LOL
Posted on 05/06/2008 5:31:58 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
Stephen King fires back after blogger attacks remarks
BANGOR, Maine (AP) Stephen King has fired back at conservative critics who attacked him over a remark he made a month ago at a writers symposium for high school students.
A blogger jumped on King's statement at the Library of Congress about the importance of reading in which he suggested poor readers have limited prospects, including service in the Army.
''I don't want to sound like an ad, a public service ad on TV, but the fact is if you can read, you can walk into a job later on. If you don't, then you've got the Army, Iraq, I don't know, something like that. It's not as bright,'' King said at the April 4 event in which he was accompanied by his wife Tabitha and son Owen.
Blogger Noel Sheppard likened the comment to former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's remarks that if you don't get a good education, ''you get stuck in Iraq.''
''Nice sentiment when the nation is at war, Stephen,'' Sheppard wrote.
King fired back Monday.
''That a right-wing-blog would impugn my patriotism because I said children should learn to read, and could get better jobs by doing so, is beneath contempt,'' he said in a statement posted on his Web site.
King said he supports the troops but believes the war in Iraq is ''waste of national resources ... and that includes the youth and blood of the 4,000 American troops who have lost their lives there and for the tens of thousands who have been wounded.''
(Excerpt) Read more at wbztv.com ...
I read one of his books once and I thought it sucked ass.
Thats GREAT, way to go Noel...LOL
''That a right-wing-blog would impugn my patriotism because I said children should learn to read, and could get better jobs by doing so, is beneath contempt,'' he said in a statement posted on his Web site.
Sorry King, but our troops have very high level of education on the average. To demean them this way was inexcusable, and it impugned the troops, something you're not fit to do.
He put the nastiest racist joke I’ve ever heard anywhere in one of his books. He put it in the mouth of a racist character.
If he had a brain....he’d have apologized for intimating that our soldiers are not educated......but, NOOOOO.....he’s got liberal brains....
King said he supports the troops but believes the war in Iraq is ‘’waste of national resources ... and that includes the youth and blood of the 4,000 American troops who have lost their lives there and for the tens of thousands who have been wounded.’’
There are level headed patriotic people that feel the same way, but we wouldn’t use the demeaning language that this moron used a month ago.
“Sorry King, but our troops have very high level of education on the average.”
Very true. The number of soldiers that I knew personally that either had a degree or were working on one is staggering. Probably 7 in 10.
LOL, look at who can't read!!! No, Richardbreath, we question your patriotism because you dissed the Army, not because of asking children to read.
King said something very stupid and he got caught. And now he’s mad. Too bad, Stephen. He may claim to be proud of the Guard in his town, but American soldiers seem to be the villains in an awful lot of his stories.
King, like many left wing loons is lying. I wonder if they go to school for that.
Just Damn. So many of his books (and yes, I’ve read pretty much all of them and don’t care what you think of me for that) have good vs. evil as the theme and he tends toward the good winning. His pissy response to this incident is (admittedly) telling, but..... just damn!
Yeah, it’s all too easy to impugn King’s patriotism ~ and that’s nobody’s fault but his own..
It’s really sad what the lefties have to do to make a point.
You don’t agree with the war, say so. Don’t demean our troops who are putting their ass on the line to deter terrorism worldwide.
It’s like once they get their words in print, or mug on a movie screen, they are immediately confered god status. Well, not in my household.
Is he not kind of WEIRD?????Must be a friend of the rev!!!!!!!!!!
I agree I have only read one of his books - at least part of it. It started out as a Western with a gunfighter killing everything. Well written, then, the gunfighter went into a field with ghosts, gobblins (or something weird like that). I threw the book in the corner and swore to never read another one.
Stephen King needs to get a few more angry messages informing him that this struggle is not a waste of national resources. If the United States does not have the will to fight a war where the enemy uses the tactics of asymmetric warfare, our days are numbered. Once this type of warfare gets started in our cities, we will "waste" more than "national resources" to fight it. We will then have to pay a huge price, if it gets within our borders.
Right now, Iraq has served as a magnet to draw our enemies into the struggle. As we document the sources of these attackers, we learn more about how to defeat them. The other benefits to fighting the struggle in Iraq we can leave to the professionals in our military--not ignorant writers who can't read for themselves the stakes of this game and why we need to fight it.
LOL
Maybe it's time for him to take a jog along a road in Iraq. He might not be so lucky the next time he gets hit by a car.
Those who can't read literature, read Stephen King crap.
I've trained with a lot of military folks. All of them were highly intelligent.
Their mission, fighting Islamofascism and preventing Islamofascists from gaining total control of the world's petroleum supply, is far more honorable than half the crap that Bill Clinton sent them around the world for. They never protested Clinton, though.
Like many Leftists this day, they've changed their tact from the 1960’s burning of the American flag to wrapping it around them while they give the finger to the US.
Just notice how many flags fly around anti-American lawn signs and bumper stickers.
Where did King fight again?
I like how he snipes as if he didn’t mention the Army...
‘I just said kids should read’.
It’s easy to be a fat-ass armchair general... ‘I think it’s a waste of resources’, so were the trees used to print your books... did that ever stop you?
You’re dead-on right.
The true “waste of national resources” was 9-11. (Thank you, Mr. Clinton) We didn’t start this fight, but if we don’t end it, we’re screwed.
What an intelligent, insightful literary review! You must be proud.
Second ugliest. Garrison Keillor and he look like they were spawned from the same roe.
If he gets the candidate he wants, soon he’ll be the first one on the chopping block; I thought the ‘elite’ had self-preservation in mind... guess they don’t think that far ahead.
