them apart. The Heinlein woman is a eugenicist super scientist barbie. You can't even use hair color to tell them apart cause nearly all of them are redheads. Edit: text substitute for a unicorn emoji

[@digitaljanus]

Tl/dr: Every mid-period or later Heinlein story includes self-insert avatars of both himself and his wife Virginia somewhere.

[@TheFrugalVideoGamer]

Ah, another OSP person of culture, I see.

[@dinosaysrawr]

I mean, points for not excluding minorities outright, but are you really an inclusionist if you expect minorities to become like the majority, while the majority gets to largely remain as they are?

[@Sujad]

@@dinosaysrawr Yes. Why should minorities get special rights? That'll just lead to resent by the majority.

[@dinosaysrawr]

@@Sujad , except, when people complain about minorities getting "special rights," nine times out of ten, minorities just want the same rights and opportunities as everyone else, and that's treated as them wanting something "special" because they want to express those same basic rights and opportunities differently from the majority.

[@EmmaLiza]

"Like a bullfrog fighting with a cat." Michael's cat lurking in the background: my time has come!

[@elschaefer3448]

I can very much understand the dynamic of a family that relates to each other through explaining stuff to each other - a lot of conversations in my house consist of back-and-forth infodumping and I love it

[@Nilnot]

Can we call this persona “Tactical Kyle”

[@KyleKallgrenBHH]

Please, “Tactikyle.”

[@chazzwozzio]

@@KyleKallgrenBHH tactikyle owns so many rainbow hued knives

[@DrewDesign]

@@KyleKallgrenBHH I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU BEAT ME TO THIS POST BY A SCANT FOUR DAYS.

[@DonaldWWitt]

@@KyleKallgrenBHH Did you shave for Tactikyle, because Shaved Kyle scares me... 🦄

[@morganqorishchi8181]

@@DonaldWWitt Kyle clarified on his Twitter that he shaved for covid safety reasons. Covid can be transferred via airborne droplets, droplets can get caught in long hair/beards, and as a result it's safer to not have a beard during the pandemic.

[@althaclena]

I read all of heinlein as a teenage girl and this was healing. My relationship is complicated. I DESPISE I Will Fear No Evil but I've gotten multiple people to read his short stories. Great video 🦄

[@LindaDanvers]

My biggest issue with the original Starship Troopers novel is how manipulative it is. It is clearly intended to persuade young people on how awesome this system is and not to think too hard on the implications. Some fallacies used particularly strawmen can be found in Prager U vids nowadays. Verhoeven's adaptation of ST angers a lot Heinlein fans, because it frames the entire narrative as propaganda for the regime and it shows some - but sadly not enough- of the very unfortunate implications of that system. The novel is propaganda for a military dictatorship whether Heinlein intended it or not. Its ideology of toil, suffering, struggle and heroism is quintessentially fascist. When only people who serve a term of service can vote and hold office, it means you can make sure only the people who comply make it home. The current leadership can pre-select, indoctrinate and train its successors. Anyone suspected of dissident ideas can simply be sent into the front lines to die. Less strong personalities will be broken down and converted into upholders of the current system. They become the "sheep dogs". The novel probably unintentionally admits that the war against the Anarchids a.k.a. the Bugs cannot be a war for the survival for the human race. If it were, strictly voluntary service where a considerable amount of people flunk out of basic training would not be enough. The war serves to uphold the status quo. Like the war in 1984, iIt simply is. It gives the general populace an enemy to hate and for the "volunteers" to fight against. Juan/Johnny Rico never moves beyond being a mouthpiece for the system. He is mostly a blank slate the reader can project themselves on. He does not truly question what he is taught. His experiences only serve to show the readers how right his teachers and mentors were. He starts off as lukewarm towards the system. He enlists against the will of his parents because a friend from school did it too. However, after surviving a lot of battles and earning rank he becomes a pillar of the system for which he fights and kills. His previously lukewarm father joins the service as well and ends up serving under Johnny. Compare this book to a novel like Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front where the awful consequences of war on the people who fight in it are shown. If you read those books side by side, you can clearly see why Starship Troopers is used as an army recruitment tool but more truthful war novels like All Quiet on the Western Front are not. Erich Maria Remarque fought on the frontlines himself in the very trenches whereas Heinlein never saw that kind of up close combat action in the navy as a radio communicator and a gunnery officer. This probably explains the convenient lack of PTSD among his military and veteran characters.

