On 21-Feb-2009, at 11:26, Jeffrey Hergan wrote:
> My daughter's point is fairly straightforward: Jesus influenced
> people through his ideas. So did Shakespeare. And Freud. And
> Darwin. And Martin Luther Ling, Jr.
> Clearly an author who sells hundreds of millions of books is having
> some influence on people, and on society in general. But I'm curious
> to hear your thoughts on how one might go about proving that a
> person's ideas influence history.
Well, on the one hand I would say that the implication in the
assignment is "to pick an event or person that you think
[SIGNIFICANTLY] influenced history" and on that score I'm not sure Mr.
King qualifies. Sue, he's read by many people, and is probably the
most famous living author, but is he just a celebrity with some
popularity, or is he really having an influence on society, much less
history?
On the other hand, you could certainly go with an argument that the
increased popularity of horror movies and books, the resurgence of
Vampire fiction, and even the far more graphic aspects of TV and
movies are due to Mr King's influence. I'm not sure it's a valid
argument, but it's certainly one that could be made.
--
"If this was a dictatorship it would be a lot easier; as long
as I was the dictator." -- George W Bush
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