Was Salman Rushdie Attacked By an Anglican Vicar? A Salvation Army Band? A Nun?
The ABC, a former news service, wrote up the Salman Rushdie attack this way …
‘Salman Rushdie, a fierce critic of religion with a bounty on his head.’
Going by that headline, one could be forgiven for thinking Mr Rushdie might have upset the Anglicans who sicced their local vicar onto him.
The article goes on to say …
‘A self-described lapsed Muslim and "hardline atheist," he has been a fierce critic of religion across the spectrum …’
I wonder who it could have been that repeatedly stabbed Mr Rushdie as he prepared to speak about freedom of expression at a New York literary event?
I mean, it could have been anyone ‘across the spectrum’.
Was he attacked by an upset Presbyterian?
Was he set upon by the brass section of a Salvation Army band?
Was he assailed by a habit of marauding Catholic nuns?
It’s all of a bit of a mystery, if you believe the ABC. But it’s no mystery why the ABC is so vague.
We now have a de facto blasphemy law operating in the West. It’s not illegal to write The Satanic Verses, as Mr Rushdie did in 1988, but no-one would dare do it today.
And if an author was crazy-brave enough to write what Mr Rushdie wrote about Muhammad and the Koran, there’s not a publisher crazy-brave enough to print it.
The ABC can barely bring themselves to say why Mr Rushdie is now laying in hospital with knife wounds to his neck and torso.
He was a ‘critic of religion across the spectrum’ because the ABC are loath to single out any one religion, at least not until much later in the article. To be fair, the ABC article eventually gets to the furore surrounding The Satanic Verses and the violent Islamic reaction. But you have to wade through all the obfuscation of the lead to get there. There’s such a thing in journalism as “burying the lead” and the ABC certainly to that.
The prefer to lead with all religions are basically the same, existing on a ‘spectrum’, the inference being that he could have been attacked for offending any religion rather than a particular one. It’s the damned spectrum, you see.
The ABC might have said that in 1989 the supreme ruler of the Islamic Republic of Iran issued a ‘fatwa’ calling for Mr Rushdie to be put to death. But that kind of information would narrow the ‘spectrum’ down just a tad.
So they reported instead that there was ‘a bounty on his head’ which could have come from anywhere. Maybe the Baptists took up a collection. Who knows?
And Mr Rushdie wasn’t just ‘a critic’ of nameless religions that exist across such a vast spectrum that we couldn’t possibly begin to speculate as to which one in particular. No, he was ‘a fierce’ critic.
I wonder if that was the reason he got all stabbed. If only he’d been a little more measured, you know, like the ABC.
It does beg the question though, doesn’t it? If the ABC describe the bloodied victim as ‘fierce’ for saying hurty words, how might they describe the ideology that drove the assailant to attack Mr Rushdie?
Put up your hand if you said: “Religion of peace”.
But it’s not just the our obtuse friends at the ABC who suddenly become muddle headed whenever there is a um, incident.
Contributing editor to Novara Media Ash Sarkar wrote:
‘Don't have anything particularly clearheaded to say, but the stabbing of Salman Rushdie (though it has decades-old origins) alongside the campaign of threats and intimidation against drag queens in the US makes it feel like a very grim, dangerous time for artistic expression.’
Well she was certainly right that she had nothing clearheaded to say.
Likening the protests of parents not wanting their children exposed to drag queens to the stabbing of Salman Rushdie for criticising Islam is sheer stupidity.
While we’re on that, it's interesting that drag queens aren't demanding to read stories in Muslim schools isn't it. Are Drag Queens Islamaphobic?
Ash Sarkar’s take was not the worst.
Vaccine scientist Professor Peter Hotez wrote:
‘I’m quite shaken by what happened to Salman Rushdie and view this through a lens of what could happen to US scientists from those who believe what’s on Fox News or in WSJ Op and other Murdoch holdings, or in other conservative press, anti-vax or anti-GMO websites is actually true.’
Someone needs to tell the professor that Mr Rushdie’s attacker was not wearing a red MAGA hat!
If Professor Hotez wants to talk about public officials in danger, he might like to talk about the assassin caught outside the home of pro-life US Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Indian writer Varun Grover wrote of the attempt on Rushdie’s life:
‘Absolutely shameful and sad. Religious intolerance, coupled with the climate crisis, will bring the end of the modern world sooner than we think.’
You think Islamic radicals are bad now? Wait until global temperatures rise by 1.5 degrees.
Honestly, the only thing the climate seems to be affecting are the brains of our cultural elite.
And, then, there was this, from writer Yara Amendiares …
You can't support Salman Rushdie and free speech if you want to ban LGBT books from libraries. I think the attack on Salman Rushdie is similar to what American conservatives want and do by banning books from libraries or threatening to cut off funding if those libraries do not remove some books.
There is literally no difference between mums and dads who don’t want books about sexual orientation and gender fluidity in their children’s school library, and an Islamic jihadist who stabbed Salman Rushdie in the neck. Got that?
None of these, however, were as bad as the tweet from UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Mr Johnson tweeted:
‘Appalled that Sir Salman Rushdie has been stabbed while exercising a right we should never cease to defend. Right now my thoughts are with his loved ones. We are all hoping he is okay.’
A right we should never cease to defend? Are you kidding, Mr Johnson?
Just a couple of weeks ago your police arrested a man, dragging him from his home in cuffs, for tweeting a meme!
Is Mr Johnson also concerned that there is a Batley teacher and his family who have been in hiding for more than a year after being threatened with decapitation for ‘exercising a right we should never cease to defend’?
The British government and opposition seem to have forgotten about them.
Or what about cinemas that cancel movies because angry mobs of Muslim men claim they are blasphemous?
You want to know how ‘appalled’ Mr Johnson is by the attempt on Sir Salman Rushdie’s life?
He is so appalled he is not even game to name the religion that sponsored the attack.
You want to know how committed Mr Johnson is to ‘a right we should never cease to defend’?
Make a movie about Islam and find out. Show a picture of Muhammad and see how close Mr Johnson stands to you.
You’ve got more chance of being defended by a heat-stroke affected, MAGA hat wearing, vaccine creating, drag queen than by your Western government.
And to add insult to blasphemy, you can count on the ABC to report it all wrong.
Brilliant. Honestly, it's like you somehow, with eloquence, humour and clarity, express the words that are floating around in my head bursting to be heard, about every subject, every single day. Thanks for getting them down in writing. I simply don't have the talent nor the time.
‘You’ve got more chance of being defended by a heat-stroke affected, MAGA hat wearing, vaccine creating, drag queen than by your Western government.’ Brilliant! Love your work.