Rushdie's knighthood

Source: NSS Newsline 22nd June 2006

Quotes of the week
"The idea that [Rushdie's knighthood] is some kind of calculated insult is an absurdity. The real insult – to the intelligence and decency of 'the world's 1.5 billion Muslims, for whom people such as Mohammed Ejaz ul-Haq presume to speak – comes from the ignorance and paranoia of leaders who feel so threatened by a novelist that they'll call for him to be killed."
(Hari Kunzru, writer, The Guardian)

"Do the citizens of Lahore or Karachi regularly scan the Queen's birthday honours list for any dubious awards? Do they scour the Danish press for distasteful cartoons? Do they then, on discovering something they can call offensive, prepare placards and posters before going out on to the streets to create mayhem? No, they are surely too busy for that sort of thing. There must instead be a handful of international busybodies who make it their task to publicise perceived insults to the Muslim religion and to whip up previously oblivious mobs in distant lands into a frenzy of indignation."
(Alexander Chancellor, Guardian)

"What religion and the religious fear most of all is ridicule because what they believe is absurd. Deep down they all know that. We give far too much credence to 'the mirthless cretins of jihad'. Much better to point and laugh at all such fundamentalists of whatever creed. They feed and thrive on our pusillanimous silence and respect for their beliefs."
(Paul Owen, The Times)