Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

Salman Rushdie’s Stabbing Shows the Danger of Conflating Words With ‘Violence’<!-- wp:html --><p>Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty</p> <p>Author Salman Rushdie was <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/salman-rushdie-stabbed-on-stage-during-event-at-chautauqua-institution-in-new-york">brutally stabbed</a> on Friday prior to a lecture in New York state in front of a crowd of horrified onlookers.</p> <p>The motive for the attack is, thus far, unclear, but given that Rushdie spent nine years in hiding after <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/salman-rushdies-the-satanic-verses-sparked-an-iranian-fatwa-before-he-was-stabbed">Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini issued a 1989 fatwa authorizing his murder</a> over his authorship of the novel, <em>The Satanic Verses</em>—which the <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-eerie-echoes-of-the-ayatollah-khomeini">Ayatollah</a> considered blasphemous—and that Rushdie was attacked just as he was about to give a speech, an effort to silence Rushdie permanently through violence seems likely.</p> <p>The message sent by a successful attack on Rushdie is loud and unmistakable: <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-broader-question-speech-and-sensitivity">your hurtful speech is the equivalent of violence</a> against me and my values, and you deserve violence in return. It’s a message intended not just for Rushdie, but for anyone who might be tempted to follow in his footsteps.</p> <p><a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/salman-rushdies-stabbing-shows-the-danger-of-conflating-words-with-violence?source=articles&via=rss">Read more at The Daily Beast.</a></p><!-- /wp:html -->

Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty

Author Salman Rushdie was brutally stabbed on Friday prior to a lecture in New York state in front of a crowd of horrified onlookers.

The motive for the attack is, thus far, unclear, but given that Rushdie spent nine years in hiding after Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini issued a 1989 fatwa authorizing his murder over his authorship of the novel, The Satanic Verses—which the Ayatollah considered blasphemous—and that Rushdie was attacked just as he was about to give a speech, an effort to silence Rushdie permanently through violence seems likely.

The message sent by a successful attack on Rushdie is loud and unmistakable: your hurtful speech is the equivalent of violence against me and my values, and you deserve violence in return. It’s a message intended not just for Rushdie, but for anyone who might be tempted to follow in his footsteps.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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