JK Rowling denied top US honour

[vorlors]

really dose my goverment have nothing more important to worry about

 

[MadMikey]

This is really silly. I can't see writing a series of children's books as worthy of getting the Medal of Freedom. Of course I don't think half the J@ck@$$3$ that GW Bush gave it to were deserving; certainly not that warmonger Rumsfeld! Look at it this way, I don't see the Queen giving the Foo Fighters MBEs for their musical works. Firstly, Rowling is a brit, shouldn't the medal of freedom be limited to American civillians. How many Americans have MBEs? I'm not sure there are many if any. I think that's reserved for Brits only. Anyway, I'm more surprised that other people are surprised that the Bushies were that nuts....remember the last 8 or so years?? Hello??

 

[IAmWright777]

What did J.K. Rowling do that was worthy of the Presidential Medal of Freedom? She wrote some books that got kids reading, whoopdee doo. Were their alleged reasons for denying it stupid? Yes. Did she deserve it? No. Next you'll be wanting to give one to the lady who wrote the Twilight books.

And Ted Kennedy? Seriously? Yeah, he totally deserved one for crashing his car and leaving a woman to die. The man was hardly the saint that everyone is remembering him as.

Exactly. She got kids reading. Seeing how most of our kids are dumbasses, that's good. And Ted was pro-healthcare. So, he's good too.

Still, that's not necessarily enough to earn a Medal of Freedom, I would think. For example, if I was pro-healthcare, and went around telling people that I was, would I deserve a Medal of Freedom? No. I personally agree with mcspenser82 here. I should probably add, that just because a lot of kids read her books, that doesn't mean anything. I did like the series, don't get me wrong. However the kids that read them would have read something else if the series wasn't made, does that make sense? If you are going to read, you are going to read.

 

[heyheysg]

Does she weigh the same as a duck?

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

I cannot believe that this was actually a valid concern amongst US politicians. How on earth did they manage to get elected?

Elected officials are reflections of the people in any given democracy. The Bush administrations rule does not paint a pretty picture about americans in that regard.

The people put him there and they let him stay there, meaning that all things he did is on the responsibility of the people...

 

[kotorfan04]

Okay first of all should Rowling receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom? Doubtful, her books were good, but yet they don't seem to meet "Highest possible honor for a civillian" standards. If the Bush administration had denied the award to her for that it would be understandable, but to deny it BECAUSE it promoted witchcraft is well idiotic.

Also I find it humorous that so many of you are acting shocked at the notion that the people in the Bush White House were a bunch of morons. That is all.

 

[Ophiuchus]

They denied her an award she didn't deserve for a reason that was barely even plausible. I think we can call that one karmically even.

 

[Kaboose the Moose]

If anyone thinks that the main point of the article is to highlight "whether JK deserved the honor or not" or "oh no poor rich JK with all her money is missing an award" is quite sadly missing the point.

I couldn't give a toss about her or her books. However, I can't fathom that a group of people, from a civilized and advanced nation as the United States, actually sat around a table and rationalized the decision to deny someone of an honor (regardless if she deserved it or not) because they thought it "encouraged witchcraft".

Mind you, I use the word "rationalized" quite loosely here.

The issue is not whether or not she deserved it in the first place. The issue is that the reason she was denied it was not because she was "super rich" or that her books "aren't that good" but that they thought it promoted witchcraft. How primitive are the top ranking republicans to be thinking in terms of sorcery being taught to young people?

Besides, I rather liked the Harry Potter books. At least until after Goblet of Fire...

Thank you for grasping the crux of the story!.

 

[MorteSphere]

I lol'd.

Republicans are stupid.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Given that all Rowling did was copy some earlier authors like Sheila Mcullagh or Diana Wynn Jones (Or Shakespear, Aesop if you want to go that far back), I can't see why she should have got it anyway.

But seriously, if you're blocking this, haven't you already admitted that witchcraft actually exists?

Diana Wynne Jones actually did something new and interesting with the whole magic genre. J.K. Rowling just threw together some well know concepts into a cliched good versus evil destiny story.

