posted May 11, 2008 11:35 AM            

Another sophisticate has spoken out, and bravely.

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.

So said Stephen King. He is a writer of horror I hear, though I have never read his books. I do hope that his written prose is more literate than that evinced by his speech.

King's bold words passed scarcely noticed, near invisibly in fact. The reason is because they are not at all remarkable. Such courageous thoughts spew regularly from those who ride booted and spurred over this tottering edifice we call ‘Western Civilization.' There is hardly a mover and shaker residing in the ivory towers of academia or among our literati who does not share the same views as Mr. King.

From their talk, from their vast outpouring of books and articles, from their appearances in the media, from their endless self-absorption, from their spittle-flecked sputtering hatred and disdain of the common man, one would get the impression that these types are the very upholders of all that is sweet and honorable in our culture.

One would be wrong. Such men are the destroyers of civilization. Like competent parasites they take every advantage of a society created and maintained by their betters. They drain as much vitality as they can, replace it with a crude solipsism and work to crush the husk that remains. Their lives are ones of soft comfort and padded ease. For in all their degrees and learning and rhetoric and billions and billions of words they have learned nothing worth knowing. For all intents and purposes they are barbarians.

Civilization does not rest upon their shoulders, it rests upon the shoulders of men with guns.

"We sleep peaceably in our beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on our behalf." (George Orwell)

It has always been so. Civilization and the ability to inflict violence go together, are inseparable. Our pampered elites cannot understand this and have no ability to understand this. They look upon men with guns like apes gaping at The Last Supper.

Our venerable history books speak of Western Civilization as beginning with the Greeks somewhere around 700 BC. Not so. It began with the Hebrews pushing into what they called ‘the Promised Land' 500 years before. We forget that the most influential book in Western Civilization had its origins in the violence spread by the Israelite commander Joshua and his successors. The poetry of Solomon, the beauty of the Psalms, all rest upon the shoulders of Israelites with swords.

The contributions of the Greeks came to us through violence, of Greek against Persian and Greek against Greek. Aeschylus fought at Marathon and Salamis, Socrates at Delium, Demosthenes at Chaeronea. Aristotle tutored the future conqueror of the world, Alexander, who himself spread Greek culture as far as the Indus River. It is simply a waste of time to try and separate those who begat Western Civilization and those who used violence to promote it. Sometimes they were one and the same.

The Romans were likewise. Cicero served in the army. Caesar was a superb Latin stylist and man of letters. Horace served with Brutus at Philippi (42 BC). Virgil idealized Roman power, and both he and Maecenas were friends of Augustus. Suetonius and Pliny the Younger served under the Emperor Trajan. The emperors Hadrian and Aurelius wrote poetry. The Emperor Constantine legalized the spread of Christianity and so begat yet another facet of the spread of Western Civilization.

The Middle Ages also relied upon men of violence and men of books. Boethius worked for Theodoric the Great (520 AD). Justinian (r. 527 - 565) revised the entire Roman law code. Charlemagne built schools, began the first European Renaissance and himself spoke several languages. An entire style of troubadour poetry and epic literature, including The Song of Roland, flowed from the wars of Christian against Moslem in Spain.

The Renaissance was a time of great violence and high culture. Leonardo designed military machines. Michelangelo worked for that most militaristic of popes, Julius II. The ruthless Medici were great patrons of the arts. Dante fought at the battle of Campaldino (1289). Machiavelli undertook both diplomatic and military missions. Cervantes was with the Christian fleet at Lepanto (1527). Cortéz was a writer, and one of his soldiers was Bernal Diaz de Castillo who became a historian of the Conquest.

Many of the great Christian men of the day were not exactly shrinking violets either. The Jesuits were founded by Ignatius Loyola, who was a soldier. The gentle Francis of Assisi was a troubadour poet and mercenary. Aquinas formulated the Christian concept of ‘Just War.' Las Casas was a historian of the Indies. Martin Luther relied upon the pikes of Protestant kings to spread his new faith.

I could go on, but you get the point. Western Civilization has always depended upon bayonets. Take away the bayonets and the culture they supported will crumble, and rather rapidly.

Let us put it another way. The Ancients wrote of the Ages of Man, first of Gold then Silver then Bronze and finally of Iron. This last Age is dismal indeed. Men are "warlike, greedy and impious. Truth, modesty and loyalty are nowhere to be found." Hesiod (c. 700 BC) was even gloomier.

