Slice of PIE: Military SF: Pro-war or Anti-war?

Using the Programme Guide of the World Science Fiction Convention in Helsinki Finland in August 2017 (to which I will be unable to go (until I retire from education)), I will jump off, jump on, rail against, and shamelessly agree with the BRIEF DESCRIPTION given in the pdf copy of the Programme Guide. The link is provided below…

“Joe Haldeman's The Forever War is still relevant after 40 years. Even though it was meant as a Vietnam protest originally it could easily apply to the Middle East today. Why is anti-war military SF still written or is it? Should it be?”

Leon Perniciaro: German writer, teacher, and translator

Robert Corvus: German fantasy and science fiction writer; BattleTech, Das schwarze Auge (The Black Eye), Perry Rhodan, dark fantasy, and scientifically solid SF novels 

i. simes: journalist, publishing editor, and bookseller

Joe Haldeman: SFWA Grand Master, five Hugos, five Nebulas; World Fantasy Award ; SF Hall of Fame

The plot from Amazon.com: “Earth's leaders have drawn a line in the interstellar sand--despite the fact that the fierce alien enemy they would oppose is inscrutable, unconquerable, and very far away. A reluctant conscript drafted into an elite Military unit, Private William Mandella has been propelled through space and time to fight in the distant thousand-year conflict; to perform his duties and do whatever it takes to survive the ordeal and return home. But ‘home’ may be even more terrifying than battle, because, thanks to the time dilation caused by space travel, Mandella is aging months while the Earth he left behind is aging centuries...”

In an interview, Haldeman said in part, “The novel was unique in the fact that it was a war story at heart, but not explicitly right-wing, like most similar works of the time. The theme of The Forever War became, “…dealing with people who are fundamentally different from you [in terms of] appetites, tastes, philosophies, who still have to work together…When talking about the influences on the book, Haldeman noted that he ‘grew up in this humanistic, anti-establishment tradition of science fiction writers,’ and that he was ‘influenced by his generation's desire to change the world.’…publishers, science fiction war stories were ‘very, very right-wing, very masculine, [had] no sex and a very heavy God influence.’ Instead of trying to fit into that mold, Haldeman decided not to pay attention to what came before.”

It’s interesting the Haldeman didn’t “bash the military” or rail against “unfair wars” or the Military-Industrial Machine. Instead, he notes that THE FOREVER WAR is, in fact, a war story even though it’s not right-wing.

The theme of his work, as related by the author, isn’t anti-war. It’s about relationships and how we need to work with people who are different than us.

Somehow, I suspect (though can’t know for sure, because, you know, like I said above, I wasn’t there…this is all about jumping off the parameters of the sessions as published and then seeing what bubbles up), that the attendees might have had less benevolent intent in their discussions. I can hear people talking about how the author intended to say that not only is war bad (except when it’s twisted to fit whatever the ruling party’s agenda includes), it’s always the fault of the “other side”, whether it is or not. For example, a Democrat actually led the escalation of the war (Lyndon B. Johnson) in response to a North Vietnamese offensive; a Republican began the withdrawal of American troops…but that’s not something that SF people like to talk about.

We all like our ideologies to be right, tight, and black-and-white.

Haldeman had something to say about war, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the intended lesson of the Right or Left. I think he intended to say that war is personal, even when it’s “fought by nations”.

My neighbors – and several students – are Hmong. The state I live in has the third largest Hmong population on Earth and was the first state of the Union to have a Hmong legislator who went on to serve for eight years. I often wonder about the journey they took to get here. I tried to reflect some of what I’ve seen in a short story I wrote (but couldn’t sell for some time). If you want to read it, it’s here: http://aurorawolf.com/2016/09/carpe-hnub/

The intent of this Slice of PIE is to point out that the man who changed the direction of “anti-war” science fiction wasn’t interested in serving the “anti-war” political machine (make no mistake – it’s as much a machine as the political war machine; it just pulls in the opposite direction just as hard and just as nasty). What he clearly says here is that the theme of The Forever War became, “…dealing with people who are fundamentally different from you [in terms of] appetites, tastes, philosophies, who still have to work together…”

Sounds like it’s not JUST about war, either. War is just the backdrop of a story about people. People like my neighbors…

Resource: https://theportalist.com/joe-haldeman-tells-the-story-behind-the-forever-war (The Portalist is a haven for science fiction and fantasy fans. We value imagination and science equally, and welcome all who are curious, passionate, and eager for an uplifting, inclusive view of the universe.)

Program Book: https://sites.grenadine.co/sites/worldcon75/en/w75/schedule

Image: https://internationalagenda.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/uninvolved-in-peace.jpg