Harper Lee being given the Presidential Medal of Freedom

at least numbnuts has done ONE thing right.

On C-SPAN now.

she's a civilized, Southern Lady and not a lout.

Not everything is political. She's received a great honor, and I'm happy for her.

this is another honor. I'm glad she's getting it.

And that is simply false. This is a political event. The war criminal leader of a nation engaged in the illegal occupation of a foreign country, a nation that has openly asserted its authority to violate the geneva conventions and engage in the routine torture of persons held by the state, has decided to award 'freedom medals' to some individuals. By accepting this medal at this time from this person, Ms Lee is unfortunately supporting this regime. She should not do this. Nobody should.

act of acceptance of Bush's agenda

:eyes:

To claim that you can is a dishonest argument. The simple example of Hitler disproves it. The point is not to equate Bush to Hitler. Pretending that receiving a "freedom medal" from the head of this regime is not problematic is pathetic.

symbolic of the Nation's appeciation. I think he's given it to many people who clearly did not deserve it but I find you're argument silly at best.

it must be exhausting to be perpetually outraged.

I'm just happy for Ms. Lee.

Look, you asserted that this was not a political event and that consequently it was just fine for Lee to accept a 'freedom medal' from the war criminal Bush. That assertion is false. If you now want to descend into insults to mask a weak argument, fine. Too bad Lee did not have the courage she wrote about to do the right thing.

Atticus Finch, would not have acted like a brat as you suggest she should do. He would've respectfully accepted the honor.

This isn't a political event. It's a well-deserved honor for a lady who did something great.

who she is in the first place.

It was cool to get to see her, though.

it and $5 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

But, yeah, Harper Lee did write a good book. I don't know whether that should or shouldn't get you the presidential medal of freedom. But given who's already won it, I'd say just about any of us should qualify.

underestimates its importance.

It's a book that will be studied and loved for at least another century.

Hell, just recently Atticus Finch landed at the top of a best fictional characters list (I think that was for the movie, but obviously, that wouldn't have happened without the book).

And, yeah, it's an excellent work. The only problem I have with Harper Lee is that To Kill a Mocking Bird is also, in fact, her only work. It's as if she painted the Mona Lisa and then never touched a paintbrush again.

I'm not alone in wishing she'd written more.

But that's because the one book she did write is so nearly perfect.

there might be more-deserving writers, as far as output. I can think of one example right off the top of my head -- Norman Mailer's practically on his deathbed, so if you wanted to give him the medal and not do it posthumously, it should've been done soon.

Of course, unlike Lee, Mailer probably would have told Bush to shove it.

yes, I doubt this administration would give the award to Mailer, nor would he accept it.

But I also think Mailer is less-deserving. Yes, he's written some great stuff. He's also written some crap. But he's a helluva guy.

parts of it are a little clumsy (many of the scenes with Dil), or seem too emotionally convenient (the failed lynching--wisdom from the mouth of babes is pretty tired as a literary convention), or attack the suspension of disbelief (everything to do with Boo Radley), others seem parachuted into the plot (eg the morphine-addicted old lady)... there are many books that are at least equal to it, and many that surpass it. Cormac McCarthy, for example, is twenty times the writer that Lee is and is much more deserving of the award. Hell, give it to the poet Philip Levine. He deserves it more than any living poet in the US. He's also the same age as Lee so it would be a nice alternative.

I don't believe there's only one slot for a writer, and that somebody else was overlooked in favor of Lee.

Personally, I'd say Joyce Carol Oates is probably "more" deserving. But it's not a competition. Lee is getting a nice honor, and I'm happy for her.

that is a master of understatement!


She deserves the honor, to bad it has to come from such a clueless person.

Tarnished by others that have been distributed by this regime

she's basically written less than JD Salinger. That's an accomplishment. Sure her book was pretty good, but even Ralph Ellison managed a larger output that her. Why not give the distinction to a more deserving writer?

Do you think they had one "writer" slot, and somebody more deserving lost out?

It comes down, eventually, to a matter of opinion. And my opinion is that Lee's one book is more important than the lifetime output of most other writers.

so you're telling me that Harper Lee's single book is more important than any number of other writers' collected works? In what way? Other than on gut reaction, on what do you base that view?

To me, she's really not a particularly good role model for anyone. One book--no public appearances--a handful of "modest" essays. This is not a great literary career. Not to detract from the book, but you get these sorts of awards as a writer, not for a single book.

