# On Re-reading all of Robert Heinlein via The Virginia Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 14, 2012, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729 "2012-10-14T23:52:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 39
**Author:** ![kirkrapine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7ea924/32.png) [@kirkrapine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kirkrapine)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/761 "2019-09-14T04:39:11Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > 1. That said, I’d forgotten how damned _whiney_ Friday is. My _god_, she never stops snivelling. She’s possibly the most passive main character/good-guy\* (and certainly the most passive female character) Heinlein ever wrote. Ignoring a physical confrontation, Peewee or Ricky (both pre-teens) have more spunk and would shred Friday in a battle of wills. Is she really any weaker than a real-life human rape victim would be? Rape victims are weak, that’s why they’re victims. Not that they would be perpetrators if they were stronger, but you know what I mean. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/762 "2019-09-14T14:19:12Z")
> [@kirkrapine](#): > > It’s really not worth it. Jurgen? You have just destroyed any credibility you might claim as a literary critic. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/763 "2019-09-14T14:29:26Z")
> [@kirkrapine](#): > > Is she really any weaker than a real-life human rape victim would be? Rape victims are weak, that’s why they’re victims. Not that they would be perpetrators if they were stronger, but you know what I mean. An odd, and dumb, assertion. Weak in what way, to begin with. Weak physically so that a larger man, (or multiple men), are able to overpower the person raped? Is a person subjected to rohypnol inherently weak? Weak psychologically? Many persons lacking the physical strength to repel rape are quite strong emotionally or psychologically to deal with it. Your claim needs a lot more nuance to approach being accurate. The odd nature of Friday’s whiney nature is her placement as a leading protagonist, not some absolute statement that rape victims are weak. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/764 "2019-09-14T15:19:26Z")
**[Moderating]** **kirkrapine** , two issues, here. First, many of the posts you’re replying to here are years old, and some of the folks involved in those conversations have probably moved on, in one way or another. That alone makes any sort of dialog very difficult, and all the more so when you’re throwing out dozens of such replies, machine-gun style. If you want discussion on some old points, then it’d be better to pick out one or two that strike you as most interesting, and let discussion proceed on those without interrupting with twenty other unrelated points. Second, and more importantly: > [@](#): > > Great Grandpa was a big man > He washed his face in a fryin’ pan > Though the times were young, and the Redskins mocked > And he said his prayers with his shotgun cocked! > > What, didn’t you all sing that song in elementary school?! > [@](#): > > Is she really any weaker than a real-life human rape victim would be? Rape victims are weak, that’s why they’re victims. Not that they would be perpetrators if they were stronger, but you know what I mean. If those are genuinely your views… well, we tolerate such views here, but we do not welcome them. Discussions along those lines are highly likely to end up in the BBQ Pit, unless you take great care to approach them sensitively. And you do not, here, seem to be taking great care with any of your posts. I hope that you will learn to better understand the culture of this board, because you seem like you have a lot to contribute, and we wouldn’t want to miss that. But it is apparent that you do still have a fair bit to learn. Please try. ---
**Author:** ![kirkrapine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7ea924/32.png) [@kirkrapine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kirkrapine)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/765 "2019-09-14T22:06:17Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Fair enough. The ship that is the setting for a major section of the book has a Finnish name. It seems every Free Trader ship has a different language and national origin. Dr. Mader remarks, “The whole culture has an overall ‘secret language,’ but it’s just degenerate Church Latin and at that they don’t use it – ships talk to each other in Interlingua.” ---
**Author:** ![kirkrapine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7ea924/32.png) [@kirkrapine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kirkrapine)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/766 "2019-09-14T22:10:11Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > And one day after lunar development has really kicked off, someone is going to realize that the Moon is a hell of a weapons platform . . . But it isn’t, really. An artificial platform in an orbit nearer to Earth would serve better. ---
**Author:** ![kirkrapine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7ea924/32.png) [@kirkrapine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kirkrapine)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2019, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/767 "2019-09-15T02:06:42Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > **[Moderating]** > > **kirkrapine** , two issues, here. First, many of the posts you’re replying to here are years old, and some of the folks involved in those conversations have probably moved on, in one way or another. That alone makes any sort of dialog very difficult, and all the more so when you’re throwing out dozens of such replies, machine-gun style. If you want discussion on some old points, then it’d be better to pick out one or two that strike you as most interesting, and let discussion proceed on those without interrupting with twenty other unrelated points. > > Second, and more importantly: > If those are genuinely your views… well, we tolerate such views here, but we do not welcome them. Discussions along those lines are highly likely to end up in the BBQ Pit, unless you take great care to approach them sensitively. And you do not, here, seem to be taking great care with any of your posts. > > I hope that you will learn to better understand the culture of this board, because you seem like you have a lot to contribute, and we wouldn’t want to miss that. But it is apparent that you do still have a fair bit to learn. Please try. Correction acknowledged. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/768 "2020-05-06T16:36:34Z")
Bumped. I just finished the graphic novel _Citizen of the Galaxy_, based on the Robert A. Heinlein juvenile, adapted by Rob Lazaro and Eric Gignac. It’s pretty true to the original, and includes a James and Patterson excerpt about the tale from the Virginia Edition Collection, but the artwork is so-so. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/769 "2020-05-06T16:44:29Z")
By the way, an early version of “Number of the Beast” (now titled “The Pursuit of the Pankera”) was published last month. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/770 "2021-06-13T02:39:10Z")
Bumped. Just came across a reference to this, which might be of interest to any _Starship Troopers_ fans: > **[Rodger Young Village](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodger_Young_Village)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > Rodger Young Village was a public housing project, established to provide temporary housing for veterans returning to the Southern California area following the end of World War II. The village was named for Rodger Wilton Young, an American infantryman in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was killed on the island of New Georgia while helping his platoon withdraw under enemy fire. For his actions, he posthumously received the United States' hi... ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2023, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/771 "2023-12-26T20:09:39Z")
Bumped again. In this book by Kyle Cassidy, George R.R. Martin talks about his lifelong love of books and the importance of libraries even in the Internet Age. He mentions visiting the Kansas City library recently and being disappointed to see that they didn’t have Heinlein’s _Have Space Suit - Will Travel_ on the shelves, especially given RAH’s Kansas City roots. It was the first Heinlein book Martin ever read, and it helped hook him on sf. The book includes essays by Cory Doctorow, Neil Gaiman, John Scalzi and others. Recommended. > **[This Is What a Librarian Looks Like: A... by Cassidy, Kyle](https://www.amazon.com/This-What-Librarian-Looks-Like/dp/0316393983)** > > This Is What a Librarian Looks Like: A Celebration of Libraries, Communities, and Access to Information \[Cassidy, Kyle\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. This Is What a Librarian Looks Like: A Celebration of Libraries, Communities,... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729.md?page=38)