All a bunch of morons. My good buddy who served a tour in both Afghanistan and Iraq is receiving a bachelor’s degree in physics this weekend. I don’t know how he will ever go on now that hes out of the Marines.
paging Jon Cary, paging Jon Cary..... please pick up the Courtesy Phone for Liberal Idiots.....
Why do libs persist in believing (I won’t say “thinking” because they display such a total lack of thought) that our troops are losers and that it’s a waste of education to serve our country and protect our freedoms???!!?? Or that if only you could get an education INSTEAD of serving in the military, that would be best? People like King and Jon Cary ooze their disdain for our servicemen and women.
So that's your story and you're sticking to it, eh, King? American troops are so stupid they can't even read.
You can take your patriotism and shove it up your literate ass.
A friend took me to the movie ‘Cujo’, insisting that it was such a great book that it must be a phenomenal movie.
IT SUCKED!!
I prefer sci fi/fantasy books anyhow. It's a chance for me to get away from every day thinking.
The most I've read of King is the reports on him getting run down by a car while out walking,
Why I should care what he thinks is beyond me.
Especially since surveys show the average education and intelligence of a member of the US military is superior to that of an average American civilian.
But then since King is just a civilian, it only makes sense that he'd be educated below the average soldier!
Stephanie King is a dumb son of a b!tch.
The United States ARMY has some of the best and brightest folks this nation has to offer. Ditto for all the other military services.
The fact that these folks VOLUNTEER says volumes about them. THEY are the hope for the future.
I think it’s time another minivan knocks King’s stupid ass into a ditch.
I challenge Mr. King to debate the issue!
You and me on Fox & Friends, sir!
And I promise to take it easy on you.
I’ve never read one of the weirdo’s books and I never will now.
Instead we get the customary lecture about Iraq which is, after all, entirely irrelevant to the people serving there. And the defiant posturing which itself only serves to make the insult worse. As I say, it's a sad case.
He's an Obama man, by the way. What a surprise.
That’s actually all the review one needs. Generally critics who write “insightful”, “intelligent” reviews tend to be people who concentrate on the critique of others work becuause they don’t have a talented bone in their body. I like the short, raw reviews like the one posted above ;)
“His books stink! His movies stink! He is the ugliest M-F’er I’ve ever seen, and his wife looks like she was fed hard candy with a slingshot! May he rot in hell!”
LOL! Tell us how you really feel.
“If children learned to read”... I like this guys’ books made into movies more than this guys’ books. Take Anytown, USA, plot an unknown evil force, find one “misunderstood” otherwise “gifted” individual, often times a child and alas, what survives is the rebirth of humanity. He must have had better acid than me back in the day.
“He and all the other leftist commie rat bastards are lying when they say they support the troops but not the mission.”
Actually, they may very well support the troops. AS VICTIMS. That’s the difference.
Which stories?
Mr. King is a good writer, and so was Joseph Goebbels.
To his credit, he is a gifted writer. I once counted Stephen King as my favorite author, for classic works such as the Stand, Pet Sematary, It, Salem's Lot etc. He really is a talented person who has made his mark on the world.
And I don't deny him the freedom to express his opinion. That is what our freedom fighters fight and die for. King's mistake is in his simplistic (and grossly insulting) statement that if you can't read, your only option is to join the Army and fight in Iraq. While he is correct in that if a person can't read, his/her options are limited, this ignorant statement casts an ugly pall on the thousands of educated, gifted individuals who voluntarily join the Armed Forces before pursuing private sector jobs.
Does King actually think that the Army of today is composed of illiterate losers? It certainly sounded that way from his moronic statement. It shows that King does not know the Armed Forces of today, and that he allows his personal disgust over preemptive war to slander the brave people who protect his right to write and blog.
And for that, such a gifted individual should not be so vain as to deny an apology. Those college educated, technologically savvy guys and girls over there read your books, Stephen. They are not illiterate. Honor them with a big "I'm stupid" apology, will you?
Steven King is stuck in his own world of fiction. To bad, I really liked his work. Now he joins the ranks of John Cusak and many other hollyweird fools.
Stephen King that is.
Maybe someone should show him the requirements for promotion up to E-9. It increases from college courses to degree(s) plus tech courses plus doing their regular job.
The days of the dumb grunt are over. God bless our troops.
“Which stories?”
Of the ones I’ve read, these come to mind immediately... I haven’t read much of his stuff from 95 onward, so there may be even more:
The Mist - It was the Army that was responsible for letting the extra-dimensional creatures into Earth. In both the book and movie, soldiers commit suicide out of shame for the event.
Dreamcatcher - The Army is portrayed as nearly as threatening as the invading aliens, especially the commanding officer, Colonel Kurtz, who’s practically psychotic.
The Stand - When the world is divided up between followers of God, and followers of Randall Flagg (King’s Devil-in-human-form), Flagg seems to get the military personell on his side. Flagg has Air Force officers in charge of nuclear weapons at a Nevada Air Force base. Flagg has also appeared as a general in other King stories.
Firestarter - Charlie’s mother is tortured and murdered by national security agents, the same men that run the Shop, the secret government science facility. The agents are Gestapo-ish, and its indicated that they have military backgrounds. They’re led by an Army officer, Captian James Hollister.
On the top of my head, I can think of only one positive potrayel of a military man in a King story that I’ve read... and it was a British agent, an ex-SAS guy in the Langoliers.
It has relatively little to do with this controversy but I hope it explains my ambivalence in commenting - I think King was a brilliant author at one point. 'Salem's Lot is a nearly perfect construction. It was superb. But he's lost it. And I don't think he's going to get it back. And that really is a sad thing.
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