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  • Sir Salman Rushdie

    Im sure this is a topic that everyone has some form of opinion on,I myself have formed an opinion and here it is.Firstly,Does this man deserve a knighthood based on his lifes literery work?I have been informed that there are many more deserving authors than mr Rushdie out there,So why him?I think many people would agree with me when i say that the honours system is somewhat inconsistent and baffling.Now to muslims,How would you say that muslims behave whenever they are criticised or questioned in any way?And is this mirrored by any other faith on the planet?Finally,Of course its okay for muslims to get angry about this (in a civilised way),but if they think that they are going to dictate to Great Britain who we can and cant knight,Well,Dream on,It aint happening.Freedom of speech is a wonderful thing to have,Therefore is it okay that certain high ranking muslims have practicly said it would be okay to blow up Mr Rushdie with a suicide bomb,For what,He wrote a book that wasnt liked,Big deal,Get over it.Muslim people need to learn how to hear things they dont like and stop trying to bully the world with there oppresiveness.

  • #2
    many more deserving authors? Why doesnt Rushdie deserve it?
    A grain of wheat eclipsed the sun of Adam !!

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    • #3
      I have never read the man's work and would not be able to say if he deserves it or not for the quality of his writing. If not I wonder if this award was given as a sort of in your face reaction to the attitudes and actions of some in Iran.
      Many men are honored for doing little more then being in the right place at the right time. Mr. Rushdie's tendency to keep his name and face above ground in spite of the death order against him is worthy of honor in my opinion and he is a Icon for free speech. So may be it is that this award is not so much for what he has written as it is for that he has simply written.
      Last edited by Grim; 22 Jun 07,, 04:21. Reason: spelling/ edit

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      • #4
        I don't know if Rushdie deserves a knighthood or not. I just know some people get it for no good reason other than they make lots of money and lots of noise. Bono, for example. What the hell does he know about helping the 3rd world via economic policies in the 1st world?

        To the 2nd part of your post, yes, you make some great sense.

        Muslims have been appeased too many times and now they think they can get whatever they want just by throwing a temper tantrum.

        Naming babies after Osama is insulting to Americans, yet they keep doing it. You don't see us march on the streets threatening to bomb every single family with a kid named Osama in it.
        Last edited by gunnut; 22 Jun 07,, 04:35.
        "Only Nixon can go to China." -- Old Vulcan proverb.

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        • #5
          Most people who get these Honours are rich through their own effort and expertise. Rarely does a poor man get the opportunity to rise to starry heights. Therefore, the connection between those who get Honours and and being men of substance shall always be there and hopefully that money is not tainted!

          Rushdie is a good writer, though at times he is a difficult read.

          If writers are on the Honours list, he is as good and deserving as any who has got such an Honour.

          One is reminded of Jeffrey Archer, the Conservative MP, and his becoming a life peer and then be shunted off to jail! Notwithstanding, he is a good story teller and so is Rushdie!

          As for the Moslems making noise about this, I reckon they have no option but to take out noisy token demonstrations. If they didn't, it would mean a tacit acceptance of whatever was written in the book 'Satanic Verses'. Obviously that would not be the correct thing for the 'pious' to do!


          "Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

          I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

          HAKUNA MATATA

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Ray View Post
            As for the Moslems making noise about this, I reckon they have no option but to take out noisy token demonstrations. If they didn't, it would mean a tacit acceptance of whatever was written in the book 'Satanic Verses'. Obviously that would not be the correct thing for the 'pious' to do!
            That makes sense.

            But I just wish they could demonstrate without calling for bombings and killings.

            Most of the demonstrations in the west are against wars and against killings.
            "Only Nixon can go to China." -- Old Vulcan proverb.

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by Jay View Post
              many more deserving authors? Why doesnt Rushdie deserve it?
              Name 3 books written ok! 2 books written by this Author I can only think of one. It's the one book that has cost the British Public Millions of pounds in protection for him What contribution to the good of the Country, has any author, no matter who, makes it worthwhile to give them a Knighthood As has been already said there are more worthy people doing great things for the Country who will never be recognised.