[@vassily-labroslabrakos2263]

Not to mention verhooven got a first ha MD view on Facism unlike heinlein

[@nomisunrider6472]

@@vassily-labroslabrakos2263 Yup. Fascism to Heinlein is something that you sign up for the army and then you get to shoot it in the face and that solves everything. Fascism to Verhoeven comes into your home, plays nice with your kids, and changes things so slowly and so "reasonably" you don't even notice until you look down and realize you're ankle deep in blood. Heinlein and his fans never even consider that they could become fascist, because fascism is something the bad guys do, and we aren't bad, so we can't be that. They might rationalize it after the fact, naming all the reasons this totally isn't fascist (often contradicting the original text in the process), but that is the basis of their argument. We are us and they are them so we can't be them.

[@nomisunrider6472]

@Diomedes "Military service is voluntary" Not when it's the thing you need to vote. That is not voluntary. And yes, I do consider required military service to be fascist. A government can have fascist elements without being fascist itself. The difference between Heinlein's version and Verhoeven's version is that Heinlein sees fascism as something you jump in a plane to fight, and Verhoeven sees fascism as someone who comes into your house, drinks your tea, promises to help you, and slowly and surely poisons your community until there is no one left to speak for you. I consider the latter to be more truthful. I do not believe Heinlein created a fascist state deliberately, that would be ludicrous. But I do believe that funding an ideal government on the idea that military service is inherently noble, a government that relies on an endless war against some faceless "enemy" to function, is the path to fascism and I will call it such.

[@etherealceleste]

@@nomisunrider6472 The constantly morphing definition of fascism amazes me. Everyone thinks THEIR version of fascism is the correct one. And everyone accuses everyone else of being THEIR version of fascism. People who cannot agree on semantics but attempt to argue their points are fools.

[@nomisunrider6472]

@@etherealceleste That's a good point. There's a more recent video on this channel called "The Name of the Rose" that analyzes this exact phenomenon through Umberto Eco's essay "Ur-Fascism". You should watch it, it's a very interesting video, and the discussion of semiotics is fascinating. Personally, I feel comfortable ascribing this ideology to Starship Troopers due to its innate similarities to 1930s Italian fascist ideology, given its emphasis on a government created by veterans, rampant militarism, its restriction of education to approved topics, the restriction of women to approved social roles, the fact that the entire book is propaganda, and most notably the removal of universal suffrage. I cannot see any restriction of the right to vote as anything but fascist, and I find the inclusion of evil insect aliens so glorious and unambiguously good war can be relentlessly waged to be dangerously close to fascist fantasies of the "good" war where the Other is slaughtered en masse with no remorse.

[@Jaytheradical]

I'm doing my part!

[@Feasco]

*Holds up a comb* I'm doing MY part!

[@robstewartstewart98]

@@Feasco COME ON YOU SLACKERS! DO YOU WANT TO DRIVE UP THE LIKES, VIEWS, AND SUBSCRIBER COUNT!?

[@jaywhangmakes]

I'm doing my part, too!

[@Feasco]

@@robstewartstewart98 I mean yes, ideally.

[@casperchristiansen2458]

Am Bug; go fly (present participle).

[@melanthor5535]

This is an interesting prospective for me, as I am currently in the army on a "deplyment" in Kuwait. I was a boy scout, both of my parents where in, along with half of my cousins and both of my grandfathers. It was hard for me to imagine not dedecating a part of life to service (either country or community). And as i prepare to get out, even though i hate my preticular job in the Army,part of me had a hard to get past not serving anything but myself as a civilian. Also, this explains better my love scifi. Starship troopers theme of citizenship reminds me of how it was used in Utopia, just a quick observation.🦄

[@falconJB]

Civilians need not be purely self serving they are plenty you can do to help your community. This is one of the problems with Starship Trooper's Federation is that only service that is approved by the state counts to get citizenship when most things that make the world a better place are just working to better the lot of other people outside of state controlled jobs.

