Stephen King’s Army Comments Draw Fire

[unhappycamper]

Stephen King’s Army Comments Draw Fire
May 09, 2008
Bangor Daily News

BANGOR, Maine -- Before the first flight of troops walked down the ramp at Bangor International Airport on Wednesday morning, a handful of Maine Troop Greeters had removed all traces of Stephen King memorabilia traditionally housed in the greeters' terminal room.

After a flurry of news reports regarding King's statements made at the Library of Congress last month, greeter Wayne Desjardins said he and a few others took down two 8-by-10-inch photos of King's Bangor homes, smaller snapshots of the residences and a newspaper article featuring King.

"It's the right thing to do until Mr. King comes up with an apology," Desjardins said about removing the items. "It's not a very respectable thing to say about our men and women in uniform. I personally took it as an insult because I wore the uniform and I wore it proudly."

During a writers symposium for high school students on April 4, King said, "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." Blogger Noel Sheppard criticized King's comments and aligned them with former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's statements that if a quality education is not obtained then "you get stuck in Iraq." King posted a retort on his Web site on Monday, which emphasized his support for troops, but described the war in Iraq as 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."

Reacting to the troop greeters removing King-related items from their display, King said Wednesday, "It hurts me that people are putting my stuff away for political reasons.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/stephen-kings-army-comments-draw-fire.html?col=1186032310810



uhc comment: This reminds me of burning Dixie Chicks' CDs a few years ago.

[NWHarkness]

1. What a coincidence!

The right wing Bangor Daily News broke this story just before King was scheduled to do a fund raiser for Tom Allen.

[glowing]

2. Well, its true. I'd like to say it also helps to have money to keep you

from going... These days who has a job.. it serving in the army looks like a way to pay your bills.

[NYVet]

3. "It hurts me that people are putting my stuff away for political reasons. "

This was not political, it was personal. When you say things that insult people, they usually tend to react negatively to you.