[News] Salman Rushdie attacked

[Isgrimnur]

AP News

Salman Rushdie, the author whose writing led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was attacked and apparently stabbed in the neck Friday by a man who rushed the stage as he was about to give a lecture in western New York.

An Associated Press reporter witnessed a man confront Rushdie on stage at the Chautauqua Institution and begin punching or stabbing him 10 to 15 times as he was being introduced. The 75-year-old author was pushed or fell to the floor, and the man was arrested.

Rushdie was taken by helicopter to a hospital, state police said. His condition was not immediately known.

[dbt1949]

With Muslim fanatics all hunting him he's been lucky they haven't gotten to him until now.

[Holman]

American right-wingers will have trouble here (as they did when the fatwa was declared in the late 1980s) because Rushdie is a critic of both Islamic theocracy and Western imperialism.

[Isgrimnur]

Latest is that Rushdie is on a ventilator and will likely lose an eye.

Suspect is a 24yo New Jersey man with pro-Iranian and Revolutionary Guard views.

[Daehawk]

Latest is that Rushdie is on a ventilator and will likely lose an eye.

Suspect is a 24yo New Jersey man with pro-Iranian and Revolutionary Guard views.

Shouldn't be living here and definitely shouldn't have been allowed entry into that forum.

[Holman]

Latest is that Rushdie is on a ventilator and will likely lose an eye.

Suspect is a 24yo New Jersey man with pro-Iranian and Revolutionary Guard views.

Shouldn't be living here and definitely shouldn't have been allowed entry into that forum.

He was born in the US.

I'm an English teacher and a librarian, so I'm obviously a Rushdie fan, but how does a free country police people based on their views? And does that policing extend down to every public event, even a literary reading?

[Carpet_pissr]

With Muslim fanatics all hunting him he's been lucky they haven't gotten to him until now.

My first thought as well. I remember being surprised at his longevity YEARS ago.

[Carpet_pissr]

American right-wingers will have trouble here (as they did when the fatwa was declared in the late 1980s) because Rushdie is a critic of both Islamic theocracy and Western imperialism.

Disagree. A big part of that gang has damn near perfected overcoming/ignoring oxymorons, logical fallacies, contradictory ideas, etc.

[Isgrimnur]

BBC

Author Salman Rushdie has been taken off a ventilator and can talk again, nearly two days after being stabbed.
...
Mr Matar, from Fairview, New Jersey, was born in the US to parents who had emigrated from Lebanon, a Lebanese official has told the media.

[hepcat]

In a perfect world, they'd give him bionic parts and set him loose on the extremists.

[Isgrimnur]

Robot Ernest Hemingway would be more effective, I think.

[Moliere]

Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder
by Salman Rushdie