When anyone asks what’s wrong with my generation, gen X, I always tell them that we all read Stephen King when we were too young to read Stephen King…
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So true!
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That's really not an excuse and it's not correct I've had nothing wrong with Stephen King's works and it is not affect me one bit other than open in my eyes to some b*******. The problem with generation x is the boomers kept us down and we patiently waited for our turn to lead which is slipping away
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I am living proof of this fact.
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That's true.....
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Yep! And I snuck in the theater to see Cujo and still regret it to this day.
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Wow, nice 😉
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When I get asked that question as a millenial, I always say it's because a lot of my generation are useless cognitively impaired persons that absolutely misunderstood the film version of "Starship Troopers".
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Gen-X never had a "national hero". Either politically or otherwise.
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the problem with Gen X is that marriages are between a Nirvana fan and a Backstreet Boys fan
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I had to get special permission in 6th grade to read one of his books. lol I knew to ask my dad instead of my mom to sign that permission slip 😆
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I'm still too young to read Stephen King. His stories scare the bejeebers out of me.
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Yeah and there was still lead in the gasoline.
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Can confirm.
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🙌🏻
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And that's why my daughter is afraid of clowns to this day!
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100%. I scammed my mother’s copy of Salem’s Lot when I was around 10. Not the smartest thing in the world, but man, was I hooked!
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You're not wrong. The first book of his I read was Cujo and I really shouldn't have read that. lol
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Lol!! I was reading him from 11-13 almost straight.
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This post was an attempt at humor. 😂 I like Stephen King. I still read him.
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And Dean Koontz, Flowers In The Attic series, Amityville Horror to name just a few others 🤣
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And V.C. Andrews. It’s wild that those novels got placed in our hands.
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Stephen King wasn’t the issue- he was in fact tame compared to the Flowers in the Attic series and Clan of the Cavebear - which I read in 4th/5th grade at the ripe ol age of 9-11. I still read/reread @stephenking.bsky.social - currently listening to “On Writing,” again.
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One of my first movie memories is Old Yeller. What moron decided that was a good kid movie? (Oh yeah. It was Walt Disney). 😡
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Gen Jones, here. I used to work for his publisher. I still got the galleys. I apologize. 😈
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We didn't associate Helter Skelter with the Beatles
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Great answer!
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Me TOO 😱
Only learned recently that I was actually reading this new author back in the 70’s 😳
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Yes. And Anne Rice
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That's the only time to really read King, tho
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Yes! I read The Stand as a 12 year old!
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I blame drinking water out of the hose.
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I read Stephen King and i think i turned out fine.....
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Yes, I don't think my adolescent mind was ready for Skeleton Crew.
I'd also add that we should've insisted on all of our toys be in pairs, one of which unopened and stored in a hermetically sealed vault.
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🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
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My zoomer son learned at a diversity oriented work conference that Gen X, my generation as well, all lost 10-20 IQ points to lead poisoning- and I was skeptical and then my mom sent me a photo of my 3-old self playing next to peeling paint. So. Yeah.
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I think Family Ties was a huge problem. Too many kids in my Gen X group thought Alex P Keaton/Reagan were the best!
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Yes. And Dean Koontz. And watched the original It way too young. Also Killer Klowns from Outer Space. The Thing....
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And Charles L Grant, Koontzie, Thomas Disch, Fangoria…
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The Shining at 12.
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I'm reading Stephen King right now the Duma Key
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First King book was "Pet Semetary." This girl in front of me had it on her desk in typing class. That book scared me (little Gage coming back from the grave) and got me hooked on his books.
But the real horror was having to use the beast known as the Bunn typewriter in typing class!
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Have to follow you ! I am one of the oldest Gen X and how true lol
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Yes! And also V.C Andrews!
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I feel seen. Read 'IT' in 4th grade. But, am glad my reading choices were never censored.
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But mostly it's the fact that we are the first generation of Americans that were not better off than our parents. I can't afford to live in the house my dad built.
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Spot ON! Gen X here, I was reading Stephen King at 9 years old. Also, the original Carrie movie gave me nightmares for years.