[@Gildedtongue]

🦄Yeah, Heinlein's work certainly gets into an uncomfortable, eugenic ableism real quick.

[@ericwiddison7523]

🦄It's like he sees that these policies mean that people will die, and he thinks that's a good thing. When I was reading Heinlein I wasn't as cynical about libertarianism as I am now. But the whole notion that, if you can't afford air then you should die, seemed profoundly immoral. Compared to it all the free love (even when it means hurting people who thought they were in a monogamous relationship with you) seemed downright chaste.

[@georgekomarov4140]

Is no one gonna acknowledge that Zizek/Elvis jokes was spot on and hilarious?

[@mlovecraftr]

I think Patrick H Willems has proven that people are very interested in dads' tangents. 🦄

[@phoenixfritzinger9185]

In my experience it’s only if the dad isn’t your own dad

[@kevinwillems8720]

I mean, generally depends on the tangent. If you have the time, it can be excellent. Although there is something about hearing other people's dad's tangents that is a rare and rad treat.

[@ChefMattReviews]

Seeing him without facial hair is weird

[@InnuendoStudios]

🦄

[@Lairdom]

I dont even know how to do that emote so I'll just stick to upvoting it.

[@shinysylveon6984]

Forget "I have to constantly have to prove myself worthy of being alive", that's straight death cult shit. Also, just in general, bullshit. Sorry, struggling for something doesn't make it inherently better. That's mistaking the satisfaction of learning, building skills, and problem solving for suffering. It's the joy of moving from unable to able. The pain involved in that process adds nothing to the joy of accomplishment and I would argue often detracts. See: the entire existence of trauma 🦄

[@rjeddystone7471]

🦄Heinlein's deep thoughts aside, the speech about no specialization reminds me of the Greek concept of "arete," or "excellence." Summarized on Wikipedia, "The person of Arete is of the highest effectiveness; they use all their faculties-strength, bravery, and wit-to achieve real results. In the Homeric world, then, Arete involves all of the abilities and potentialities available to humans."

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

Yes, the concept existed well before Heinlein. Hell, he may have deliberately copied it because he saw himself in the tradition of the ancient Greek thinkers?

[@deahdirectah]

"My family was written by Aaron Sorkin" I'm dying

[@willw6504]

Kyle: "See where I'm going with this?" Me: ... no? Aside from Part 2, I mean. Subscribed.

[@emilymoran9152]

I didn't either, until I remembered Verhoeven is Dutch.

[@mayaklast6334]

(if I must : 🦄) Nice panel of experts right here! Explaining things to each other is the best basis for bonding as a family. And truly, as a weird writer of YA myself, seeing grown-ups still thinking and talking about books they read in their formative years is always heartwarming.

[@Vesperitis]

Good lord Kyle, I've missed you.

[@MrTizzay]

🦄 It is incredibly good to have you back Kyle, and going just all-out! Your character, your family interviews, your readings of the many texts, this is the maximalist video essay I crave

[@royalport2]

Me: Kyle doesn't really release video essays anymore. I wonder what he's up to. Kyle: BEHOLD MY MAGNUM OPUS!

[@emanuelabell2212]

🦄. As a USNA grad, I idolized Heinlein, and this book has always been one of my “go-to’s”. This is one of the best studies of the author and this work I have yet seen. Excited for the Verhoeven episode. Keep up the good work!

[@Kirkeyressa]

​🦄as a gay communist anarchist who likes warhammer 40k way more than i should, i appreciate this type of video very much. i await the next parts with patient excitement!

