Melissa Louise Posted August 12, 2022 Share Posted August 12, 2022 Awake with insomnia, have the radio on, just heard. Presenter and Rushdie attacked by a man who stormed the stage, and Rushdie stabbed in the neck, air lifted to hospital. Hope his injury is not severe. It's intolerable that an author is injured for his work (if this is a result of the fatwa). 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa Louise Posted August 12, 2022 Author Share Posted August 12, 2022 https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2022/aug/12/salman-rushdie-attack-stabbed-onstage-new-york-latest-updates Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted August 12, 2022 Share Posted August 12, 2022 I am sorry to hear that. I hope that he comes through surgery ok. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ann.without.an.e Posted August 12, 2022 Share Posted August 12, 2022 He is the most controversial and targeted writer there is so it isn't so surprising, yet very sad. I hope he pulls through. Didn't he have to go into hiding for like 9 years a long time ago? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted August 12, 2022 Share Posted August 12, 2022 Once in the neck, but stabbed up to 15 times. I hope he pulls through. In my opinion it likely was because of the fatwa. The perp is in custody. He was speaking at an event to discuss the US being a place of asylum for writers and artists to have freedom of expression. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth S Posted August 12, 2022 Share Posted August 12, 2022 He wrote his controversial novel in 1988, quite a long time ago! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted August 12, 2022 Share Posted August 12, 2022 8 minutes ago, Beth S said: He wrote his controversial novel in 1988, quite a long time ago! In 2012 - the price on his head was increased from $2.8M - $3.3M. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ann.without.an.e Posted August 12, 2022 Share Posted August 12, 2022 (edited) 22 minutes ago, Beth S said: He wrote his controversial novel in 1988, quite a long time ago! 10 minutes ago, gardenmom5 said: In 2012 - the price on his head was increased from $2.8M - $3.3M. But he’s still very much hated for it. DD listened to him speak at a university a few years ago. A small group of writers were invited. He really had no idea it would be that level of controversial. He is Muslim Indian but raised in Britain. If I understand it (and maybe I don’t) it would be akin to me writing something sort of Satirical and making fun of Christians/Christianity (as a Christian) and having legalistic people mad at me? Maybe it’s more extreme than that but this is what I understood it to be. Someone jump in if I’m wrong. Edited August 12, 2022 by Ann.without.an.e 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edelweiss Posted August 12, 2022 Share Posted August 12, 2022 I heard about this earlier today and was shocked to see that this happened at the Chautauqua Institute. My daughter studied ballet there during the summer a few years ago. For those who aren't familiar with Chautauqua. It's a small, gated community on a lake. It's a very cultured, serene environment. In the summer serious ballet students and music students study there (all students must audition to get a place there). Chautauqua is considered to be a learning community and those who come for a vacation in the summer are mainly there to attend lectures on various topics. The ballet and music students also perform for the visitors (mostly older people, 60+). The lectures and performances take place in the amphitheater, which is where this attack occurred. My daughter performed there several times. It's so hard to imagine violence happening there. It's just goes to show that it can happen anywhere. 5 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terabith Posted August 13, 2022 Share Posted August 13, 2022 He's not doing well. He's on a ventilator; he will likely lose an eye; his liver was stabbed and damaged, and the nerves in his arm were severed. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/author-salman-rushdie-attacked-stage-event-new-york-sky-news-2022-08-12/?fbclid=IwAR0mQdChbq0X1fcwjR_9IgTwTi83lps3Xj6Qy5efWLtM86cs5eE_tfucmCc 24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa Louise Posted August 13, 2022 Author Share Posted August 13, 2022 Oh, man. That's very sad. I don't like Rushdie as a writer or really, in the way he comes across in interviews, but by God, he has walked the talk when it comes to artistic expression and freedom. I remember him fondly for his forthright stand re Hebdo. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted August 13, 2022 Share Posted August 13, 2022 Obviously he's had a price on his head for a long time, but I did still find it shocking. Stabbed at Chautauqua of all things. Egad. I find that a lot of folks don't know his work at all. The Satanic Verses is a bit of a mess as a novel, IMHO. But Midnight's Children is a masterpiece. And I love The Ground Beneath Her Feet. He does that clever Indian writer thing of playing with words really effectively. I admit I don't like much of his more recent work, but he really is a master writer and he really has stood so firm on free expression in ways I can't think of many others doing. 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted August 13, 2022 Share Posted August 13, 2022 Yes, Midnight’s Children is a masterpiece! And we adored Haroun and the Sea of Stories. