KRAMER: You know who I saw at the health club? Salman
Rushdie.ELAINE (laughing): Yeah right, Salman Rushdie. Yeah well, I can
see that – you got five million Moslems after you, you wanna stay in pretty good shape.
So, the day after Salman Rushdie was knighted, the Taiwan News reported Iran’s response:
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said the decision to grant Britain’s highest honor to Rushdie, who wrote the controversial novel "The Satanic Verses," was an insult to the Muslim world.
"Awarding a person who is among the most detested characters in the Islamic society is obvious proof of anti-Islamism by ranking British officials," said Hosseini during his weekly press conference.
I’d say it’s obvious proof that British officials still think free speech is worth a damn. But the most intriguing part of the story came two paragraphs later:
Rushdie says he receives a "sort of Valentine’s card" from Iran each year on February 14 letting him know the country has not forgotten the vow to end his life.
Gee, isn’t that the sort of thing one expects from a psychopath in a bad slasher flick? Certainly not from a certified member of the Axis of Kindness:
(Image from the Apr 7/07 edition of the Taiwan News)
UPDATE (Jun 22/07): When I said the knighthood proves British officials still think free speech is worth the damnation of tyrannical people, I may have been mistaken. It may simply be proof that they’re WOEFULLY out of touch with the real world:
The committee that recommended Salman Rushdie for a knighthood did not discuss any possible political ramifications and never imagined that the award would provoke the furious response that it has done in parts of the Muslim world, the Guardian has learnt.
It also emerged yesterday that the writers’ organisation that led the lobbying for the author…to be knighted had originally hoped that the honour would lead to better relations between Britain and Asia. [emphasis added]
The truth, or an after-the-fact attempt to evade blame? Would they really admit that they knew this would rile Islamofascists up?
UPDATE #2: A Pakistani member of parliament announces his belief that Osama bin Laden deserves to be knighted, too. Meanwhile, one Brit suggests that if Pakistani deadbeats object to Sir Salman’s knighthood so much, then perhaps they should demonstrate their displeasure by returning the £480 million in aid they receive yearly from Britain.
UPDATE #3: bin Laden receives his "knighthood":
The Pakistani Ulema Council, a private body that claims to be the biggest of its kind in the country with 2000 scholars, said it had given Bin Laden the title “Saifullah”, or Sword of Allah.
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