Question of the Day
Should Stephen King apologize for his comment about reading and the military?
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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.
So you want to be at King's level? One thing I've enjoyed about FR is that the level of discourse here isn't at the Jr. High level. Sorry to see that's not true anymore.
King tries to fire back, but his gun jams. (Well, it would have if he believed in the 2nd Amendment and really had a gun.)
The United States participated in the NATO airstrikes, and then put boots on the ground following the Yugoslav withdrawal.
I’ve yet to understand this concept “I support the troops but I don’t support the war”. If you are supporting the troops then you are supporting their effort and as a result supporting the war effort. That statement is a lib’s way of not having the courage to say what that actually think and trying to sugar-coat their true feelings.
I’ve called several on that statement.
Heck, I don’t know of a single conservative who likes war but OTOH if you’re in one you’d better be supporting it.
Thank you for raising a fine young man who wants to serve his country. Has either of you even spoken with a recruitor? I ask because I’m pretty sure the USMC won’t accept him at all without a diploma or GED. They’ll welcome him at the age of 17 into the Delayed Entry Program so he has time to prepare for bootcamp beforehand, but that’s not an automatic “in.”
If he wants to have a say in his choice of MOS - no guarantee there but they DO try to at least get you into your chosen field - he’d better his negotiating platform by staying in high school or, if he’s especially motivated, passing extra credit courses at a CC so as to graduate earlier than his peers.
Oh good grief... go find some other chew bone.
Not yet, anyway.
No, Stephen, we don’t question your patiotism. That’s because we KNOW you’re not patriotic.
Glenn was funny when, after discussing the Steven King remarks, he left a message on the phone of a soldier friend of his.
“Now, just dial 1-888 — that’s right, three 8’s — no, there’s not a 3 in that — just listen and do as I say — 8-8-8, then a 7 — that’s next to the 8...”
OCS takes a minimum of 90 credit hours, IIRC. I don’t know all of the particulars, but college is very necessary for officers. It teaches you to be self-reliant and self-driving to get work done. It also helps you sharpen your Powerpoint skills...
If you can even think that, let alone say it in public you have fundamental disrespect for the armed services and any denial is self serving bullshit.
USMC MOS: Data/Communications Maintenance, Public Affairs, Nuclear, Biological and Chemical, Music, etc.
Some Navy Ratings: Aviation, Nuclear Field, Navy Corpsman, Gas Turbine Systems, Legalman, etc.
Army MOS: Communications Intelligence, Psychological Operations, Finance, etc.
Air Force MOS: Missile and Space Systems Maintenance, Communications and Computer Systems, Precision Measurement Equipment Laboratory, etc.
Point being...King is an arrogant and ignorant liberal. Our military personnel are not only literate...they are well steeped in the fields of mathematics and science.
Our young military men/women are brighter than King!
No one ever said Stephen King was intelligent. He just writes scary books. Hasn’t he always been regarded as a dull-witted dufus?
Good examples: Kipling's ghost stories like "The Wish House" or "Friendly Brook", and Donn Byrne's novels, especially Destiny Bay and Hangman's House. In all of those evil is evil, and good is good, and there's no mistaking the two. Good as a general rule overcomes. As one of Byrne's characters says, "Tom, you're forgetting just one element: the ultimate vast justice of God."
I haven't read many contemporary novels. The most recent thing I've read is A Prayer for Owen Meany, and I hated it. Thought it was contrived, mean-spirited, and way too liberal for me.
I love history, I learned to read on back issues of American Heritage magazine and wound up majoring in history in college. I still read all sorts, latest was the big book of George Catlin's Indian portraits with his notes on his various travels. Now that I'm doing cowboy action shooting, I'll have to get current on the West (my thesis concentration was on the American and British Civil Wars. Quite a contrast.)
He just is impatient and wants to go NOW. He's in the Naval Sea Cadets and going to summer camp. Last summer he did Master at Arms (high point pistol marksman with a perfect 240 score) and Port Security training, this summer he's going to be an Assistant Instructor for Recruit Training.
He wants to serve a hitch and then go to college either in ROTC or the GI Bill, or some other plan, then go back in as a career officer.
And this is a kid who has never planned 10 minutes ahead in his life.
It's all good.
Oh wow. He’s not your average teenager slouching his way through high school!
He will indeed go far. Pat yourself on the back, proud Mama. :o)
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Very rarely will you see any junior grade officers that have not obtained a bachelor degree. When I was in OCS, there was one candidate in my platoon, but he had two years of college, and was an outstanding Marine in order to get accepted into the Marine Corps Enlisted Commissioning Program (MECEP). I actually enlisted after college, but was accepted to OCS because of my degree. If your son wishes to become a Marine Officer, he has a few choices: US Naval Academy, NROTC scholarship Marine Option to a participating school, Platoon Leader’s Course, which is either two 6 week sessions in between semesters in the summer, or a 10 week session after junior year, Officer Candidate’s Course is offered after graduating. If he chooses to hold off until after graduating, the best advice I can give is for him to enlist in the Reserves after his freshman year of college. That way he’ll have 4 years as a Marine under his belt, will draw more pay than a fresh 2nd LT, and will understand how to respect and value the NCO’s and SNCO’s.
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