The Fatwa Lives - Rushdie stabbed on stage.
-
Acclaimed novelist Salman Rushdie remains in critical condition but is talking and showing signs of improvement two days after he was stabbed during a lecture in upstate New York, his family said Sunday.
The bestselling author underwent surgery Friday after being seriously injured when a man attacked him onstage at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, N.Y.
Mr. Rushdie was taken off a ventilator over the weekend and is breathing on his own, his son Zafar Rushdie said in a statement.
“We are extremely relieved,” he said, while adding that Mr. Rushdie, 75 years old, still needs extensive medical treatment.
“He was able to say a few words,” said Zafar Rushdie. “Though his life-changing injuries are severe, his usual feisty and defiant sense of humor remains intact.”
-
Sam Harris’ comment:
Like many of you, I'm thinking about Salman Rushdie now.
The threat he has lived under for so long–which was so horrifically realized today–was the product, not merely of the hatred and zeal of religious fanatics but of the cowardice and confusion of secularists. Everyone in arts and letters should have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Salman in 1989, thereby distributing the risk. And the fact that so few did is a moral scandal that still casts its shadow over the present.
-
@jon-nyc said in The Fatwa Lives - Rushdie stabbed on stage.:
Sam Harris’ comment:
Like many of you, I'm thinking about Salman Rushdie now.
The threat he has lived under for so long–which was so horrifically realized today–was the product, not merely of the hatred and zeal of religious fanatics but of the cowardice and confusion of secularists. Everyone in arts and letters should have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Salman in 1989, thereby distributing the risk. And the fact that so few did is a moral scandal that still casts its shadow over the present.
Good point. I wonder what they were more afraid of. The wrath of Islam, or being considered a bigot? The latter carries a more immediate and inevitable punch, for those who need to be accepted by the left.
-
@Horace said in The Fatwa Lives - Rushdie stabbed on stage.:
@jon-nyc said in The Fatwa Lives - Rushdie stabbed on stage.:
Sam Harris’ comment:
Like many of you, I'm thinking about Salman Rushdie now.
The threat he has lived under for so long–which was so horrifically realized today–was the product, not merely of the hatred and zeal of religious fanatics but of the cowardice and confusion of secularists. Everyone in arts and letters should have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Salman in 1989, thereby distributing the risk. And the fact that so few did is a moral scandal that still casts its shadow over the present.
Good point. I wonder what they were more afraid of. The wrath of Islam, or being considered a bigot? The latter carries a more immediate and inevitable punch, for those who need to be accepted by the left.
1989? Cancel Culture wasn’t a thing back then.
-
@LuFins-Dad said in The Fatwa Lives - Rushdie stabbed on stage.:
@Horace said in The Fatwa Lives - Rushdie stabbed on stage.:
@jon-nyc said in The Fatwa Lives - Rushdie stabbed on stage.:
Sam Harris’ comment:
Like many of you, I'm thinking about Salman Rushdie now.
The threat he has lived under for so long–which was so horrifically realized today–was the product, not merely of the hatred and zeal of religious fanatics but of the cowardice and confusion of secularists. Everyone in arts and letters should have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Salman in 1989, thereby distributing the risk. And the fact that so few did is a moral scandal that still casts its shadow over the present.
Good point. I wonder what they were more afraid of. The wrath of Islam, or being considered a bigot? The latter carries a more immediate and inevitable punch, for those who need to be accepted by the left.
1989? Cancel Culture wasn’t a thing back then.
I don't remember people not standing behind Rushdie back when the fatwa originally took place, at least in the UK. I remember there being fairly widespread support and sympathy for him.
-
Iran comments, as only Iran can:
"Regarding the attack on Salman Rushdie, we do not consider anyone other than [Rushdie] and his supporters worth of blame and even condemnation," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said in a televised news conference Monday, marking the country's first public reaction to the incident.
"We have not seen anything else about the individual that carried out this act other than what we've seen from American media. We categorically and seriously deny any connection of the assailant with Iran," Kanaani said, according to Iranian state media.
Sooo...it's Rushdie's fault. Okay, then.
-
@George-K said in The Fatwa Lives - Rushdie stabbed on stage.:
Sooo...it's Rushdie's fault. Okay, then.
Well if he hadn't been there the stabbing wouldn't have happened!
-
@jon-nyc said in The Fatwa Lives - Rushdie stabbed on stage.:
Sam Harris’ comment:
Like many of you, I'm thinking about Salman Rushdie now.
The threat he has lived under for so long–which was so horrifically realized today–was the product, not merely of the hatred and zeal of religious fanatics but of the cowardice and confusion of secularists. Everyone in arts and letters should have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Salman in 1989, thereby distributing the risk. And the fact that so few did is a moral scandal that still casts its shadow over the present.
He was appointed a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France in 1999.
Rushdie was knighted in 2007 for his services to literature.
In 2008, The Times ranked him thirteenth on its list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945.
His works have been shortlisted for the Booker Prize five times, in 1981 for Midnight's Children, 1983 for Shame, 1988 for The Satanic Verses, 1995 for The Moor's Last Sigh, and in 2019 for Quichotte.So, he got a fair amount of support.
-
@LuFins-Dad said in The Fatwa Lives - Rushdie stabbed on stage.:
@Horace said in The Fatwa Lives - Rushdie stabbed on stage.:
@jon-nyc said in The Fatwa Lives - Rushdie stabbed on stage.:
Sam Harris’ comment:
Like many of you, I'm thinking about Salman Rushdie now.
The threat he has lived under for so long–which was so horrifically realized today–was the product, not merely of the hatred and zeal of religious fanatics but of the cowardice and confusion of secularists. Everyone in arts and letters should have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Salman in 1989, thereby distributing the risk. And the fact that so few did is a moral scandal that still casts its shadow over the present.
Good point. I wonder what they were more afraid of. The wrath of Islam, or being considered a bigot? The latter carries a more immediate and inevitable punch, for those who need to be accepted by the left.
1989? Cancel Culture wasn’t a thing back then.
Oh, yeah.
-
@George-K said in The Fatwa Lives - Rushdie stabbed on stage.:
Iran comments, as only Iran can:
"Regarding the attack on Salman Rushdie, we do not consider anyone other than [Rushdie] and his supporters worth of blame and even condemnation," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said in a televised news conference Monday, marking the country's first public reaction to the incident.
"We have not seen anything else about the individual that carried out this act other than what we've seen from American media. We categorically and seriously deny any connection of the assailant with Iran," Kanaani said, according to Iranian state media.
Sooo...it's Rushdie's fault. Okay, then.
Islamic logic.
-
Salman Rushdie lost sight in one eye and the use of one hand after he was repeatedly stabbed during a literary event in upstate New York two months ago, his agent said.
The 75-year-old author, whose 1988 novel “The Satanic Verses” forced him into hiding amid calls for his death, was stabbed in the neck and torso as he walked on stage to deliver a speech at the Chautauqua Institution on Aug. 12.
But the full extent of his injuries wasn’t revealed until Saturday, when his agent Andrew Wylie gave an update on his condition in an interview with the Spanish newspaper, El País.
“[His wounds] were profound, but he’s [also] lost the sight of one eye,” said Wylie. “He had three serious wounds in his neck. One hand is incapacitated because the nerves in his arm were cut. And he has about 15 more wounds in his chest and torso. So, it was a brutal attack.”
The agent declined to say whether Rushdie is still being treated at the hospital, but said the important thing is that the world-famous author will survive.