Stephen King shows why Liberal elitists suck…
Yeah I heard NewsBusters did a big deal on this but I just have to chime in. Mr. King stated on 4/4/08
“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,”
The scary man then comes out with this in response to the blog.
“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,”
The truth is that Mr. King said and meant what he said. He didn’t say children should learn to read although I imagine he indeed thinks that’s a good idea. He said the people in the Army are less intelligent and less capable.
The elitists want a free ride whence they distribute their wisdom. It is an annoyance to them when the common folk take notice and umbrage to something they say. You see they’re smarter than us and we should just shut up. On a political side this plays out well when it is correctly applied to a number of Barack Obama’s comments.
Back peddling from the Right or Left is still back peddling.Admit the truth !
On a note of personal irony there is this. When I was in the Army I remember a number of my fellow soldiers reading his books. Me ? Well although I’m quite literate I just don’t like the genre so no.
block quotes and story from here
May 8, 2008 at 5:17 pm
It reminds me of the Asimov-Heinlein controversy…
Both were sci-fi authors but Asimov refused to be part of Reagan’s think tank about future weapons earning the ‘unpatriotic’ label from Heinlein. Asimov’s position was that it was a misuse of sci-fi not a conflict of patriotism…
Is King merely not saying that those who don’t get so much out of school are more limited in their careers - true he does, from these quotes, seem against the war in Iraq but then aren’t other americans? Are they all unpatriotic?
The american forces do have good training programmes and didn’t some try to wriggle out of the forces when the first gulf war came over the horizon? The problem is that for some it is the best opportunity for training they’re likely to get - not that they shouldn’t be prepared to do what they signed up for.
My political views may well be known here but let me add this - what someone freely says should be something they are willing to stick to. So the sticky point here is - due to various poor areas, where the forces ply their recruitment officers, are folk entirely free to choose or are there financial pressures…
May 8, 2008 at 5:49 pm
alfie, communists survived tinanmen square. so, expand your “imagination”.
you guys don’t anything about this zimbio.com thing?
May 8, 2008 at 6:51 pm
@royho…no I don’t know anything about zimbio sorry.
@Free … You touched on the key point re: US armed forces. It’s all volunteer. The military recruiters are in all areas regardless of the socio-economic makeup. I was neither poor nor stupid when I enlisted. Also about the only bonus “lure” the military has is money for college.
May 9, 2008 at 6:19 am
On a side note, these new default avatars are trippin’ me out! I mean, are they inspired by a kaleidoscope or something?
Anyway, for as often as I hear that the so-called “liberal elite” or Hollywood liberals shouldn’t be taken seriously, there are an awful lot of people out there…um…taking them seriously.
May 9, 2008 at 2:37 pm
CZ I’m not one of those people. I think “public” people are open to scrutiny when they choose to use their publicity to push anything. On a note that you may or may not find interesting I say Tom Hanks. I like his movies and think he’s done some great things as a citizen. I don’t care if he endorses Obama and that the endorsement was more on feelings than logic. I respect him for speaking his mind and I for one would gladly debate any “Boycott Forrest Gump” ! folks.
The sad place I believe King and many others (right & left) reside is that perhaps they’re not trying to be malicious but they speak what they truly believe. Hence my post. Thanks for stopping by.