[@R0SE727]

🦄 I don’t know much abt starship troopers beyond what I’ve learned through like. Essays and cultural osmosis? Anyway as a Filipino person myself, learning that Johnny Rico was Filipino in the book is fascinating to me bc I literally had no idea. I think this might be based on what I’m (mis)remembering from the movie I thought Rico and his friends were supposed to be Brazilian but purposely white washed in the Verhoven movie to make a point abt like... ya kno, f@scism & the “aryan” beauty standards that go with it. If the movie is a satire of the kind of propaganda piece made by the militaristic state in the movie, it makes sense that to make the army seem appealing they would cast mainly conventionally attractive white people! I won’t say I exactly feel represented by Heinlein’s Juan Rico but it definitely is interesting to think abt! Plus, I don’t think it’s so far fetched. I feel like for Filipino Americans especially it’s rly Common to have a dad or grandpa or someone who was in the Navy, and I’m pretty sure the reasoning for joining is actually... as a means for US citizenship.... I don’t think Heinlen’s parallel is intentional but he did accidentally make one 😳

[@casanovafunkenstein5090]

I always interpreted the film as implying that Rico's family were the descendents of wealthy colonists (likely slave owners/traders), hence why they live such a cartoonishly bourgeois lifestyle and have a Hispanic name despite not being obviously Latino in either appearance or culture (hopefully I'm wording that appropriately). I hadn't picked up on the metatextual implications of all the principal characters being attractive white people, including all the people supposedly enlisting out of the same South American high school, but now you have brought it up it does make a lot of sense as a satire on fascist propaganda films. Mechagamezilla recently did a video on the subject of Nazi propaganda films about the Irish revolution against the English and one of them featured a bunch of supposedly Irish people having a big party where they were all slowly dancing like Germans.

[@R0SE727]

@@casanovafunkenstein5090 I think that’s an interesting take on casting in the movie as well! I that wasn’t my initial interpretation but now that you’ve brought it up I think it fits w/in the verhoven’s whole Take. Also in terms of ur wording, I’m not Latin American but I think even if Rico’s family was descended from colonists, they would probably be still be culturally latine (Brazilian perhaps? someone please correct me I’m not sure if that’s where the movie versions of the characters are from). Good example of a white/white passing Mexican for instance is Guillermo del Toro. You can see how his cultural background influences his work. Although I believe this story is set in the future “after the collapse of democracy” right? So who knows if there even is still a culture to influence him, considering the state he lives in seems pretty totalitarian & imperialist as portrayed by Verhoven, & coerced or forced assimilation is a vital tactic for stamping out diversity under an empire. Also, wanted to add there isn’t really one uniform latine “look”, there are plenty of Afro-latines & plenty of white & white-passing latines out in the world but I do get what u mean bc I do think there is the cultural ideal of how we expect a typical brown latine person too look, even me myself a chicanx person has these expectations built up in my head. Dw, I get what u mean ^-^ This got a bit overwraught I guess I’m just rambling bc the casting in the movie is just one interesting aspect to discuss and think abt for Starship Troopers! The video makes me feel more compelled to learn abt the adaptation and the source material it’s based on

[@klkozel]

Thank you, I'm loving this! My husband's Heinlein books were the ones that had the most wear and tear. Were he alive I think he would have enjoyed watching this with me. Looking forward to Part 2! 🦄

[@Sleepy12ftPanda]

All that "Capable Man" stuff is just compensation for not having friends.

[@r1n8k]

🦄 Kyle is my favourite KZbinr. He tries really hard and always seems so genuine. Even the videos I have had questions over or had something in it that I disagreed with are all good and everyone of them is worth watching.

[@texanzeppo256]

🦄 🦄 🦄 I really don't think that you should have skipped over the fact that Stranger in a Strange Land revolves around a sex cult.

[@LimeyLassen]

God that book was hard to get through.

[@mysteriiis]

Of course it did. The ultimate rebellion against 'Moral Majority' America is to point out that sex is awesome.

[@nataschavisser573]

And the female characters were weird - hyper-sexualised, infantile and crafty.

[@NugicusStreetPhotography]

Sounds like my jam.

[@stephennootens916]

Hyper sexualized is pretty much the norm for any Heinlein female from Stranger in a Strange land on. He pretty much made the fun loving sometimes bisexual nympho that you can still find in science fiction novels.

[@TheScottWolcott]

Just discovered this channel because someone linked the Anonymous Shakespeare video and I was hooked. Loving it so far! Did want to point out "what gamers would later call a HUD" was originally developed for military aircraft starting in WW2. So it does make perfect sense that heinlien would describe and advanced version of that. Not an error, just a bit of trivia.