No. She is the Peter Schilling of the literary world, the Buggles of prose, the Knack of belles lettres. A good, one-hit wonder who managed to capture a specific time and place. If the book hadn't been made into the film, it would be relatively obscure. As far as impact goes, Ellison's unpublished "Party Down at the Square" is infinitely better and only 5 pages long.

She wrote one of my favorite books. She's being honored for it. That makes me happy.

"the Peter Schilling of the literary world, the Buggles of prose, the Knack of belles lettres"

:applause:

But, at least the medal is going to someone who deserves recognition.

Did you read the book?

and five days later, while reading the newspaper in his easy chair, say:

Scout, sometimes you have to do things that you'd rather not do, things that you're supposed to do, not out of respect to individual people, but out of respect to an elected office, and to the minds that wrote the outlines for that office.

Don't forget that Atticus was a state representative.

Finch was respectful even to the racist dolts he had to fight.

I'd think he'd just sit on his front porch with his shotgun in his hand.

would have thought for a second that if Atticus Finch were real he'd have accept the "Medal of Freedom" from Bush.

do you actually understand his character? did you understand his reaction to the loss in the trial? he was an incrementalist. He was not above being polite to the people he disagreed with in order to move an issue forward. He was not above common politeness all around, even to those who he clearly disliked. He was also an accomplished politician, serving in the state legislature. He also didn't really believe in direct action, and always tried to talk his way out of trouble or avoid trouble all together.

Same level of intelligence, same level of compassion.

"Hey, cap'n, somebody told me just now that they thought that you believed Tom Robinson's story again' ours."

or at the least gave her much of the material. He did it before - wrote stories and gave them to other people. I've read practically everything on and by Capote. I would love to do a writing analysis and comparison of the writing styles in "To Kill a Mockingbird" and his work.

Considering Lee never wrote a single story after that is beyond comprehension. Flame away, but I'll go to my grave believing this now after all I've read about Capote.

and yes, there are many similarities.

But I just can't believe Capote could have written such a work and never taken credit for it. He really wanted a Pulitzer, and the esteem that went along with it. His ego wouldn't let somebody else take credit for such a work.

He was such a prolific writer - since his childhood.

I believe he saw the story as just one of many stories he had written about the disenfranchised and gave it to his best friend who was a struggling writer herself.

I don't think anyone knew that this story would be read by every American school child. In fact, I remember when it first came out - it was not popular with the public. Capote's connections in the publishing world of NY pushed it with the critics and helped get the film made which, then, changed the book's course of success.

This new book he was writing, "In Cold Blood", was the one he KNEW would change his life and get him that Pulitzer. It was unlike anything he had written before, which was mainly stories about his growing up or life experiences. But, it is quite amazing that Capote was never given the professional recognition he justly deserved.

and he wrote little of substance after "In Cold Blood".

Given his 20 year drought, his drunkenness, and his ego, he would've blabbed that he'd written TKAM. He never did.

He went into a deep depression and started drinking heavily.

Capote has been much maligned, but he was extremeley loyal to his friends, especially his women friends. Even during the spat with Lee Radziwell, he never said anything about her until she spoke ill of him in public.

When he wrote about the murder in Holcomb, Kansas on that night in November 1959, I don't think he ever imagined the horrific journey it would take him on. In fact, he once said that if he had known what would have happened as a result of writing that book, he would have never done it. It became his greatest accomplishment, but destroyed him in the process.

his last book, "Answered Prayers" was seen by many of his friends, especially the "ladies who lunch", as a huge betrayal.

he disguised his characters pretty well and was pretty fair, IMHO. I'm sure there was much, much more he could have said and didn't.

and I believe he helped her write TKAMB about as much as she helped him write In Cold Blood.

They were good friends and a good team and each knew how to bring out the best in the other.

That said, I love every single word Capote has written. He was genius.

Capote even wrote about how Lee was at one point angry with him over it. It would be interesting to do an analysis, though.

Lots of people have one book in them. :)

is a white man's book where the stars are white people. It shouldn't be the only book about race kids read. Kid's should read novels by african american authors.

to teach children about race. But it's necessary.

It's sad that one can't express such a simple, honest sentiment without having to defend it politically.

when he finds out she wasn't the one who wrote the Hungry Caterpillar book?

for a book written over 40 years ago. Harper Lee hasn't written a thing since she wrote that anti-southern diatribe. Why not give one to some one who has written something more relevant, like Lynne Cheney?




Okay, I was just trying out some wingnut talking points.

The truth is Harper Lee wrote one of the greatest books in American Literature and deserves any accolades she gets.