Heinlein's "This I Believe:" The Derb posts sci-fi centenarian Robert A. Heinlein's 630-word contribution to Edward R. Murrow's 1950s "This I Believe" program:
I am not going to talk about religious beliefs but about matters so obvious that it has gone out of style to mention them. I believe in my neighbors. I know their faults, and I know that their virtues far outweigh their faults. [More]
Keeping the caution in mind that Heinlein, who was a creative writer rather than a dogmatist, didn't necessarily believe any one thing all the time, it's a good statement of the "high ideals" part of Heinlein's essential appeal: "High ideals and hard-headedness."
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5 comments:
One of the interesting things about Heinlein (to tie this in with all the commentary about Vonnegut made in the wake of his death) is how much better the former holds up as a person matures.
Both writers have a certain reputation as something adolescent males read. Ironically, Vonnegut has always enjoyed the cachet of being serious, deep and important, while Heinlein is often regarded as fluff or pulp. As I got older (post-teen), I began to recognize Vonnegut as pretentious and ultimately shallow.
I thought the term "centenarian" was reserved for those actually making the 100 year mark.
Science fiction author John C. Wright wrote in his blog an interesting evaluation of Stranger in a Strange Land, some months ago.
I tend to get annoyed by the all-competent, endlessly pontificating protagonists of Heinlein's novels. Jack Vance novels, for example, also feature competent, level-headed characters and smooth-talking charmers, but they're never the same person. Which makes for more interesting interactions.
And finally, I believe in my whole race—yellow, white, black, red, brown—in the honesty, courage, intelligence, durability, and goodness of the overwhelming majority of my brothers and sisters everywhere on this planet.
I can refute that in two words: I-raq.
"Bell curve" would work too.
Heinlein's essay is a polite way of saying that he's atheist.
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