 

[HT_Black]

I...I...I don't know what to say. I want to say somehting about how the Republicans should quite bitching about Obama after the things Bush did; and something about how the only reason the liberals don't go around raising cain is because they prefer a peaceful solution to things...

However, I can't for the life of me make that fit the current discusiion, so please pretend I just said something much more interesting.

Other than that, I'd like to say a few words about the Bush administration. I would like to, were it not for the fact that such language has been literally BANNED from the public conscious. JK. Rowling got countless numbers of children to pick up a book and do something with their BRAINS, but she's getting blackballed because her main character is a wizard?

Boy, David Eddings is in Deep shit now...(deeper than he already is, mind you. That's saying something-- shit don't get much deeper than being dead)

 

[orangebandguy]

I guess ignorant Christians only read the Bible anyway.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Given that all Rowling did was copy some earlier authors like Sheila Mcullagh or Diana Wynn Jones (Or Shakespear, Aesop if you want to go that far back), I can't see why she should have got it anyway.

But seriously, if you're blocking this, haven't you already admitted that witchcraft actually exists?

Diana Wynne Jones actually did something new and interesting with the whole magic genre. J.K. Rowling just threw together some well know concepts into a cliched good versus evil destiny story.

Very much agree. There are far better "magical school" writers that aren't written by executives taking a year off and trading themselves under "stories that aren't commercialised", while commercialising them as much as possible.

But again, it's the "marketed towards the youth that doesn't usually read" crud we've come to expect. Lucas, Meyer, Activision, Nintendo... if they could only give the push to games that actually work, then we could raise the collective education level of the internet above "LOLWHUT?"

I'm not saying everyone should start with Dostoevsky, but perhaps Dr. Seuss at least.

 

[WhiteTiger225]

[Source: BBC News [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8282356.stm]]

Harry Potter author JK Rowling missed out on a top honour because some US politicians believed she "encouraged witchcraft", it has been claimed.

Matt Latimer, former speech writer for President George W Bush, said that some members of his administration believed her books promoted sorcery.

As a result, she was never presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The claims appear in Latimer's new book called Speechless: Tales of a White House Survivor.

He wrote that "narrow thinking" led White House officials to object to giving Rowling the civilian honour.

The award acknowledges contributions to US national interest, world peace or cultural endeavours.

Past literary recipients of the award include John Steinbeck and Harper Lee.

Others denied the privilege under the Bush administration included Senator Edward Kennedy, who died in August this year.

Latimer claimed, in his book, that the veteran politician and health care activist was excluded because he was deemed to be too liberal.

Looking back at the Bush era, I can't believe that all this happened only a few years ago. To accuse someone of "sorcery/witchcraft" is really keeping with the times, assuming of course we are in the middle ages.

I cannot believe that this was actually a valid concern amongst US politicians. How on earth did they manage to get elected?

*Facepalm* People who believe the earth is only 7000 years old can present honors to fiction writers and deny them for their beliefs? Wow my country is fucked...

 

[hotacidbath]

The issue is not whether or not she deserved it in the first place. The issue is that the reason she was denied it was not because she was "super rich" or that her books "aren't that good" but that they thought it promoted witchcraft. How primitive are the top ranking republicans to be thinking in terms of sorcery being taught to young people?

Besides, I rather liked the Harry Potter books. At least until after Goblet of Fire...

Thank you for saying it much better than I could. I wonder how many people just read the title and rushed to comment about how much they hate J.K. Rowling.

 

[WhiteTiger225]

The issue is not whether or not she deserved it in the first place. The issue is that the reason she was denied it was not because she was "super rich" or that her books "aren't that good" but that they thought it promoted witchcraft. How primitive are the top ranking republicans to be thinking in terms of sorcery being taught to young people?

Besides, I rather liked the Harry Potter books. At least until after Goblet of Fire...

Thank you for saying it much better than I could. I wonder how many people just read the title and rushed to comment about how much they hate J.K. Rowling.

I wasn't one of em. lol

 

[CrazyGirl17]

GRR... I absolutely HATE it when people say the Harry Potter books promoote Witchcraft. IT'S JUST A BOOK FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! Geeze... people never fail to amaze with with how STUPID they are sometimes...