Pessimism and optimism...
Mar. 21st, 2007 09:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Don't ever become a pessimist ... A pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun - and neither can stop the march of events. - Robert A. Heinlein, 1907 - 1988
Don't ever become a pessimist ... A pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun - and neither can stop the march of events. - Robert A. Heinlein, 1907 - 1988
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Date: 2007-03-21 02:59 pm (UTC)And this one made me think of Captain Jack Harkness: 1
I found this treasure-trove of Heinlein quotations at http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Heinlein.
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Date: 2007-03-21 03:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-21 04:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-21 03:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-21 04:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-21 04:02 pm (UTC)But yep, it surely applies to Jack in an entirely different way.
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Date: 2007-03-21 04:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-21 04:11 pm (UTC)(Oh... if you do NOT like Ayn Rand, you might enjoy Terry Goodkind considerably less than otherwise... just a warning)
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Date: 2007-03-21 04:21 pm (UTC)My comment was mostly because it's my impression that a lot of teens read Rand and not so many read Heinlein any more. I think we need the balance.
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Date: 2007-03-21 05:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-21 05:40 pm (UTC)She presented her works as such - that's the soundbite version. She believed in the virute of genius, self-motivation, capitalism and a passion for goals. Not so much in love for her fellow man. It isn't as stupid as her detractors portray, and isn't as smart as her promoters think. She's very against altruism and charity; she lost my sympathy entirely when my favourite of her heroes raped the female lead. All the more so when she decided she liked it. Even when I was reading this at fifteen, that offended my sense of feminism.
Basically it's a philosophy of elitism that strikes me as being unrealistic.
I know a lot of young people who learned good messages from her books and I personally rather enjoyed her characterization and writing style. I'd don't know if I'd go so far as to recommend these books to anyone - there are far better world-views around - but I more or less approve of the books as being thought-provoking and interesting.
(Though occasionally you have to skip monologues that last for pages.)
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Date: 2007-03-21 05:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-21 06:22 pm (UTC)