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              • #8
                Dave,
                Think about Padmalakshmi for a minute ;)

                But seriously, I guess you havent read his books. Rushdie got a Booker and a Booker of Bookers for his novel Midnights Children, it was the first novel to get it in 25 years. These are his books, from Wikipedia,
                * Grimus (1975)
                * Midnight's Children (1981)
                * Shame (1983)
                * The Jaguar Smile: A Nicaraguan Journey (1987)
                * The Satanic Verses (1988)
                * Haroun and the Sea of Stories (1990)
                * Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism, 1981 - 1991 (1992)
                * East, West (1994)
                * The Moor's Last Sigh (1995)
                * The Ground Beneath Her Feet (1999)
                * Fury (2001)
                * Step Across This Line: Collected Nonfiction 1992 - 2002 (2002)
                * Shalimar the Clown (2005)
                Literary significance & criticism

                From its publication in 1981, Midnight’s Children has become a standard work on university syllabuses and has enjoyed an international readership that catapulted its author almost overnight to the very forefront of world authors. It was awarded the 1981 Booker Prize, the English Speaking Union Literary Award, and in 1993 it was awarded both the James Tait Prize and the Booker of Bookers Prize. (This was an award given out by the Booker committee to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the award.) In 2003 the novel was adapted to the stage by the Royal Shakespeare Company.[4]

                It has been compared in its scope and execution to works such as James Joyce’s Ulysses, Günter Grass’s The Tin Drum and Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy. Like them, Rushdie’s novel presents an encyclopaedic exploration of an entire society through the story of a single person. It is able to do this, in part, by merging with the novel form a number of non-Western texts such as the Sanskrit epics, The Ramayana, The Mahabharata and, most consciously (and not unproblematically) The 1,001 Nights.[4]

                The novel ran into some controversy for its open criticism of Indira Gandhi, India's then prime minister, and the Emergency that she imposed on the country.

                Awards and nominations

                The novel won the 1981 Booker Prize and was later awarded the 'Booker of Bookers' Prize in 1993 as the best novel to be awarded the Booker Prize in its first 25 years. Midnight's Children is also the only Indian novel on Time magazine's list of the 100 best English-language novels since its founding in 1923.[5]

                SparkNotes: Midnight's Children: Book One: Chapters 1–3
                ----------------------------------

                So tell me as a literary persona you think he still does not deserve it?
                Last edited by Jay; 22 Jun 07,, 09:14.
                A grain of wheat eclipsed the sun of Adam !!

                Comment


                • #9
                  Dave, Rushdie is one of the better writers going around and is a worthy recipient of a literary award or, in this case, a Knighthood for consistently being a very good writer.

                  If Knighthoods are to be given to the best of the writers out there, then Rushdie deserves his gong. Read at least "Midnight's Children" to see the depth of his works.

                  What is the alternative to all that expense - run everything by Tehran etc prior to publication? As a reductio ad absurdem, why not just roll back the Reformation and the Enlightenment?

                  If the UK wishes to give him some award, what the hell is it the business of Moslems? Given what passes for news, comment and education in so many islamic countries, for what should the UK apologise?

                  Jonathan

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    [QUOTE=Ray;384089]

                    One is reminded of Jeffrey Archer, the Conservative MP, and his becoming a life peer and then be shunted off to jail! Notwithstanding, he is a good story teller and so is Rushdie!

                    ![/QUOTE

                    aawww crap , you beat me to it Ray , and he still is Lord Archer ? and not forgetting the rich boys buying peerages ? , but if Rushdie has been deemed worthy of his tiltle , then who,s business is it but ,the powers that be , and his . But yes , the moslems are bound to have a whinge, and set fire to his books again , still they will be replaced , so sales are up
                    Last edited by tankie; 22 Jun 07,, 10:50.

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                    • #11
                      Soap opera started,

                      Pak PM joins attack against Rushdie's knighthood
                      22 Jun, 2007 l 2315 hrs ISTlPTI

                      ISLAMABAD: Stepping up its attack on Britain for conferring a knighthood on controversial India-born author Salman Rushdie, Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Friday said it had "hurt the feelings of Muslims" as the country's Parliament passed yet another resolution seeking withdrawal of the title.

                      "We condemn the decision to award a knighthood to Rushdie," Aziz said in the national assembly, the lower house of the Pakistani parliament.

                      "It has hurt the feelings of Muslims. Muslims will never tolerate derogatory remarks against the last Prophet Mohammed," he added. Aziz is the highest public figure in Pakistan to have commented in the issue.

                      On Thursday Religious Affairs Minister Ijaz-ul Haq sparked outrage by saying that the honour justified suicide attacks. Pakistan's National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament, unanimously adopted a second government-backed resolution in four days on Friday, asking the British government to withdraw the Knighthood conferred on Rushdie.