[@FaeQueenCory]

🦄 Kyle revealing that he is a Crazy Ex Girlfriend fan is the best part of this one. Heather is best SheRa princess.

[@casir.7407]

🦄 my father isnt a heinlein dad, hes definitely an asimov dad... but theres something in the heinlein literature you quoted that feels quintessentially dadlike. i cant put my finger on what it is. perhaps the combination of imperative orders and explanations, so associated with a masculine authority figure. who knows. its amazing to see just how one book thats not even that old can have such a huge impact on popular culture.

[@captdbkilowatt6501]

I’ve also read all of Asimov, Gibson, Niven, Pournelle, LeGuin, Norton, Clarke, Tolkien, Lewis, Burroughs, Farmer, Vonnegut, Bear, Dick, Zelazny, others ... the waters are wide and rich to drink.

[@falconJB]

@@captdbkilowatt6501 Ever read Iain M. Banks?

[@captdbkilowatt6501]

@@falconJB Not enough. Liked what I read: Inversions, and Consider Phelebas

[@falconJB]

@@captdbkilowatt6501 Interesting, the two most Culture adjacent Culture novels.

[@captdbkilowatt6501]

@@falconJB I left out Stephenson, Dickson, Rothfus (definitely NOT hard sci-Fi), Huxley, Orwell, Zamyatin, ... a bunch.

[@earth_5496]

🦄 I'm hoping part 2 includes Kyle actually talking about how super friggin coconuts Stranger in a Strange Land really is

[@phoenixfritzinger9185]

I definitely know why it made it into Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start the Fire Just how seriously nuts that book actually is

[@sunnybloom7272]

To quote OSP “and then in the third act he founded a sex cult, I’m not joking or exaggerating” dang that book was many levels of coconuts

[@dylanchouinard6141]

It is time for more Deep Thoughts With Heinlein: “Cannibalism... is actually fine. Also free love is awesome as long as it’s not gay.” This has been Deep Thoughts With Heinlein

[@falconJB]

Its a video on Starship Troupers, so probably not, but other people have made good videos about it.

[@ScorpionViper1001]

I still don't think it tops the antics of Time Enough for Love. "I'm so tired of living there's nothing else for me to live for...unless...time travel!" "To explore old eras of history with fresh eyes as well as recover lost history?" "No, to go back in time to seduce my mom and have sex with her. Don't worry, I'll do it while she's pregnant with me to make sure I don't get her pregnant in the sense people would usually do. I mean, screwing my own mother is hot, but impregnating her would just make it weird."

[@rgeorge117]

🦄 I'm a mom to a two year old and I was really stuck by how the passage about "the breath of life is purchased at birth through grasphing effort and pain" is so off base. An infant's basic instincts all support bonding to caregivers for survival. That's why they are so darn cute! I don't think of a child grasping out of the womb, I think of their mother leading them out of her body to start a new partnership. Yes there is pain, but I categorize it as the pain of separation, not of struggle.

[@LordOfAllusion]

Interestingly, reading through the training regimen of Mobile Infantry, it sounds a whole lot like BUDS or Navy SEAL training. It’s the hardest thing you can be asked to do, it’s unforgiving but fair, you’re encouraged to quit and the only thing keeping you there is you. Training is at least a year long, you come out able to do anything you need to do. And then you find out that the first Navy SEAL class graduated 2 years after Starship Troopers came out.

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

A three part series? You're spoiling us, Sir!

[@gldni17]

Kyle: *mentions "Time Enough For Love" five minutes in* Me: I was already sold on three plus hours across three videos, but you just sweetened the deal by going for the throat right off the bat, well done good sir. 🦄

[@LadyArge]

🦄 My first Heinlein was "Have Spacesuit--Will Travel." I was 12? I found "Starship Troopers" a few years later in my parents attic. I remember my parents having some disbelief that I'd liked it. I read it every year for quite a while.

[@InTheMindOfDavid]

....this is my first time ever seeing this channel; I’m only 3 and a half minutes in and I’m already sold and throughly entertained. Keep talking and take hours of my life!

[@requemero1994]

Cant wait to see it. Greetings from Buenos Aires, Argentina!!!!