"During this age humans live an existence of toil and misery. Children dishonor their parents, brother fights with brother and the social contract between guest and host (xenia) is forgotten. During this age might makes right, and bad men use lies to be thought good. At the height of this age, humans no longer feel shame or indignation at wrongdoing; babies will be born with gray hair and the gods will have completely forsaken humanity: ‘there will be no help against evil.'"

There in a paragraph is our future. Our own nation's Golden Age is almost ignored in our history books, our Age of Silver a distant memory. Our present Age of Bronze is itself crumbling, preparing our nation for a coming Age of Iron.

When it arrives, who will defend what remains of Western Civilization? Will the likes of Stephen King step up to the plate? Will Pinch Sulzberger and Ward Churchill and Ted Kennedy don battle fatigues and utter their cries of war? Will Bill Clinton and his minions marshal armies and command troops? Will the professors at Yale and Harvard give great speeches about the noble profession of arms?

You already know the answer. Worthless men like them will be swept away. All their works and words, seemingly so valuble in this age, will be as dust.

The coming Age of Iron will be met as such times are always met, by men with guns. When it is over, when the forces of barbarism have at last receded, the new civilization will be ushered in by these men, the men of Yorktown, of New Orleans, of Chapultepec, of Gettysburg, of San Juan Hill, of Saint-Mihiel, of Guadalcanal, of the Ardennes, of the Chosin River, of Tet, of Desert Storm, of Falujah.

For it is those men and their guns who have carried upon their shoulders our American nation. It is their ancestors throughout time and space who created and supported Western Civilization, of which we are a part.

In 1000 years when the dust has settled, when the first glimmers of a new Age of Gold appear, men like Leonidas will still be remembered. Men like Stephen King will be as forgotten as yesterday's papers, remembered only by worms.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/05/men_with_guns.html

__________________________

posted May 11, 2008 11:46 AM            

quote:

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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.

---

I have heard Stephen King speak many times and that quote doesn`t reflect his speaking manner/ articulation that I am familiar with. I would find that quote suspect without it`s full context.

I am not defending the quote, article or it`s author but simply saying that`s not the S.K. I am familiar with. And yes, I love most of his works

juni

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~
What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world is immortal"~

posted May 11, 2008 11:52 AM            

Stephen King fires back after blogger attacks remarks
Email|Print|Single Page| Text size – + May 6, 2008
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.

more stories like thisA 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 "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.

------

King at literacy event http://www.booktv.org/program.aspx?ProgramId9307&;SectionName&PlayMediaNo

http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2008/05/06/stephen_king_fires_back_after_blogger_attacks_remarks/

juni

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What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world is immortal"~

posted May 11, 2008 12:41 PM            

He was attacked for implying or saying outright that if they didn't, their only option would be the US military.

Now just to be clear here:

We turn over billion dollar aircraft to these young people in the military and...

Multi billion dollar aircraft carriers

200 million dollar tanks

the most highly engineered array of electronic equipment on earth

the maintenance of all that military hardware and

we expect some of them to land a multi million dollar aircraft on rolling, pitching aircraft carriers at night, sometimes in the worst of weather.

for some of them, we give them small arms which we expect them to be able to use, know when to use them and against whom.

This pampered elitist little twit got the ass kicking he deserved for his comment and I notice he attempted to shift the attention from what was objectionable to something everyone agrees with. No one is against reading, studying and making the most of their lives. Further, it's just an outright lie that US military personnel are less educated than the average American.

posted May 11, 2008 12:48 PM              

King Leonides He has a reserved seat at my imaginary dinner party - you know the one where you can invite absolutely any historical figure you'd like?

posted May 11, 2008 01:39 PM            

quote:

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I can't say I'm surprised by this. King is a known leftist, no?

---

Obviously, I don`t know what his politics are. My interest in SK has always been

a.his advocation of a literacy program

b. his ability to overcome his accident

c. he`s one hellofa author

Sometimes you just like someone regardless of their political stance,yes?

juni

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~
What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world is immortal"~

posted May 11, 2008 07:06 PM            

"They lived and they died. The end."

Anything else is a crime.

******

Hey, Juni. Stephen King is one of those authors who, imo, doesn't speak as well as he writes. I think thoughts tend to tumble from him in interviews. Not that that's a mark against him, plenty of people either write or speak better. But his comments about "not being stuck with the military as your only option" are, at the very least, ignorant and for so many obvious reasons. (Reasons of which I am sure you are already aware.)

