Stephen King on Religion (and How NewsBusters Got it Wrong)

The awesome Stephen King, from FanPop.com

Yes, NewsBusters again. I just extracted myself from a fight I kind of started at the supposed "media watch dog" site that is in reality an arch right-wing commentary site. I've commented before how the NewsBusters headlines often read to me like a big list of "so whats." They list a bunch of things that are supposed to outrage, but instead, I agree with them.

Well, this time, they went too far. They focused on one of my favorite authors--and I know he's considered somehow "not literary," but I don't care--Stephen King. Now, don't think I like King simply because he's a liberal. I like Dean Koontz too, and he's an obvious Orange County conservative. Still, King's stories are more dense, more layered. And with less focus on golden retrievers, Jeep Cherokees, and slightly mismatched male/female couples who verbally spar in humorous ways in the midst of catastrophe.

But one thing they both have in common is a seeming belief in the divine. Sure, they can skew that quite a bit, toward sci-fi, toward other-worldly rather than explicitly God, but other times they'll pretty much spell out a big-time, universe creating deity. As an atheist, this only bothers me a little. I mean, we're talking aliens, monsters, other worlds, alternate dimensions, time travel and IT. I can handle a little make believe.

So, how does this come back around to NewsBusters? Well, they are using him to make it seem that this very successful liberal author has duped NPR in his interview, by supporting Intelligent Design.
I ain't gonna lie, he said something along those lines. But they emphasize that as though it is his main point, but then downplay his conclusion.

My favorite King novel and adaptation was The Stand, 
in which religion is figured heavily. It didn't bother me.
But Randall Flagg and Mother Abigail could just be
"good" and "evil," right?

And I get what he's saying. We humans often say things like, "It must have been meant to be," and "it was fate." We say these things whether we literally believe that time and elements were physically guided or not. We can feel that something was going to happen, and fall into place, without necessarily believing that a supernatural entity was cataloging, manipulating and  guiding time and space to make something happen.

But, typical of NewsBusters, they will focus on what they want you to see. And their readers--as I've learned first hand in the last few days--will take the bait, and argue it strenuously.

Here is the line they highlighted: " if you say, well, OK, I don't believe in God, there's no evidence of God, then you're missing the stars in the sky, and you're missing the sunrises and sunsets, and you're missing the fact that bees pollinate all these crops and keep us alive and the way that everything seems to work together at the same time."

What they don't want you to notice is this, "But at the same time there's a lot of things in life where you say to yourself, well, if this is God's plan, it's very peculiar. And you have to wonder about that guy's personality, the big guy's personality." And then even more clearly, "What I'm saying now is I choose to believe in God, but I have serious doubts."

I'm just saying, that conclusion doesn't really square with their headline.

[Excerpt]

Stephen King Shocks NPR Audience: Nature 'Suggests Intelligent Design' by God

On Tuesday's Fresh Air on NPR stations from coast to coast, host Terry Gross interviewed author Stephen King on his new book  "Joyland," which features a young man in a wheelchair with muscular dystrophy and his grandfather, a radio evangelist named Buddy Ross, who insists the disease is divine punishment. . .

Read more at: NewsBusters

Ann Coulter to Stop Writing Books?

Photo from source, Raw Story

I've tried to read some of Ann Coulter's books. I didn't want to pay for them, of course, so twice I've checked them out at the library. The first one was Slander. I read the first few pages, and then quickly found myself skimming. Eventually, I headed off to the index to see if there was anything interesting by topic. I gave up shortly thereafter.

The next one could have been Godless. Or Treason. Or How to Talk to a Liberal, or maybe Godless. It's hard to say, because they are very, very similar. And all--at least to me--unreadable. As I said, I've only checked out two of her books, but I've flipped through most of the others. I often thought she could do just as well to shuffle a few chapters around, change a word here and there, and just slap another pithy title on it. Bingo! New book.

Maybe others have started to think the same thing. Ann the man has been seeing some drastically reduced book sales of late, even with them practically being given away on conservative sites, and with Ann constantly trying to stir up free publicity. So, it would seem she's giving up. Isn't that sad?

[Excerpt]

Op-Ed: Ann Coulter's Swan Song

Conservative critic on why Coulter can't, won't write new book

In a BookTV interview postponed from February and airing last weekend, author Ann Coulter said that she will probably stop writing books, citing increasing taxes on the rich by the Obama administration. . .

Read more at: Raw Story

Conservative Book Scam: Win by Cheating!

Image from source, FightTheSmears.com

Do you ever get irritated hearing Ann Coulter introduced as "New York Times #1 Bestselling Author. . ."? Especially if she's introduced by someone like Sean Hannity, who hates everything about the New York Times except their bestseller list? And Ann is not alone. It seems like just about everybody on FOX "News" has some sort of conservative screed to sell, from guests to hosts.

I've often wondered how it is possible that Ann Coulter keeps writing the same book over and over again (always pictured in the little black cocktail dress), and every time it hits #1. And every book by Bill O'Reilly or Hannity seems to hit #1 too. Have you ever tried to slog through one of those books? It can't be done. . .well, at least not by me. You'd think an answer this obvious would have hit me right off the bat. . .they cheated.

Horrors! Arch conservatives cheat to get what they want? Of course they do! In this case, a conservative writes a book dripping with froth about how liberals eat babies or something. Then conservative groups (sometimes arms of the conservative book publisher) buy up huge quantities of the books, and sell them at drastic discounts to conservative book clubs, and other conservative outlets. Hell, I might even buy Obama Nation for $1.

Obama Nation, by swift-boater Jerome Corsi, is the most recent #1 best seller in this scheme. The book has been ripped to shreds by fact checkers (not all of whom are liberals), but will continue to be hawked on FOX "News" as a #1 book, and that alone gives it its credibility. Just like the equally ridiculous Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg just a couple of months ago. It's one big cheaty, conservative scam circle, ain't it?

Some links for you:

• From the New York Times, a piece on conservative authors (Corsi included!) who sued a conservative publishing house for the practice of bulk selling, and cutting the authors out of profits. It's sort of a "biting the hand that feeds you" story. Conservative Authors Sue Publisher
• The Conservative Book Club, where you too can get scads of books at a reduced price! Um, suggestion: I was just kidding before about buying any of these books at any price. Just do like I do, and get them from the library.
• And finally, if you want a centralized site to get out your conservative message, here is a (to me, very creepy) site that gives you the links to everybody. Eagle List Company

Links found at Newshounds.us comments, posted by "Escape Goat - Olympic Athlete"