Saturday, January 26, 2013

Prolific author Stephen King uses his talents to throw a scare into the NRA.

Courtesy of the Guardian:  

The best-selling author made an unexpected charge into the national debate on gun violence on Friday with a passionate, angry essay pleading for reform. King, who owns three handguns, aimed the expletive-peppered polemic at fellow gun-owners, calling on them to support a ban on automatic and semi-automatic weapons in the wake of the December shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school which left 20 children and six adults dead. "Autos and semi-autos are weapons of mass destruction. When lunatics want to make war on the unarmed and unprepared, these are the weapons they use," King wrote. 

"Here's how it shakes out," the essay begins, before describing 22 ritual steps in which the US experiences a school massacre. Excoriating the media and television voyeurism, he writes: "Sixteenth, what cable news does best now begins, and will continue for the next seventy-two hours: the slow and luxurious licking of tears from the faces of the bereaved." 

King recalls that the fictional schoolboy killer in his 1977 novel Rage, which was published under a pen name, Richard Bachman, resonated with several boys who subsequently rampaged at their own schools. One, Barry Loukaitis, shot dead a teacher and two students in Moses Lake, Washington in 1996, then quoted a line from the novel: "This sure beats algebra, doesn't it?" 

King said he did not apologise for writing Rage – "no, sir, no ma'am" – because it told the truth about high-school alienation and spoke to troubled adolescents who "were already broken". However, he said, he ordered his publisher to withdraw the book because it had proved dangerous. He was not obliged to do so by law – it was protected by the first amendment – but it was the right thing to do. Gun advocates should do the same, he argued. 

The idea that US gun rampages stem from a culture of violence was a "self-serving lie promulgated by fundamentalist religious types and America's propaganda-savvy gun-pimps", he wrote. In reality the US had a "Kardashian culture" which preferred to read and watch comedies, romances and super-heroes, rather than stories involving gun violence. 

Much of the opposition to gun control stemmed from paranoia about the federal government, King argued. "These guys and gals actually believe that dictatorship will follow disarmament, with tanks in the streets of Topeka." 

He assured gun owners that no one wanted to take away their hunting rifles, shotguns or pistols, as long as they held no more than 10 rounds. "If you can't kill a home invader (or your wife, up in the middle of the night to get a snack from the fridge) with ten shots, you need to go back to the local shooting range." 

The mockery continued when he noted semi-automatics had only two purposes: to kill people, and to let their owners go to a shooting range, "yell yeehaw, and get all horny at the rapid fire and the burning vapor spurting from the end of the barrel".

Ooh, I like that last part! You know as frightened as the NRA is of Gabby Giffords, I would advice them to be equally concerned about Stephen King. 

King is easily the most popular, and prolific, American writer of the last fifty years, and has a huge fan base, many of whom I am sure consider themselves to be proud gun owners.

To have him write, as only he can, in such a confrontational manner is going to make some people really have to evaluate why they support allowing access to these types of weapons, and possibly even why they themselves feel the need to own one.

Hell if Stephen King can make someone like me terrified of St. Bernard dogs and clowns named Pennywise, I am sure he can frighten some sense into people about gun violence. Though after what happened at Sandy Hook I am not sure how much more frightening things have to become before people wake up to what is happening in this country.

24 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:31 PM

    LOL buzzfeed take:

    7 Reasons No One Is Surprised That Sarah Palin And Fox News Broke Up

    http://www.buzzfeed.com/dorsey/7-reasons-no-one-is-surprised-that-sarah-palin-and

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  2. Anonymous1:37 PM

    Ah yes, the aptly named King my favorite brilliant Democrat, living example Liberals have the market cornered on intelligence, see: Dean Koontz, the Conservative's equivalent. Bwahahaha!

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  3. Anonymous1:37 PM

    Bill Maher closed out his show by declaring that America needs to stop saying it’s the home of the brave and start acting like it. He cited the nation’s huge defense budget and compared the United States to a paranoid crazy man who keeps spending money on alarms and guns and cameras but doesn’t have enough left over to take care of his house or send his kids to college. Maher asked, “would you call him brave?” before comparing the nation’ emphasis on defense to American manhood.

    http://www.mediaite.com/tv/maher-likens-defense-spending-to-declining-manhood-when-did-we-become-dickless-armchair-warriors/

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  4. WakeUpAmerica1:46 PM

    Good on ya, Mr. King. Keep up the pressure.

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  5. Anonymous2:08 PM

    Good for Mr. King. I hope more big names start to speak up about this out of control predicament we have put our country in.

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  6. What is the point in owning an assault rifle?I would be terrified if I hung out with an owner of one.People are spontaneous.How many suicides would have been averted if a gun had not been there at a moment of desperation.

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  7. Anonymous2:46 PM

    In Sarah Palin’s first interview since parting ways with Fox News, the former Alaska governor said she doesn’t want to “just preach to the choir" and that she is looking to take her message to a "larger audience."

    Palin told Breitbart News there needs to be “more truth-telling in the media” and called for fellow conservatives to follow her lead and expand their audience.

    “I encourage others to step out in faith, jump out of the comfort zone, and broaden our reach as believers in American exceptionalism,” she told the conservative news site in a short Q&A. “That means broadening our audience. I’m taking my own advice here as I free up opportunities to share more broadly the message of the beauty of freedom and the imperative of defending our republic and restoring this most exceptional nation.”

    “We can't just preach to the choir,” she said. “The message of liberty and true hope must be understood by a larger audience.”

    It was reported Friday that Palin had parted ways with Fox News after three years and would no longer be a paid contributor. Palin joined Fox News in 2009, after she resigned as Alaska governor.

    As for her future plans, Palin told Breitbart News the “door is wide open.”