                      Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sher Afgan Niazi moved the resolution, which stated that "this House, in reference to its previous resolution, resolves that the British Government and the British Prime Minister have not only disappointed the Pakistani nation but also have hurt its sentiments, by not withdrawing the knighthood title from Rushdie."
                      Pak PM joins attack against Rushdie's knighthood-Pakistan-World-The Times of India
                      ----------------------------------------------------------------------
                      The British Parliment should pass a resolution demanding Musharaff to resign and ban MMA's from Pakistani politics.
                      A grain of wheat eclipsed the sun of Adam !!

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        more soap,

                        Pakistan scholars honour Bin Laden in Rushdie row
                        21 Jun, 2007 l 1933 hrs ISTlPTI

                        ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Islamic scholars honoured Osama Bin Laden on Thursday in response to Britain's knighthood for Salman Rushdie, as a senior ruling party member said he would not hesitate to kill the novelist.

                        Meanwhile the country's religious affairs minister, who caused outrage by remarking that the award given to the "Satanic Verses" author justified suicide attacks, announced that he may visit Britain next month.

                        The Pakistani Ulema Council, a private body that claims to be the biggest of its kind in the country with 2,000 scholars, said it had given Bin Laden the title "Saifullah", or Sword of Allah, its top accolade.

                        "We are pleased to award the title of Saifullah to Osama bin Laden after the British Government's decision to bestow the title of 'Sir' on blasphemer Rushdie," Council Chairman Maulana Tahir Ashrafi said.

                        "This is the highest title for a Muslim warrior."


                        Bin Laden has been blamed for the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington that killed nearly 3,000 people. He is widely believed to be hiding on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

                        Later Afzal Sahi, the speaker of the Punjab province assembly and a member of the Pakistan Muslim League party that backs President Pervez Musharraf said during a debate that he would murder Rushdie if he saw him.

                        "I am a Muslim and then a politician and it is ordained in Islam that the punishment for a blasphemer is death. If this man comes in front of me I will definitely kill him," he said in response to a question by an opposition MP.
                        A grain of wheat eclipsed the sun of Adam !!

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Pak traders offer Rs 10 mn reward for Rushdie's head
                          22 Jun, 2007 l 1504 hrs ISTlPTI

                          KARACHI: A traders organisation in Pakistan has offered a reward of Rs 10 million for anyone who beheads the controversial India-born author Salman Rushdie following Britain's decision to confer knighthood on the writer whose work has infuriated the Muslim world.

                          "We will give 10 million rupees (USD 165,000) to anyone who beheads Rushdie," Islamabad Traders Association General Secretary Ajmal Baloch said in Karachi on Thursday.

                          His announcement came during a protest by traders at one of the main markets of capital Islamabad.

                          Baloch also appealed to Islamic countries to boycott British products to protest the honour to Rushdie, whose Satanic Verses was considered "blasphemous" by Muslims.

                          Chief Minister of Sindh province Arbab Rahim, meanwhile, said he was returning titles awarded to his ancestors by the British in protest over the Queen's decision.

                          The reaction of Pakistanis to the British decision is becoming more vocal by the day, with an Islamic scholars body honouring Osama bin Laden yesterday to protest the knighthood.

                          The country's leading religious and opposition parties and lawyers have planned demonstrations and protest rallies all over the country against Rushdie and the British government and the Queen today.

                          Karachi police chief Azhar Farooqi said extra security measures are in place to avoid any untoward incident during these protests.

                          A news daily carried a report from London on Friday, saying that Pakistanis living in the UK were fearful of racist attacks in reprisal to the reaction to Rushdie's knighthood.
                          A grain of wheat eclipsed the sun of Adam !!

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                          • #14
                            And the highest ranking Ayatollah in Iran has said that the fatwah passed on Rushdie by the late Ayatollah Khomenie still stands. I seem to remember that there was a monetary reward offered to the person who arranged an early re-union between Allah and Rushdie
                            Semper in excretum. Solum profunda variat.

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by glyn View Post
                              And the highest ranking Ayatollah in Iran has said that the fatwah passed on Rushdie by the late Ayatollah Khomenie still stands. I seem to remember that there was a monetary reward offered to the person who arranged an early re-union between Allah and Rushdie
                              And when he snuffed it, Ali Akbah Rafsahnjani? reconfirmed it. I never did hear if it had been "lifted"

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