Stephen King Thinks I’m Illiterate

On April 4, 2008, Stephen King and family appeared at the Library of Congress where He, his wife Tabitha and son Owen spoke. The event was sponsored by The PEN/Faulkner Writers in Schools program, in collaboration with the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. They each read excerpts of their latest writings, which went very well. Afterwards, in an informal atmosphere, they took questions and answered often expanding; as many writers are want to do. It was during this part late in the program where Stephen King took off on a tangent about the rewards of reading and the necessity to make reading a habit. During this answer he may have gone a tad too far when he stated,
“And it’s the readers in the world who become the writers. You cannot write unless you read. And the readers in the world, regardless of matter how much or how little writing talent they have, become the people who succeed in life. Reading, I don’t want to sound like an ad, a public service ad on TV, but the fact is, that if you can read you can walk into a job, later on. If you don’t, then you got; the Army, Iraq, I don’t know, something like that, it’s, it’s not as bright.”
To listen to the event, it is on the Library of Congress website

As a veteran of the United States Army, and a relatively literate person, I took great exception to Mr. King’s words. Many of the people I met while serving in the military were more intelligent than a good number of people I have met while attending college classes through the years. I further have to conclude that one of the requirements for entering today’s military service is having a High School Diploma or passing an equivalency exam. Both would presume to imply some level of literacy though not necessarily a love for reading that Mr. King implies is necessary to excel in life. I would not presume to argue that reading is not beneficial and would recommend people to read for enjoyment or for educating themselves or at least to read my postings here at Beyond the Cusp. There is one thing I would like to state in the hope that it will reach Stephen King’s ears or eyes. While I was in the Army, way back when, we had lots and lots of what we referred to as down time. During these slack times, many of the troops would fill the time reading; some even read some of Mr. King’s works. I would hope Mr. King would take the time to apologize to the fine and educated men and women in our military, especially to all those who buy and read his books. It would be the least he could do and it would be the honorable thing for him to do.

Beyond the Cusp