Re: Oldest SF not necessarily most dated?

On May 14, 7:24=EF=BF=BDpm, John Schilling <schil...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> On Wed, 14 May 2008 08:01:58 +0100, "Mike stone" <mwst...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:
> >"Dan Tilque" <dtil...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
> >news:UJvWj.7732$mc1.2177@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >> "Mike Stone" <mwst...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote
> >> >The fact that the 15yo ends the book in glum anticipation of a
> >> >spanking might also be considered "dated".by some people.
> >> I suppose so. And the fact that Latin was on his curriculum might be
> >> another although not necessarily.
> >> So a few minor changes and the book could be moved forward half a
> >> century or more. Not bad, considering.
> >Oh, agreed entirely. It's an old favourite of mine (first encountered
at
> >about the same age as the young hero) and my battered pb copy bears the
> >author's signature, obtained at the 1979 Worldcon.
> >One other possibly (I'm not certain) "dated" bit. The Hunter's first
> >attempts to communicate make Bob fear that he is suffering from a
nervous=

> >complaint of some kind. School rules require him to re****t all
illnesses,=

> >but he is reluctant to do so because "somehow the idea of owning to a
> >nervous disorder seemed rather shameful, and the thought of re****ting
his=

> >trouble was repugnant." Would that be as true today as 60 years ago?
I'm
> >pretty sure it wouldn't in England, but don't like to be too dogmatic
abo=
ut
> >attitudes in the US.
>
> There's still enough stigma attached to mental illness in the United
> States that it wouldn't surprise me for someone to refuse to self-re****t
> a "nervous disorder". =EF=BF=BDEven if they weren't personally ashamed
of =
it, a
> rational person would fear for how they might be treated by others in
the
> future with a "nervous disorder" on their permanent record.
>
> And most people aren't really that good at distingui****ng between "other
> people will look down on me, and, "I should feel ashamed of myself".
>



Indeed. Shades of Thomas Eagleton.

--

Mike Stone - Peterborough, England

You can tell what God thinks of money by looking at the people He
gives it to.