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I'm beginning to think this is true
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Yep. I read 'Carrie' when I was 9; 'Salem's Lot' when I was 10. I kept reading everything he wrote after that.
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Would that be the same Stephen King who is saying on Twitter that there is an Epstein list just like there's also a Santa Claus and Easter Bunny?
If so, then yeah: his really bad influence on the nation has come home to roost like so many diseased chickens.
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You can add Judy Blume to that list😬
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Hitting a little too close to home. Thinner at 10, yes please!
Dean Koontz when I was young too. Maybe it’s a miracle I’m as normal as I am!
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Can confirm.
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Love that man!
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We didn't have sanitized Disney "horror" like R.L. Stein. Only the real deal ..
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A Stephen King scenario just might be preferable to current events.
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I read pet semetary at 12 then The stand. I've suffered from insomnia since then 🤣 I still read evey single one of his books
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It wasn't King that ruined them it was Rand. King is a talented, thought-provoking author. Rand was a vapid narcissist who struggled to form a sentence.
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🤣😂🤣
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Literally on the floor of my closet with a flashlight and snax at 10 years old, reading Christine
Nancy Drew Mysteries just wasn't giving the same energy
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I was just telling my kid that the best gift my mom ever gave me was the ability to read whatever I wanted. By 13 I was devouring Stephen King, Anne Rice, Robert McCammon, and probably the cringiest, VC Andrews. I think it totally part of who we are and why we won’t take bullshit.
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The collective lesson that the call is always coming from inside the house.
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True. And we knew politics was garbage.
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That’s a good thing!
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There is nothing more depraved in any King story than there is in the fairy tales every western-raised kid has read since the 1800s.
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yeah, that answers a lot of questions.
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🤣🤣🤣🤣 My grandma LOVED Stephen King and tried so so hard to get me into him, but the only book I’d read was Eyes of the Dragon. She was so annoyed. 😅
I love him now, of course. I’m almost 50 now, and as a human being - what resilience. But also the Shining = life.
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Also caught the tail end of airborne lead exposure
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Downsizing. Seriously culling book collection, but several Stephen King volumes remain, including my 1978 edition of The Stand.
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I read Carrie when I was 10 The shining when I was 12. The Stand when I was 13
I read It when i was 22
If that doesn’t F up a boy’s brain, I don’t know what will
I’m still reading King today
@stehenking
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Definitely tracks-I think I read Amityville Horror & Exorcist in 4th grade!
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The Stand.
Terrified.
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We need to have a Dean Koontz ‘Lightning’ strike.
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I read The Handmaid’s Tale, The Thorn Birds, Clan of the Cave Bear, etc. when I was 14-16 years old. And lots of Danielle Steele.
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Accurate. I read several of his novels, handed to me by my mom, before my voice even dropped.
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I memorized and could sing all the words to Poison "Look what the cat dragged in" in like 5th grade. Probably didn't help.
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I thought it was because Poltergeist was a PG Spielberg movie... and a lot of lead was still in the air and paint.
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I’m not gen x technically. But I was probably 13? Carrie & salem’s lothad just come out.
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I know I did.
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And V.C. Andrews
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I thought, that's the good thing about us.
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Totally
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AS GEN X IS THERE ANYTHING WE HAVEN'T SEEN FROM GRANDPAPS WORLD WAR II SNAPSHOTS TO MY NIECES PRONOUNS...WE UNDERSTAND AND CONSUME IT ALL...AND YES 5TH GRADE CUJO AND LATCHKEY CHEF BOY-AR-DEE IS WAS WHAT DID IT TO ME...
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I did a book report on Cujo in 3rd grade. 😆
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Not King, but me reading my dad’s copy of Helter Skelter in jr. high.
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My first media sex scene was in the Dead Zone barn loft when I was in sixth grade lol
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I mean, it didn't help that most of us were part of Reagan's youth, er. Sorry, I meant the scouts.
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Learned about sex AND murder from the King. Zero regrets.
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🤣🤣🤣 I read Carrie in 6th grade!!