    “I know the country needs more truth-telling in the media, and I’m willing to do that,” she said. “So, we shall see.”

    The former Republican vice presidential nominee also took aim at what she described as the "biased" media’s role in the 2012 race.

    “We had an election defined by a biased media plus millions of voters who sat it out in disgust,” she said. “As long as we allow the media and GOP establishment to tell us who our nominees must be, we can expect to lose.”

    In the Q&A — which consisted of three questions — Palin also blasted D.C. as “out of touch, obviously” and named conservatives in the media such as Mark Levin, Rush Limbaugh and writers at Breitbart News as voices to look at as the 2014 election approaches.

    http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2013/01/palin-we-cant-just-preach-to-the-choir-155304.html

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  8. Anonymous2:53 PM

    Palin asslicker steps up to trumpet Palin's bonifides...

    PALIN: 'WE HAVEN'T YET BEGUN TO FIGHT!'

    In my research for the film I made on Governor Palin, The Undefeated, I was constantly amazed at the anti-establishment stands she took at every step in her rise to power. Moves that a conventional politician would run from, she embraced: in Wasilla, in Juneau, and in the rise of the Tea Party. Her ability to see “over the hill” to what is really important, what really matters, is what sets her apart.

    Andrew Breitbart embraced the Governor as a fellow warrior in the long struggle against a detached and venal political/media complex. He lives on in spirit and through the work of those he inspired—including, but not limited to, those who report and contribute at his site.
    The Governor has been at the forefront of the fight against the Permanent Political Class and, as such, inspired Peter Schweizer and myself in our work last night on Fox News with Sean Hannity’s special “Boomtown.” We consider ourselves honored at Breitbart News to have her share with us her thoughts on the road ahead in this exclusive Q & A.

    1. What's next for you?

    ...As far as long-term plans, the door is wide open. I know the country needs more truth-telling in the media, and I’m willing to do that. So, we shall see. And always in the center of it all I have an awesome, full, exciting, and large family living in a very unique part of America that keeps me hopping! I love it!

    ...I was raised to never retreat and to pick battles wisely, and all in due season. When it comes to defending our republic, we haven’t begun to fight! But we delight in those who underestimate us.

    http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/01/26/Palin-We-Havent-Yet-Begun-to-Fight-Exclusive-Interview-with-Breitbart-News

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  9. Anonymous3:18 PM

    Does anyone know if I can get this for Nook or computer download? Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous3:52 PM

      King's essay is available for $0.99. The Guardian article has a link to Amazon.com.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous3:54 PM

    Got the book for Kindle and I wasn't disappointed. He tells it like it is!

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  11. Anonymous3:58 PM

    No, we're not going to give up out automatics and semi-automatics and there won't be any new laws passed to say we have to. And we're not going to give up our large capacity magazines because there won't ba any law saying we have to do that either. There will be new laws that place armed guards around schools though because that's really the only measure that is going to work. Carry on whining about it now folks.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous4:27 PM

      You forget to add anon@3:56 you live in lala land,
      NOT the USA where we ARE going to make sure SANDYHOOK does not happen again and if we have to pry from your cold dead hands, so be it!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous5:30 PM

      Thousands rally in Washington for gun control - Democratic Underground http://demu.gr/1014381915 #GunControlNow #StopNRA #p2

      Delete
    3. Anonymous7:29 AM

      Anon 3:58:
      People like you make me scared for my country.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous4:14 PM

    3:58 PM:
    Did you even read King's Kindle book??

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous4:27 PM

      Did you? Troll?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous5:32 PM

      Tea tards aren't exactly known to be avid readers.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous8:14 PM

      @4:27 PM- Absolutely..I have it on my Kindle.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous7:07 PM

    Geraldo Rivera Surprises Fox News By Destroying Anti-Gun Control Arguments

    http://www.upworthy.com/geraldo-rivera-surprises-fox-news-by-destroying-anti-gun-control-arguments

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  14. Anita Winecooler7:10 PM

    We need more people like Steven King to come out for gun control. What he did was very smart and courageous. They're clinging to the armed guards in schools as a "practical solution", because, you know, Wanye La Pierre said it first, and they're very scared that "The Man" is going to take away ALL their guns!!

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  15. Anonymous8:27 PM

    Bought it this morning. Stephen King's the man!

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  16. There is always more than one way to skin a cat..... This article was in nytimes yesterday.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/25/business/city-officials-push-pension-funds-to-divest-from-gun-makers.html?emc=eta1&_r=0

    "City Officials Push Pension Funds to Divest From Gun Makers
    By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH

    Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago urged the executives of two major banks to cease the financing of firearms companies. Other cities are making similar efforts."

    When big money(hedge/investment (401K) funds) pull their investments and big banks no longer lend capitol..........?

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  17. Anonymous8:10 PM

    Anti-gun is just anti-freedom. Many will say its for the welfare of all. They will cite some research to support the position. Although there is plenty of evidence to the contrary. Same with Anti-abortion folks. They claim it's for the welfare of the mom or society. Fact is that they are anti freedom. Just like the gun control advacates they take the most irresponsible cases of abortion and say that is the normal way it goes. Its not that I think abortion is a wonderful thing, it is an option that a woman should have because of her unique situation. There were many unsafe backroom clinics before choice was upheld. Before prohibition of alcohol the prohibitionists claimed society would be so much safer if alcohol was banned. Keep in mind that there
    were many responsible drinkers, but they had to ban alcohol so we could all be safe from alcohol. It didnt work and only drove the business underground and greatly profited organized crime. Freedom is a two edged sword and for every example of tragedy from free choice there is far more good to be had from our freedoms.

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