Stephen King Pays for Troop's Trip

He called them stupid. How is that love?

 

Who cares what he gave, it proves nothing. King made a dumb broad generalization of the armed forces, he can be criticized for that.

 

Can you point out where he called anybody stupid?

 

Some would argue that actions speak louder than words. It seems to me there's an example of him making an ill-advised (blundering?) comment about military personnel and an example of him putting his resources to a good cause for military personnel. Some might not forgive him for the former, but the latter is commendable.

If you tried to nail everyone to the wall for every comment they'd ever made, you'd soon run out of nails.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

My bad on not writing clearly; I was speaking about Art calling out a private citizen/f chat poster on what he did or did not give to charity. I would have more respect for King if he would have simply said what he said was wrong, and apologized, but instead he dodged the large amounts of criticism he received for the comment and instead went on some political tangent rant.

 

"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, it's not as bright. So, that's my little commercial for that."

"It's, it's not as bright"

What is the opposite of bright?

Could you make a comment like that in public? I could not.

Pretty sure all those in the armed forces have to have a High School Degree or the equivalent to join.

This is not the Vietnam era any more, though many liberals want it to be.

And instead of apologizing for a stupid comment he goes on this little rant. I would have respected him more if he simply apologized for a dumb broad generalization.

"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. Noel Sheppard says, “Nice sentiment when the nation is at war, Stephen.” I guess he feels ignorance and illiteracy are OK when the country needs cannon-fodder. I guess he also feels that the war in Iraq has nationwide approval. Well, it doesn’t have mine. It 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. If you agree, find Sheppard on the internet, and send him an email:"

"educational policies that limit the options of young men and women to any one career - military or otherwise" What does that even mean? No one is forced to be in the military any more. Any one can go to community college and then go to a good 4 year college. Just seems to me like a desperate attempt to cover up his dumb comment.

 

Ah, I see now.

I didn't know about any sort of rant beyond the initial comment.

Well... I think what that shows is that even professional writers, for whom eloquence is their meal ticket, can really blunder trying to communicate with the general public.

If he feels that education needs to be improved, that's one thing. If he opposes the overseas wars we're currently fighting that's another thing entirely. Trying to link the two into one campaign/message didn't do him any favours in accomplishing either of his objectives and it seems he inadvertently lambasted the military in doing. Given time for reflection, I can imagine him regretting this particular foray into the public forum.

Stick to the novels, Stephen - the one I read was pretty good, so will eventually get around to reading some more.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

We are what we do. Talk is cheap. When you start impinging on someone for their charitable contribution, claiming you give a lot (which the poster did), someone can call you out on it, and I did.

King made sense in what he said, and more importantly, what he did. If someone wants to open their mouth about it, they (the commentator) need to have decent credentials, and apparently they didn't.

The comment about educational opportunities was a comment that it is no longer possible in the US to get a decent education without incurring a huge debt. When I was in school, it was much cheaper, and the State provided quite a bit more assistance than now. In short, King was commenting on the fact that a lot of people, in order to get an education, end up in the military.

Art

 

Maybe I misread his comment but I took it to mean that by being illiterate, one's future is not as bright. Mentioning the military as something that an illiterate person can do was a very poor choice, but I don't believe he was attempting to impugn the entire military and its personnel.

 

Not only did I give more than 13k over the past year I gave more than that to disabled veterans specifically.

Is it great that he paid for a couple of bus rides for troops? Yes absolutely not denying that at all. However I do still maintain based upon his comments about the military he is a worthless pos as a person. Additionally it was written someone else came to him seeking this donation it was not out of his warm fuzzy troop loving heart that it was made. He is as far left leaning liberal as one gets so I find it hard to believe he’s jumped on the bs “I support the troops but not the mission” bandwagon. That said I would absolutely love to eat my words and see him go out of his way and do something meaningful for the troops regularly.

 

Interesting you should mention the appeal of the military in assisting with university tuition...

A very good friend of mine (known him since I was 2 years old) is serving as an officer in the National Guard. He's currently posted in Northern Kuwait, in fact - small world, eh Mike? In our school days, he was always a straight-A student and extremely bright. He's certainly done well enough for getting into most universities, but I don't think any were offering scholarships based on dirt-biking abilities (he's not such a keen footballer) and he comes from a very large family so tuition fees are a bit expensive for them.

Apart from the military offering to pay for his university education, which he's completing on a part-time basis in between active duty assignments, I think a combination of things drew him to the military: he likes order, has a strong sense of patriotic duty, enjoys firearms, and I think the lifestyle suits him.

He's not such a fan of how "face-meltingly hot" (his words) Kuwait is, but does enjoy his life in the military.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

It's maybe not as bright of a future?
It's maybe not that bright of an idea?
Can be many things other than, "anybody that joins the Armed Forces is stupid".
I still don't understand why somebody has to love the war effort and the troops to give a nice thoughtful donation. I can't stand people who beg but just last night my wife and I gave a begger a 5 spot. I still think he's an ******.