I'm pissed at the pile-on that's happening over Salman Rushdie's knighthood.
Normally I don't give a toot about a) who the Queen choses to knight and b) what the government of Pakistan and Iran think about, well, virtually anything. But reading how Pakistan feels it's "insensitive" of the British government to knight him makes me want to flip a massive, fleshy bird in their general direction. According to this story from cbc.ca, Pakistan's house of parliament passed a resolution saying: "The 'sir' title from Britain for blasphemer Salman Rushdie has hurt the sentiments of the Muslims across the world. Every religion should be respected.
Well, booty hoo hoo, fuckers. Do you respect my beliefs? I believe in freedom of speech, a vigorous media, equality of the sexes, happy homos and lascivious lesbians, birth control. Oh, and lard.
Actually, I think Salman Rushdie has said this all and better, in his essay October 2001: The Attacks on America.
The fundamentalist believes that we believe in nothing. In his worldview, he has his absolute certainties, while we are sunk in sybaritic indulgences. To prove him wrong, we must first know that he is wrong. We must agree on what matters: kissing in public places, bacon sandwiches, disagreement, cutting-edge fashion, literature, generosity, water, a more equitable distribution of the world's resources, movies, music, freedom of thought, beauty, love. These will be our weapons. Not by making war but by the unafraid way we choose to live shall we defeat them.
How to defeat terrorism? Don't be terrorized. Don't let fear rule your life. Even if you are scared.
Give this man a knighthood.