******

Tink

quote:

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Rudolf Steiner said the West would fight the Battle of Thermopylae again. Some Anthroposophists believe that's happening now. Some think it's coming soon with Iran. I don't know. I just hope there are a few Spartans left to fight it.

---

But Tink! Darius the Great was just misunderstood! He wanted to unite all peoples under one rule and it just so happened to be his. Can't you see how better off the Greeks would have been by simply submitting to his will? No one would have died in war! Submitting to slavery > killing others, duh. Nothing at all justifies defending your families, homes, land or anything if you might even accidentally cause another human being to suffer, especially those who are attacking, have been attacking and/or are planning to attack you. What a travesty that one of our "greatest" sources of history, literature, government and so much more is those evil, murderous Greeks!

posted May 11, 2008 07:29 PM            

Darius actually was quite a reformer when it came to establishing a more financially secure Persian Empire and well... He actually followed upon the very ideals Jwhop just posted Lol! But if you are refering to Darius' defeat at Marathon then you would be quite correct but that is a seperate event but obviously not part of Xerxes campaign.

posted May 11, 2008 10:40 PM            

Yes Eleanore, there are those among us who would simply rewrite the history of humans on earth. Gone would be the struggle against the elements, the big toothy hungry beasts, the neighboring tribes who would conquer their neighbors. All would be peace and light...except for that damned United States which is the problem in the world.

In a way, it's a shame we're not still City States. If we were, we could just shove these people out through the gates of the city and be done with them.

I can hear them rejoicing now. Free at last, free at last, thank God we're free at last to establish our own rules of "oneness" with the collective all.

posted May 11, 2008 10:56 PM            

I thought I am weird too , a madman, but why does Obama not impress me much?

posted May 11, 2008 10:57 PM            

I guess we're in Iraq right now, "defending" ourselves. Right?

Who's saying we shouldn't have a standing military?

Certainly not I.

posted May 12, 2008 12:13 AM              

I thoroughly enjoyed saying "a known leftist". I don't blame jwhop at all now.

Juni - I don't hold it against King. I have a few of his books and he's the best there is in his genre. I read Salam's Lot when I was a teenager and, as you know, I'm still scared of vampires.

posted May 12, 2008 10:27 AM            

Seriously regarding Darius, though, I don't think anyone can say he was overall (or even mostly) bad or "evil" ... certainly not in the beginning or through most of his reign. Towards the end ... hmmm. Overly ambitious? Dare we say warring and misguided? Surely there are few nice ways to say it so let's settle for that I won't speak a word against some of those Grecians.

However, I'd really like your opinion on his known (and/or supposed) devotion to Ahura Mazda, Tink, if you've the time and inclination to share.

*add*

posted May 12, 2008 10:58 AM              

Now about that crazy Darius ..... oooh I'm so tempted but they'll be calling me a dogmatic, biased, narrow minded racist or lord knows what. What St Augustine said, yk? Have you read the Behistun inscriptions? I'd kill to see Persepolis someday.* Two thumbs up for Ahura.

A great god is Ahuramazda, who created this earth, who created yonder sky, who created man, who created happiness for man, who made Darius king, one king of many, one lord of many.

posted May 12, 2008 12:56 PM            

http://www.gallup.com/poll/106783/Opposition-Iraq-War-Reaches-New-High.aspx

What I find funny is how high the approval rating was for this war back in 2004. What is wrong with Americans? Are they so easily brainwashed by propaganada? What is different now than from then that causes all these people to change their minds, media spin?

posted May 12, 2008 03:52 PM            

The public will implicitly choose one path on Iraq this fall, given its choice between Republican presidential candidate John McCain (who favors the war and argues the consequences of withdrawal would be severe) and either Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama (both of whom oppose the war and want to end it as quickly as they deem prudent)."
http://www.gallup.com/poll/106783/Opposition-Iraq-War-Reaches-New-High.aspx

You're going to get the "majority opinion" on Iraq in November. You got the "Majority opinion" in November 2004 as well.

posted May 13, 2008 12:53 PM            

"Right" one.
A murderous butcher named Saddam is dead, his insane sons are dead and the citizens of Iraq have elected a representative government of their choice.

"Right" two.
American military forces are staying in Iraq to finish stabilizing the new government until that government can defend the country against all internal and external threats.