Natalie Maines and Stephen King have something in common

I am sitting here with my fiancee watching the documentary about the singing group The Dixie Chicks called "Shut Up and Sing." For those of you who do not know, in 2003, Natalie Maines of The Dixie Chicks made a side comment about the then president of the United States, George W. Bush. What she said got blown out of proportion. Soon after, a lot of Bush supporters suddenly boycotted the all-girl band. This included their sponsors for that tour, Lipton, backing out of the sponsorship. A lot of Americans started calling them names, treating them like dirt because Natalie said something slightly negative about their dear president. The worse part was that the comments the Bush fans made portrayed them as being slightly stupid and not at all informed about The Dixie Chicks, their music, or what was said.



Fast forward to the year 2010. Bestselling author Stephen King, in comparing her to J.K. Rowling, said, "The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can’t write worth a darn. She’s not very good." I am sure you all could imagine how intelligently the fans of Meyer responded. They wanted to know just who hell does Stehpen King think he is. They wanted to point out that Stephenie Meyer is more popular now than he is or ever was. I even stumbled across this gem: "i mean, how many hits on one of stephen kings books? how many on, well whatever random book by [Stephenie Meyer]? who's got most succes? who's best? well, probably the one with most succes. and who is he to decide anyway?"

I am not a fan of the Twilight books. I gave the first one a shot, did not like what I read, and put it down. This is after reading in the USA Today's bestseller list that Meyer wrote books like The Host, a story about a woman caught in a love triangle with a man and, I am not making this up, the alien possessing her. I closed the paper, flopped it on the table, and vowed never to read anything she wrote. Still, I was curious what all the rave was about. After all, that was how I started reading Harry Potter and became an addict of that great piece of literature. I respect Stephenie Meyer for being able to enter a market as uncertain as fiction writing and making a name for herself. I also respect that, so far as I can tell, she has not "retaliated" against Stephen King the way her fans, who really need to be put on a leash, have. It is unfortunate for her that now, because of this uproar due to the comment made by Stephen King (who is no stranger to controversy, so this does not really affect him), people are seeing her fans for what they are: ignorant, uninformed, closed-minded people whose reading histories probably do not stray very far from what can be found in Cosmo or Seventeen. I plan to be a published author one day. I hope to be able to take criticism from whomever and say, "well, that is okay because I am still a writer." I hope to be able to handle whatever anyone says to me or about me, positive or negative, with the same lack of emotional backlash that Meyer has displayed. Most importanly, though, is that I hope my fans are not as, pardon me but, utterly dumb as her fans.

Just saying, is all.