[Dean's World] Ali Eteraz: AE @ Huff Po: Sigh, Defending Salman Rushdie...Again

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Posted by Ali Eteraz:
AE @ Huff Po: Sigh, Defending Salman Rushdie...Again
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1182457176.shtml


   [1]My latest is up at Huffington Post.

     Man, this has been going on since I was a kid in Pakistan. Salman
     Rushdie does something; fundamentalist Muslims start burning stuff;
     start agitating for strikes; collecting money for the big pot that
     will go to the guy who cuts off his head.


     When I was but a wee boy, seeing grown men hop around big bonfires,
     their eyelashes and beards singed from the flying embers, all
     agitated over a book that they hadn't even seen, much less read,
     was embarrassing. Now, 20 years later (the first Salman Rushdie
     riots were in 1987), it's just downright pathetic. This time
     Rushdie didn't even do anything; he just got knighted by the Queen
     (who herself doesn't choose the people who get knighted). As a
     result, [2]Iranians and Pakistanis are getting worked up, this time
     demanding apologies from the British, reconfirming their desire to
     kill Rushdie, and organizing strikes.

     So, once again, the response has to be direct and straight forward:
     no compromise on freedom of conscience; no compromise on freedom of
     expression; no compromise on freedom of speech. Forget if people's
     religious sensibilities are hurt. They will have to get over it and
     live with it like all the rest of us whose sensibilities are
     assailed by burning tires, burning cars, strikes, and demagoguery.

   [3]Continue Reading.

References

   1. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ali-eteraz/sigh-defending-salman-ru_b_53218.html
   2. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/18/AR2007061800243.html
   3. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ali-eteraz/sigh-defending-salman-ru_b_53218.html