Posted on 05/07/2008 4:31:52 AM PDT by metesky
BANGOR, Maine — 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 a "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."
"I live in a National Guard town, and I support our troops, but I don´t support either the war or educational policies that limit the options of young men and women to any one career — military or otherwise," King said.
He said the army recruits illiterates. It’s not just his patriotism that is being questioned but his intelligence.
Said that it's not so much King as it is ALL the "elites" in the country who feel this way, and of course know better than us. Then he said that the only book he ever read by King had a stupid ending, because of the Giant Spider. (IT)
I quite enjoyed it, though I'll admit I also enjoyed IT. I wish entertainers would just sthu and perform their craft, rather than show how woefully foolish they are.
Stephen King - 4F draft deferment.
Amen! You can NOT support the troops and not support the mission. Maybe we should all send Mr. King an Email. Many troops go into the service to get their education paid for at the end. What a Doofuss.
King has never been very competent at research. If he would have taken a few minutes to look up the facts before he shot his mouth off he would have found that the military enlisted are better educated than the US population as a whole. I earned three undergraduate degrees and a Master’s degree while in the AF and most of the people that I competed against for promotion to Senior Master Sergeant had at an undergrad degree.
"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,"
>>”I live in a National Guard town, and I support our troops, but I don’t support either the war or educational policies that limit the options of young men and women to any one career” military or otherwise,” King said. <<
It was stated on another thread that he supports the troops by sending them books.
And Joebuck asked, “Why would he give books to people he thinks can’t read?”
Stephen King is a tool.
| Table 2.7 Levels of Education of FY 2002 Active Component NPS Accessions, by Service, and Civilians 18-24 Years Old (Percent) | ||||||
|
Education Level1
|
Army
|
Navy
|
Marine Corps
|
Air Force
|
DoD
|
18- to 24-Year-Old Civilians*
|
| Tier 1: Regular High School Graduate or Higher |
86.4
(91.4**) |
91.9
|
97.4
|
98.6
|
91.9
(94.0**) |
79.4
|
| Tier 2: GED, Alternative Credentials Alternative Credentials |
13.6
|
4.6
|
2.8
|
1.4
|
7.2
|
|
| Tier 3: No Credentials |
0.0
|
3.4
|
0.2
|
0.0
|
0.8
|
20.6
|
| Total |
100.0
|
100.0
|
100.0
|
100.0
|
100.0
|
100.0
|
| College Experience (Part of Tier 1)2 |
10.6
|
6.4
|
1.9
|
12.7
|
8.5
|
46.7
|
|
Columns may not add to total due to rounding. |
||||||
SOURCE:
http://www.defenselink.mil/prhome/poprep2002/chapter2/c2_education.htm
Support the troops but not the mission?
Like supporting literacy but against book publishing.
Stephen King, being a snide little elitist, is incapable of understanding that since the beginning of time there have always been warriors among us who have taken up arms to defend our women, our children, and the snide little elitists among us when enemies threatened their safety. These warriors have not chosen the warrior’s life due to lack of education in the liberal arts or because of promised rewards; warriors are warriors because that’s what warriors do. A warrior’s chosen life is not considered a job; it is a calling.
How do you think this would play?
“If you don't read, then you got Obama, drugs, have to stay in the inner city schools or something like that, its not as bright”
At least he’s not claiming it was a “botched joke.”
Isn’t it true that all officers have undergraduate degrees and the vast majority of them above lieutenant have at least one advanced degree? I’ve dated some majors and colonels and they all had either a couple of master’s degrees or a doctorate. Do you have to get the advanced degree before the military will promote you, or does it come later? I ask because my boy wants to be an officer and we’re trying to do some planning here.
I believe I have persuaded my gung-ho son that a high school diploma is necessary before he joins the USMC. I pointed out that if 50 guys are bucking for promotion, and 49 of them have a high school diploma, who do you think is going to be kicked out of consideration first?
But there's nothing like actual numbers to give reality to a situation.
All officers have an undergrad degree, yes. A fair number have advanced degrees, but it’s not required for promotion. As with any other job, an advanced degree will help you to get noticed above the crowd, but it’s not a requirement. Right about now, the only requirement to make Lieutenant Colonel is that you have a pulse, not if you have a Master’s.
Is this the S King who was a school teacher before he struck it big? Yup, lots of great “education” there. We see the results each day. Again, whenever he wants to match wits with any of my Academy class, just let me know.
I always thought King was strange; he just confirmed it for me.
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