Was the Queen Right to Knight Salman Rushdie?
 

I don't believe in such honours but, seeing as they exist, was the Queen (or the board responsible for making such decisions in her name) right to Knight Salman Rushdie, given the 'sensitive' times we currently live in?

interesting question.

I do not think he deserved a knighthood. I mean, he is a second tier author. then again, they knighted elton john.
I think anything that we can do to shove our severe distatste of the totalitarian and religious extremism that pervades so much of the Muslim world is a GOOD thing. Those fuckers don't give a flying fuck about civility or co-0existance. the core of Islam is to convert everyone to Islam or to kill (according to SO MANY of their followersd) everyone that refuses to see the truth of Islam.

fuck this shit. it gets me so pissed off.

I am gonna go fatwa on them jihadi fucks.

Wow, I think I agree with just about everything you said there. I've never read a Salman Rushdie book all the way through but, as a gesture in support of free spech I absolutely support the decision to knight him, and the more people it offends who try to limit that freedom, the better.

The question whether the Queen was right to knight Salman Rushdie or not has to be answered without taking into account our 'sensitive' times. It cannot be that easily offended religious muslim fanatics have an influence on that decision. One must never give in to these radicals who threaten to kill if freedom of speech is practized.. not one inch! It will only make them stronger.
Never give in, never apology. Not for freedom of speech. If they feel insulted by a book they have not even read, it's their problem.

If I was suicidal I would embark on a massive public art porject depicting imegs of Mohammed doing all the sick shit that bastard did which never gets talked about, beheading people, fucking 12 year olds, etc. I would LOVE to see the uproar over all this in the dipshit jihadi world an I would laugh and laugh waiting for some brainwashed fucko to take me out for offending his stupid fucking "prophet"

I think that wold be FUN! If I ever lose all hope guys, keep an eye out for my blasphemy!

blimey, and I thought my idea of wearing an 'I Support Salman' t shirt around east london was radical!

Rushdie was knighted for his contribution to literature. For years, way before the hysteria over the Satanic Verses, his books were in common use in schools. For the Pakistan government to kick up such a storm is ridiculous. Maybe its time the Pakistan government addressed more pressing issues such as the forced marriage of 12 year old girls in their own country

A quote from the Times newspaper a few days ago:

"The right to freedom of expression is as simple and absolute as any in a pluralist society. Some of the obligations it confers on Government are straightforward, such as its duty to protect Sir Salman, to defend his knighthood and to allow the release of Monty Python’s Life of Brian in 1979 despite the offence it caused many Christians. Sometimes these obligations are complex, as when officials must judge when proselytising becomes incitement to violence. And sometimes they are as odious as their beneficiaries, the “historian” (and Holocaust denier) David Irving among them. He, too, has the right to publish."

website with Arab political cartoons, all sorts of offensive
http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/ArabCartoons.htm

archive of mohammed images
http://www.zombietime.com/mohammed_image_archive/

we have ridden the length and breadth of the land in search of knights who will join me in my court at Camelot. I must speak with your lord and master!!!!

Sir Salman Rushdie should have the freedom to write whatever he pleases, but knighted?...
A little over the top if you ask me.
Seems like they knight every Tom, Dick and Harry nowadays.

Thank fek beckham hasnt got one, that would really be the final nail in the coffin of the honours system

sure they are giving them to anyone these days. fuck it.

i think i have one meself here somewhere, let me see....

I think the timing of it is quite irresponsible, seeing as how the Middle East is really only waiting for the West to do something that makes them say, "see we told you!". Whether their rage is legitimate or not...

Stuff the middle east.

Last time I heard this was England and we are still a sovereign nation

Let them put their own houses in order first and then bitch about a meaningless tap on the shoulder with a sword for a bloke who is guilty of nothing more than writing books

I agree, Rushdie is guilty of nothing.

England should knight who they want, when they want. However, this doesn't mean its always right.

Besides that, we're talking about a book written twenty years ago? Now suddenly it has people talking again. It's actually already blown over, surprisingly in the Middle East. No one cares.







