>>One of the classics, so I am told. I enjoyed the story. Story revolves
>>around two main characters, William Mandella, a space-grunt and his
>>lover, Marygay Potter and how the side effects of relativistic travel are
>>dealt (or not dealt with). What happens when you leave for a "real-time"
>>journey of 20 years that is only 3 weeks to you ?
>>
>>Calling home on a Sunday on the Sid and Nancy Scale.
>
>Certainly a classic. It's been a long time I have read it, but I have read
>it about three times. Certainly should be viewed relative to the political
>situation and other fiction available at the time. From memory, it would
>seem as _The Forever War_ was the anti-war antidote to Heinlein's _Starship
>Troopers_. _Starship Troopers_ has its gung-ho marines exterminate aliens
>whilst protecting (human) life, liberty and the American Way. _The Forever
>War_ depict a dehumanising pointless struggle for pointless aims, much like
>the movie _Dark Star_, another anti-Vietnam SF work.
I agree; "Dark Star" was an exercise in the futility of genocide in the name
of whatever cause.
>
>I didn't bother to stay up to watch _1984_ on TV last night, as it didn't
>have that much appeal for me (I've seen it before, and read the book).
"1984" was a great novel for its time. Having said that though, it still has a
certain appeal ....
>Mind you, if it had been _Brazil_, wild horses would not have dragged me
>away. It (_1984_) loses some of its impact without the background of the
>ending of the Second World War and the subsequent post war recession.
>Much of the double-speak has come true in our lifetimes (Iraq is our
>enemy and always has been our enemy, the Soviet Union is our friend).
>Perhaps there has been this double-speak, but I see other aspects of
>_1984_ coming true, like the increasing imposition of Government in our
>private lives, "To save us from ourselves". Does Keating believe that
>parents don't have the ability to select the type of TV programs that
>their children watch? Is 9:30pm sufficiently late to start movies?
>
Unfortunately, politicians believe that they are the only ones who know what is best for everyone else, then forces people (by law) to "do as they say". I'm
not against politicians as such, it's just the fact of someone *forcing* their
ideals down the collective throat that makes me squirm.