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👍
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I got caught reading the Mist at school when I was in the 5th or 6th grade. My teacher called my mom and asked if she knew I was reading adult books. My mom said, "Who do you think gave it to him?". I miss my mom.
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I was 12 when I read Salem's Lot. I slept with the lights on in my room for 2 months. But then I read Carrie, then Cujo, etc. I am still a MASSIVE fan! It's his CHARACTERS...his writing makes them real for me in a way that other authors' works do not. And, he's #antifa #fucktrump.
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My math teacher would reward my finishing homework in class by letting me read her Stephen King books. In 1 year I read The Stand, Firestarter, and It. Christopher Pike and R.L. Spine came after. Lol
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Honestly, yeah! I started to read Stephen King when I was 9 or 10. He just let me know that there are some really bad people out in the world.
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I blame watching the Warriors and wanting to be in a gang way to young 😂
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It wasn't all bad! "The Reach" prepared me for end of life wirhout a medical safety net. Cap. Tripps prepped me for COVID. "The Mist" made me see the joy in sharing powdered donuts with strangers as a coping mechanism. "Christine" taught me abuse & bullying could always be worse.
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Yep and still at it!
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It's funny because it's true.
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😂🤣
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Word.
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Why did he like the C word so much????
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I saw the movie version of The Stand too young and was bawling my eyes out less than 20 minutes in. I also remember the TV version of IT being waaaay scarier than I found it to be upon rewatch as an adult. So, uh... I'm a Millennial, but definitely got caught in this wave!
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Not to mention VC Andrews.
And my 6th grade teachers were worried about Judy Blume! 🙄
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True of Elder millennials as well…
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Ha, but also true
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True story..that and maybe that the divorce rate went through the roof.
Heeeeere comes Johnny…lol The Shining, when I was 9
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I feel like learning my moral code from John Hughes movies (and other similar artists) also didn't stand me in good stead. I feel like I shouldn't have had to unlearn that stalking is how you get a partner
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I read Stephen King for several years before I tried reading “It” at age 13 and finally realized I had a limit and that I was terrified of clowns. I never finished the book and didn’t watch the movie, and I never will.
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Also, our teachers read Where the Red Fern Grows to us in 4th grade, and we watched The Day After and had nightmares about both for years.
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maybe the differences between GenX and GenY/GenZ/GenAlpha is whether you've read Stephen King (bad) or not (good)
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👍
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Guilty
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Not me. I read Richard Bachman.
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LOL, Flowers in the Attic was extremely popular in my 7th grade homeroom.
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And watched the movies too.
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Truth. I still have nightmares from reading IT.
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And HBO
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Then my kids read them, “passed the torch” lol
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l am on the cusp of Boomer & Gen X, the generational transition, not just within the larger population but in my family. I am the black sheep liberal. And yes, I read Stephen King, Toni Morrison, my Mom’s dirty Danielle Steel - lol! Mix that with Old Yeller and Black Stallion- and voila!
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I saw Blazing Saddles when I was 8. Lawless days, man.
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Can confirm.
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For me it was reading Ray Bradbury at eight years old - who lets their kid do that??????
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That’s real
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My sex education was via horror masters James Herbert and Graham Masterton. 😬
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And VC Andrews. Those Dollanger kids…
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We also survived on hose water and running loose! We are unscarable!
Our parents: “But are you dying?”
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Pet Sematary at 9. Bachman Books (including The Long Walk) at 10, etc., etc.
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My mother never once asked what I was reading.
🤔
Good news - bad news ...
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…And watched way too many of the wrong movies at way too young an age. We were left alone A LOT.
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And V.C. Andrews. 9-year olds had no business reading Flowers in the Attic...
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or read Erica Jong when we were to young to read Erica Jong, ahem
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Sid and Marty Kroft kids programs.
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Can confirm
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Nah. We bought the boomers' message that it were all our fault. And we acted like it was.
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And Flowers in the Attic. Don't forget that.
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10000% I was way too young to read The Tommyknockers and watch Pet Cemetery.
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😊 x