It's still terrible timing.

fuck that!

the guy has been living under death threats for almost 20 years.

knighthood for having BALLS.

now the whole idea of knighthood is a bit stupid-- i do believe in the inherent dignity of "tom dick & harry". the aristocracy can chew may shitty shorts.

but give rushdie some props.

now about the timing-- good! i hope it burns those fucking totalitarian motherfucking shitheads.

Well, something is probably burning.

I would go with a no. He may well be a good writer, better than many in fact, but you wouldn't see someone who wrote a book that was considered heretical by Christians getting knighted, would you?

you may all call me sir jon boy from now on lest my army of darkness sweep into town.

I daresay there are people who have been much more critical of Christianity who sit in the House of Lords, some of whom have said religion has no place in a modern society

The debate over whether the Lords Spiritual should have an automatic right to sit with the Lords Temporal being one instance

It certainly seems more acceptable for people within the British establishment to criticise christianity, than it does to criticise Islam.

The timing is undoubtedly calculated, but I'm in favour of that. It sends a message that Britain supports freedom of expression at a time when its principles seem most under attack. However if this really is a message in support of Rushdie's right to express himself rather than a celebration of his work itself, then it'll be interesting to see whether such an endorsement will extend to those areas of culture currently under attack from INSIDE Britain. Does a commitment to freedom of expression extend to a lifting of the current ban on the Manhunt 2 computer game, for example?

I think the timing is more to do with the fact that any rational person would get over something after 20 years

According to many muslims there should be no critical examination of Islam

Heres a perfect example, according to certain Hadith (Hadith are oral traditions written down approximately 100 years after the death of Mohammed, and now used as an explanation of part of the Qu'ran or complementary to it) Mohammed arranged his marriage to his last wife, or in fact married his last wife A'isha when she was 6 years old

The marriage was consumated when she was 9 years old

This is the basis for Iran changing the law in 2002 to make it permissible to marry 9 year old girls in that country

The Hadith were committed to writing not by Christian Scholars, but by Islamic scholars nearer to the lifetime of Mohammed than the bible was committed to writing about the life of Jesus

Any wonder that certain muslims will not allow any critical examination of their religion?

he shouldn't have been knighted, the only book of his i read was crap, he looks so smug and his wife is too fit.

He is divorcing his wife and any bloke who gets a woman that good looking whilst being so facially challenged deserves a bloody knighthood

Arise, Sir Lemmy

well, maybe if he didn't have a huge wallet to lure them in with i'd be more inclined to agree with you.

at least lemmy is charismatically ugly, rushdie just looks like a smug prick

Someday I wish effigies of myself could be burnt from Baghdad do Delhi.

Keep refering to yourself as Cardinal and it may happen sooner than you think.

Do I detect a note of wallet envy there?

He must have something about him. I remember seeing a thre-way discussion once on television. It was Rushdie, Carrie Fisher and another woman. I can't remember the subject of the debate, but I remember very clearly that the other two guests seemed to be falling under a trance. Eventually they gave up talking much and just gazed upon him instead, as though struck by real love for the first time.

I think he's a very decent writer, but not brilliant. I think knighthoods and other honours are handed out in too great a quantitude, and subsequently go to a lot of people who shouldn't really be entitled to them. A knighthood should be a real rarity, kept for the absolute cream.

Sir Ian Hislop. That sounds far better than Sir Salman Rushdie.

yes

Damn, me too

I wouldnt mind being a mill behond him

the power of a fat wallet in action

If you wish you could just become admin and change my name. The whole fancy titles phase of mine was so last year.

Hey hey hey now guys. . . there are lots of good muslims. Turkey is a secular republic. Pakistan isn't bad either. I've met some nice people from Dubai and other parts of the UAE. Jihadists are in the minority.

Noone said there were no good muslims
The point being made was that in the main muslims will not stand for any critical examination of their religion or criticism thus abrogating the inalienable right to free speech
The question that should be asked maybe is, is Islam compatible with an open and democratic society
Name one Islamic democracy........

Turkey?