If I had written about this....

There was something in the news yesterday morning that got me so fired up that I thought I would write about it here, even though this is not my political blog. The news even had some NASCAR connection, since yesterday marked the announcement of the USO Salute The Troops tribute on Memorial Day, which will be part of the festivities at Lowe's Motor Speedway, and the news was about an insult a prominent author made toward the military. However, when I checked on the background of the story, it turned out that the offending comment was not made yesterday, but over a month ago.
So, it really isn't news.

However, if I were to write about it, I would mention that the offending comment was made by none other than Stephen King, while he was addressing a symposium for young writers of high school age. And I would have to quote the offending comment thusly:

"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,"

Mr King, who has written many books that I have enjoyed reading, seems to be a little undereducated on the subject of the intelligence of military personnel, so if I had written about it I would have pointed out that most military personnel are educated and literate. A person may enter the military with a high school education and leave with technical and personal skills, and also with what amounts to a scholarship for higher education. These days, without a draft, people enter the military not only because they feel a need to fulfill their duty, but also for the educational and job experience they receive in the military. Very few enter military service because it is the only job they can get.

If I had written about this, I would not have accused Stephen King of not being patriotic, but I would have pointed out that he lives in self imposed isolation with very little contact with the world of common folk. How could we expect him know the nature of a military person?