[@Emergz]

I have been a fan of your meditative video essays for a long time. You're smart and clever and thoughtful and reflective. I can't wait to see the next part.🦄

[@lachlank.8270]

The Yes soundtrack was a cute touch Thank you for making this I'm sure it was a lot of effort ❤

[@heeeyyy2947]

some of your best art yet Kyle! can’t wait to see what’s next! 🦄💓

[@MorcosKurtz1]

You and your family have done an amazing job, Kyle. This is magnificent!

[@eddieZDI]

The use of the MGS Codec sound over the Arpanet title brought me such joy

[@boradis]

As someone who grew up reading literally all of Heinlein (I prided myself on that for decades) I'm LOVING these new takes on just how problematic he and his ideals are and were.

[@NoBody-tf7ib]

*

[@EezhamDemon]

Wow this is so damn good. Loved the way the editing and writing interwove without being jarring. Loved the additional insight from your family, very valuable.

[@horstschlammer1014]

🦄 Can't wait for part 2! I will never reach your appreciation of texts, so I'm always thrilled to get your collected interpretation and "spin" on them. Thank you for your effort and time.

[@AnInnocuousBlueCube]

SUBSCRIPTION GUARANTEES CITIZENSHIP

[@halfpintrr]

Make sure to have some tea after this! As a teacher myself, it’s utter stinging nettle hell if I don’t rest my voice with the soothing nectar of the gods that is tea. 🦄 Also as a disabled person, it’s not the first time nor the last that I’ve been called an insect. I wish I could have the, ‘I failed, let’s try again’ attitude. Failure to me is so much more devastating, as close to fatal as it can be because in society just surviving is a triumph. The pressure is insane. I feel like I can’t be allowed to fail because people will see my gossamer wings and rip them out. It’s just so much harder to get back up after that. It feels like I have to justify my own existence.

[@johnarmstrong5533]

I am honestly impressed how the first hour of material feels well-considered and substantial, and we haven't even gotten to Paul Verhoeven's gonzo mischief yet...

[@marxmeesterlijk]

a three part series on Starship Troopers by Kyle Kallgren, and the first part is an hour long? Located entirely on youtube? Did i die and go to heaven?

[@cupidhoodlum]

I always got a fascy vibe from the tribble story! An unintelligable hoard of nonhumans begins to devour resources at irreplaceable levels and reproduces prolifically. meanwhile they invoke feelings of empathy and care from people whose emotions arent sufficiently guarded. 🦄🦄

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

Yes, I caught that vibe, too...

[@katszulga1888]

Interesting, since in the Heinlein story the flatcats actually find the perfect ecological niche as companions for asteroid miners. The two young budding capitalists in the book (Castor and Pollux) work out precisely how to control their reproduction and how to market them effectively for a huge return on their investment.

[@cupidhoodlum]

@@katszulga1888 Oh geeze i dont know if turning the flatcats into optimizable resources makes my reading more or less powerful.

[@SunshineNinja94]

Stranger in a Stangeland only brings one sentence to mind; "it's sex cult time baby!" 🦄

[@dylanchouinard6141]

“It’s time for more Deep Thoughts With Heinlein.”

[@Egilhelmson]

Sex cult as imagined by a man who was already into partner swapping, and wanted to reproduce but could not. Jubal Harshaw reminds me of a white Andrew Tate (3/8s Black, Andrew claims), except a lawyer not a KZbinr, and a dedicated American.

[@OmegaUltimaWill]

🦄 Thank you for sharing this and inviting us into your lives in this way! What a look at so many complex things. Really beautiful. Hope you are well and I am excited to see more.

[@faxpaladin]

Wouldn't normally comment since I don't really have much to say other than good work, looking forward to part two, and here's your unicorn: 🦄 EDIT: OK, I do have something to say, actually: Humanity as a species has survived this long by being, on the whole, generalists. One of the principal reasons it is able to be generalist as a species is because some of its individuals are specialists.

[@jackyanoshik8553]

Glad to see someone taking on both sides of starship troopers on youtube. Barely knew anything about Heinlein

[@aaronvsteimle]

🦄 I've been looking forward to this for a while, and you did not disappoint. Thanks! 🦄

[@DaveBob96]

"Robert A. Heinlein tries to refute Marx by completely agreeing with him."