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted August 13, 2022 Share Posted August 13, 2022 2 hours ago, Roadrunner said: Yes, Midnight’s Children is a masterpiece! And we adored Haroun and the Sea of Stories. I loved Midnight's Children as an unabridged audio. My kids liked Haroun too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathnerd Posted August 13, 2022 Share Posted August 13, 2022 1 hour ago, Melissa Louise said: Oh, man. That's very sad. I don't like Rushdie as a writer or really, in the way he comes across in interviews, but by God, he has walked the talk when it comes to artistic expression and freedom. I remember him fondly for his forthright stand re Hebdo. He was living a normal life after Khomeini died (the original Fatwa declaring elder Khomeini). I was hoping that things were different these days and that there are no more terrorists trying to reach Paradise in the afterlife by assassinating dissenters and unsuspecting people, but this news is very sobering. Many years ago, I made several attempts to read The Satanic Verses, because of the controversy, but I found it too hard to follow along. I did enjoy Haroun and The Sea of Stories. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa Louise Posted August 13, 2022 Author Share Posted August 13, 2022 8 minutes ago, mathnerd said: He was living a normal life after Khomeini died (the original Fatwa declaring elder Khomeini). I was hoping that things were different these days and that there are no more terrorists trying to reach Paradise in the afterlife by assassinating dissenters and unsuspecting people, but this news is very sobering. Many years ago, I made several attempts to read The Satanic Verses, because of the controversy, but I found it too hard to follow along. I did enjoy Haroun and The Sea of Stories. I think the fatwa was - renewed? - in 2019. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathnerd Posted August 13, 2022 Share Posted August 13, 2022 40 minutes ago, Melissa Louise said: I think the fatwa was - renewed? - in 2019. You are right! Yes it was! I only kept up with the news until it got canceled and I am only now catching up on this bit of news! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausmumof3 Posted August 13, 2022 Share Posted August 13, 2022 This is probably slightly morbid but who offered to pay that price? Presumably that won’t happen because his attacker is going to be jailed and it’s proceeds of crime? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted August 13, 2022 Share Posted August 13, 2022 I wondered if it was the sort of thing that goes to the attacker's family if Rushdie dies. I assume that while it might be real money that somehow changes hands and goes somewhere, that it was also largely symbolic to attract attention and make clear the threat. I haven't seen much about the attacker but if he's in custody forever and his family is American, I don't know how anyone gets the money. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junie Posted August 13, 2022 Share Posted August 13, 2022 Honestly, I know nothing about the man, except I had heard his name. (I'm going to be reading up on him later today.) However, even knowing nothing about him, no one should be attacked in this way. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted August 13, 2022 Share Posted August 13, 2022 6 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said: This is probably slightly morbid but who offered to pay that price? Presumably that won’t happen because his attacker is going to be jailed and it’s proceeds of crime? Money would change hands somehow. Most likely in the form of providing for the attacker’s family. The “price” is like a ranking indicator, the higher it is the more “wanted” the person is. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathnerd Posted August 13, 2022 Share Posted August 13, 2022 2 hours ago, Farrar said: I wondered if it was the sort of thing that goes to the attacker's family if Rushdie dies. I assume that while it might be real money that somehow changes hands and goes somewhere, that it was also largely symbolic to attract attention and make clear the threat. I haven't seen much about the attacker but if he's in custody forever and his family is American, I don't know how anyone gets the money. It is exactly like a pirate’s bounty from long ago. The family of a “martyr” who executed the fatwa will get the payout. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lecka Posted August 13, 2022 Share Posted August 13, 2022 There could be distant family members in Iran. I think when things look like a pension for an old widow it looks nicer, and I think that is how it comes across when suicide bombers have their widowed mom or grandma get “taken care of.” This is my impression at least. It’s so sad. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathnerd Posted August 14, 2022 Share Posted August 14, 2022 (edited) 4 hours ago, Lecka said: There could be distant family members in Iran. I think when things look like a pension for an old widow it looks nicer, and I think that is how it comes across when suicide bombers have their widowed mom or grandma get “taken care of.” This is my impression at least. It’s so sad. There is a 3+ million dollar bounty on Rushdie, which the Mullahs have promised to pay to the martyr or his family. It is out in the open, no hush hush pension money: https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2022/08/13/praise-worry-in-iran-after-rushdie-attack-government-quiet.html Edited August 14, 2022 by mathnerd 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted August 14, 2022 Share Posted August 14, 2022 reports are he's been extubated, and is cracking jokes. The radical's family lives in New Jersey - supposedly they didn't know he had been radicalized. I hope he doesn't get a payout since he didn't kill him, and it sounds like Rushdie may well survive. Oh - and now the mad mullahs are threatening JK Rowling for having expressed support for Rushdie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa Louise Posted August 14, 2022 Author Share Posted August 14, 2022 https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/aug/14/salman-rushdie-attack-moderator-describes-horror 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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