Outrage
Rushdie is expected to survive, but is currently on a ventilator and likely to lose an eye. The attack also punctured his liver and severed the nerves in one arm.
The attacker, a man named Hadi Matar, is under arrest. There has been no public statement about his motive, but it's not hard to guess. Rushdie's 1988 novel The Satanic Verses, and his long-outspoken criticism of religious and especially Islamist bigotry and intolerance, have kept the militant-Islamist scum in a state of frothing rage for decades. In 1989 Ayatollah Khomeini, the murderous founder of the wretched theocracy which has tyrannized the great and ancient nation of Iran for more than forty years now, issued a "fatwa" calling for the murder of Rushdie -- while his toadies in the regime offered a bounty of $6 million for Rushdie's death, like common mobsters announcing an open contract. As recently as 2017, Ali Khamenei, the brutal thug currently acting as "supreme leader" of the theocracy, affirmed that the fatwa is still valid.
From the Danish cartoonists to Charlie Hebdo to Samuel Paty to the attacks on brave dissenters within the Islamic world itself, militant Islamists' track record of murderous violence against anyone refusing to kowtow to their vicious and ridiculous taboos is well know to the whole world.
Writers around the world have vigorously condemned the attack on Rushdie. They, more than anyone, understand what is at stake.
Update: Rushdie is the embodiment of tolerance for dissenting views, against a religion which is just the opposite:
posted by Infidel753 at 6:13 AM
13 Comments:
One of the original bounties - they come from assorted Iranian QUANGOs - was for USD1m for any Muslim but USD3m if it was an Iranian. Well, we all like it to be the local lad who scores the goal?
Odd though. Khomeini also stated they'd be exalted and go straight to Paradise where I wouldn't have thought cash was really an issue.
Gawd is love is totally bogus.
The attack on Rushdie confirms yet again, for the millionth time, for the billionth time, for the zillionth time... that religion is mental illness.
"No motive or charges have yet been confirmed by police"
I think we all know the motive. I'm surprised Rushdie didn't have more security around him. And the only place I saw anything about this was on a crawl on NEWSY.
Mike,
It was very big here - UK.
Mental illness - I don't like that idea. There is choice involved although in some faiths (Islam being well at the top of the game here) then the "God is Love" thing is true (kinda) as long as you do exactly what you're told. I think a better model might be an abusive relationship.
Thank you so much for passing along this information. I find it very interesting. I’m waiting to hear more about the attacker and how THEY describe his motive.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend, my friend!
NickM, Anon: I guess the cash was for in the meantime? Not that these people are very logical.
Some religionists are mentally ill. Some are deluded. And some are doing the deluding.
Ricko: Yep. Stabbing people is no more loving than burning them at the stake was.
Mike: It hasn't gotten nearly as much attention as it should have. The Trump raid is distracting the media, and they seem to have trouble paying attention to more than one thing at a time.
Dellgirl: I'm sure we'll hear plenty about the scumbag's motive in due course. But really, we already know.
It is a puzzle that he doesn't have much better security, though paying for it wouldn't be easy. I caught myself being surprised by how little coverage this has received in the U.S. until I realized that relatively few Americans have heard of him. Our news is all about ratings, entertainment, and political propaganda. So of course we are going to focus most of our attention on the latest celebrity death.
It is, indeed, a travesty against humankind that is not receiving the coverage it deserves. The lack of security is puzzling because the site, Chautauqua, is well-known as a large open venue. I heard a writer who often speaks there conjecturing why—in view of the past threats against him—Rushdie wasn’t given more security.
Your description of Iran is sadly apt.
What I love is how portrayals of Muhammad which inspire anything BUT reverence (The Satanic Verses has him faltering and briefly giving in to polytheism so that he and his followers can live in Mecca. It also has a brothel mocking his wives.) are just as bad. Oh, but he's also a morally perfect man (if you can stomach Aisha's age when they married), which clearly does not inspire worship at all.
Annie,
I get your point - up to a point. But... a literary festival shouldn't have to be turned into a fortress. That nearly a quarter of a millenium after the First Ammendment that this is maybe the case is an outrage.
Jack, Annie: I think some of the media may be a little wary of expressing sympathy because of Islam's track record of violence. Islam is a stateless global superpower with psychotically-violent potential shock troops in place and ready all over the West and in many non-Islamic countries. The media all remember Charlie Hebdo, and not all are particularly courageous.
It is frustrating that all most Americans know about Iran is its theocratic regime. There's so much more to it than that.
Anon: I haven't read The Satanic Verses, but as Rushdie himself said, nothing should be above mockery or criticism, and the story is based partly on a traditional report, though one not accepted by the orthodox. I can't think of anything more negative that could be said than the generally-accepted story of Aisha. Normal men do not screw nine-year-olds, nor even have any desire to do so.
NickM: It would be burdensome and depressing to require heavy security, but sometimes it's necessary -- as we have seen. I would gladly go through a metal detector for every lecture by an author, if it meant that no author suffered what Rusdhie has.
Like I said, the book itself is pretty irreverent, but the taboo on portrayals Muhammad comes from anxieties that it will lead to worship.
The sad thing is, marrying that young was common, to ensure she was a virgin. A friendly reminder that "tradition" is often just another word for "I refuse to do better."
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