[@captdbkilowatt6501]

For whoever asked, the mathematical proof that increased tolerance for failure increases probability of success, it comes from signal detection theory in radar and radio communications. See also, Bayesian Decision Theory ... (Check the Wikipedia entry ... I’ve tried to link to it twice, and KZbin has dropped the comments as spam.)

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

Thank you!

[@LENGTHEATER]

Love that your dad calls his dad your farfar. :)

[@captdbkilowatt6501]

Scandinavian ... as is our family name.

[@sharonoddlyenough]

I've been studying Swedish, and 'farfar' made me smile

[@sethcrain1427]

I bought “Stranger in a Strange Land“ at Goodwill shortly before Covid, and haven‘t quite gotten around to it. I have, however, made my way through some of the “Greatest Science Fiction of all Time“ tomes (largely regarded as a good roundup of pre-Hugo SF SS) and the first story is Heinlein‘s “The Roads must Roll“ where he takes a decidedly anti-Union/anti-worker bent and preaches it full cloth. Myself being declared an “essential worker“ at Starbucks because -???... Well, suffice it to say, I didn‘t think I reached the same conclusions as old Bob about certain issues of economics/freedom/personal-worth. Good to know the chunky paperback on my shelf might also make my not-so-traditionally masc self 🦄 roll my eyes. Looking forward to hearing more of your analysis on that one in the next video! Cheers!

[@andrewchambers9752]

🦄 Stranger in a Strange Land was my introduction to the work of Heinlein. It was an audiobook which was very well done. Actually, it was the only one of his books I've ever read. in college I did see Starship Troopers in the theater with a friend, his gf, and a roommate. My friend became obsessed with the movie and its Fascist world. He didn't get the parody. I think his biggest dream in life was to become a Michigan militia man or a guitarist for Rush... or both. In one of the future parts of this series, please include some thoughts about Heinlein's friendship with L. Ron Hubbard and how concepts from Stranger were co-opted into Scientology.

[@kerrysmith1899]

My reading began with Heinlein's juveniles. I found Stranger at the library when I was 13. Probably not the best example for a lad entering puberty. Fanny Hill was my next step.

[@LaNoLaCola]

🦄 i recall seeing this on TV once, and not thinking much of the movie. Trying to watch a clip of it recently, the initial invasion of Klendathu, just to see the space fascists die in delightfully gruesome ways. However, i was caught off guard by how visceral Verhoeven can get with gore in his film. Like, i genuinely couldn't stomach it. Either way, nice to see Kyle returning to video essays after 2020

[@spejic1]

I guess that's a necessary part of the point. The way to counter the talk of the nobility of war is to show a bit of its reality.

[@thor30013]

I kinda feel like that's the point. The whole scene builds up with this bombastic, exciting music, with all the characters getting pumped up for the fight, only for the music to cut out when they actually _see_ the bugs. War isn't pretty. It isn't glorious. It's ugly, and anyone trying to tell you otherwise is lying.

[@NugicusStreetPhotography]

@@spejic1 It amazes me how people didn't realize the movie was technically a satire.

[@tbeller80]

@@NugicusStreetPhotography Verhoeven really doesn't like American culture, and in making fun of it gave us a movie that played to what we enjoy. He made a stereotypical American summer sci-fi action flick. We didn't see the satire. The third movie is flawed, but at least has those satired qualities as an integral part of the plot so you don't miss it. Verhoeven's American satire is much more clear in Robocop. It is over the top enough for us to notice it.

[@kerrysmith1899]

@@tbeller80 Showgirls is the Zapruder of bad movies. Another satire of American culture, with beautiful bad actresses.

[@warboss5]

Awwwww, I don't deserve a birthday present this awesome! Thank you Kyle!

[@97percentcocoa]

well done, usual thanks for the hard work put into these. unusual thanks for doing my favourite book. looking eagerly forward to part 2.

[@criticalhit009]

I really enjoyed this video! A great deep dive. Side note: loved seeing the covers of all these books, such a tantalizing aesthetic. 🦄🦄🦄🦄