Honestly: We Ignored Salman Rushdie’s Warning
Salman Rushdie,1980 (Micheline PELLETIER/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
We live in a culture in which many people believe that words are violence. In this, they have much in common with Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who issued the first fatwa against Salman Rushdie in 1989, and with Hadi Matar, the 24-year-old who stabbed the novelist in the neck on a stage in Western New York.
Today, as Rushdie recovers from his injuries, reflections from Bari on the profound impact that the words are violence crowd has had on our culture.
I remember hearing Elie Wiesel say, "Honor the person who seeks the truth; beware the person who has found it."
The chilling effect violence has on free speech cannot be exaggerated. In fact, the so-called Fatwa, which should carry no more credibility than a curse, is taken deathly serious by the fanatic Theologians in control over Iran. In my view, a leader of a country, and the nation itself, must be cajoled, convinced, and compelled to end this crime against Humanity by reversing , rescinding, or removing the Iranian Regime’s death sentence against Salman Rushdie.