Some confusion as to my post may have resulted from a typo. I wrote, “In general, I think the overall condemnation of rabid autocrats a dangerous move.” My intent was to writethat the condemnation of assassinating rabid autocrats is a dangerous move.”
  Otherwise I stand by my statements. I am generally support non-violence, but draw the line at those who perpetrate gross human rights violations. I believe that in cooperation with a World Court and other nations with the military capacity to be of service, our own military intelligence complex should devote itself to the surgical removal of despots, and not to the wholesale destruction of countries.
  I suppose the other option would be absolute indifference, or merely condemning them. Finger waggings do nothing. Economic sanctions merely harm the people while the despots themselves live in luxury.
  The term “tyranicide,” has been used before and is the one i prefer.
  How this correlates with babies being thrown onto bayonets is unclear, and I welcome elucidation.

“Fatima” states in #81472 “I hope the 60% illettrate People in Pakistan do not hear about it i hope so.”

if we hope that the illiterate, presumably “muslim”, of pakistan do NOT hear about this satirical book “God is Not Great”, why is that?  Why would you be hoping they don’t hear about it? Is it because we should be afraid of their reaction to a percieved “insult”?  What does illiteracy have to do with it?  “One does not have to read and writeto hear the message from the local Imam that might direct one to be “peaceful”.  one can only surmise, then that these “illiterates” are directed by those in “authority” not to be peaceful, and supposedly, because the “word” (the scripture) of god tells them so.  What is the message that we hope against hope will not be acted upon in the the name of vindicating one’s religion?  It seems obvious, if a man says “My religion is a religion of peace and because you have insulted me i am going to fire bomb your building” that the statement “religion of peace” is false.  THe responsiblitiy lies with the teachers then, if they are preaching to “illiterates” to inform them of the truth.  Indeed, the teachers refer to the written “truth” to incite violence.  Where else would they refer to?  Either…..Or.  Which one is it?

Dialectics,

Your limited choices of death or dying. with no options would be at home in Hitler’s Germany.  Maybe, like the Japanese in China, before WWII, throwing babies into the air and catching them on bayonets would be more to your liking.  Your choices are not choices at all.

If Salman did not like the religion he was born into, he could have easily and quietly converted to Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism or have become an atheist; no one would have noticed and no one would have been offended.

our “knee jerk” reaction is to respond to whether or not islam condemns people who convert away from it to death or just long prison sentences or perhaps public floggings, or whatever.  what is more questionable is the idea that because one’s parents are believers of a certain religion, therefore one is “born into it” and thus, presto chango!, one is also a “beleiver”. 
One wonders about the late tendency toward proliferation of obscurantism and superstition in the world today.

(le Carre) believed “there is no law in life or nature that says great religions may be insulted with impunity.”

all religions great and small should be insulted with impunity!
how about this, Zeus is a ca ca! in fact the “great religions” insult the small every day of the week by varying degrees of everything from not taking them seriously to imposing death sentences on anybody who doesn’t believe (in the “great” religion of choice)...oh i forgot, how many followers of “great religion” choose it? not too many, i dare say most are hazed into it from early childhood with varying degrees of threats, if not in this life then in the next.  dissenting children are usually punished in various ways.  Believers in Zeus or Ngarnok are ridiculed with impunity by believers of “great religion” simply by virtue of the fact that “great religion believers” believe THEIR “god” is real and Zeus and Ngarnok are not.  HOW DARE THEY!
Furthermore, while I’m on the soapbox, there has never ever ever been a shred of evidence to show that godallahwhoever has actually carried out retribution on any human being.  There is AMPLE evidence that human beings have carried out what they call “god’s (allah’s) retribution” on other human beings.  Mass psychosis!

dialetics, your post serves to show that you do not know squat about Hugo Chavez or the hope that he represents for those who have suffered at the hands of the American corporate empire everywhere.

#81398 by Ernest Canning
    Funny I hadn’t heard that Pat Robertson said such a thing. I do not doubt that he would.
    Perhaps the Salman Rushdie phenomenon is why they didn’t elaborate on it much, not wanting to make too much of a hero out of Chavez.
    For the record, I’ve still not read “the Satanic Verses” and it isn’t on the list. Also, despite our mutual dislike of President Bush and the neo-con horde he represents, I think Chavez is a royal nut job. I wouldn’t shed a tear if he took a bullet.
  In general, I think the overall condemnation of rabid autocrats a dangerous move. Given the alternatives that is. I would much rather live a world of CIA assassinations than one in which we bomb whole countries to rubble and engage in year upon year of ludicrous and tragic warfare because we don’t like their leader (amid other reasons.) I’d rather see Iran’s president go down than a mushroom cloud on CNN one morning. For that matter, I’d rather see Rushdie go down than hear about a subway getting blown up.
  As William S. Burroughs said, “Hasan i Sabbah was a man of grandmotherly kindness.”

Fadel, I suspect you are probably right about Rushdie being a third rate writer.  On the other hand, I also think dialectiks and some of the other Truthdiggers are correct in asserting that it was the fatwa sentencing Mr. Rushdie to death that made him famous.  The very idea of putting someone to death for what they chose to write/is abhorrent and therefore naturally drew worldwide attention and sympathy for the man.

That said, I must say that there is a certain level of hypocricy in this country.  While everyone was appalled that the Ayatollah Khomeini issued the fatwa calling for Rushdie’s death and while that event has made banner headlines for years, there has been hardly a peep out of the same American corporate media when a fundamentalist, right wing Christian, Pat Robertson, openly called for the U.S. government to assassinate the democratically elected President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez.  And, of course, we have a Christian fundamentalist President who claims he is supporting the sanctity of life in opposing stem cell research at the same time he has no qualms about ordering torture and sending young men and women off to die in a war that was based on his lies.

So, before we pile on to the excesses of Muslim extremism, we should perhaps take a good look at the Christian and Zionist extremists in our midst.

Isn’t it ironic that Fadel Abdallah could really be Sir Salman himself,  actually promoting his own book by over compensating response and attack. 

On the other hand, Fadel Abdallah’s post offered empty rhetoric, no promotional tidbit’s were offered, no issues were brought forth and not one opportunity for discussion was in attendance
 
Now even I, feel the need to read the book.

Fadel,

One other thing…you wrote

“If Salman did not like the religion he was born into, he could have easily and quietly converted to Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism or have become an atheist; no one would have noticed and no one would have been offended.”

You must know that simply isn’t true.  The penalty for apostasy in Islam is death.  This rule is brutally enforced to this day in Islamic countries.  Don’t pretend Islam is all smiles and sunshine when you know it isn’t.

Fadel,

Check out this article for a very well worded criticism of lowlifes like you blaming the victim instead of the real monsters.
http://www.johannhari.com/archive/article.php?id=1140

The man writes a novel, a head of state calls for his murder, and it’s the novelist you so detest.  You call him a “bigot”.  I’m not sure, sir, what how best to describe you.  Perhaps “Childish coward who is so insecure in his own faith or the faith of others that he thinks murder - or at least life-long fear of murder - is appropriate for anyone who dares question or criticize Islam.”  That was a little longer than “bigot” but I think it does the trick. 

Ps.  You might want to reconcider calling someone a bigot when your post is so well displays your obvious anti-semitism.  Hello Pot, this is the Kettle…you’re black.

All of the ridiculous “outrage” and threats of violence over a mere book simply serve to reinforce widely-held stereotypes about a certain group of people.  You only have yourselves to blame.  Fanaticism of any sort only breeds ignorance, bigotry and violence.  Free yourselves.

Damn.
Fadel Abdallah isn’t a registered commenter, so I can’t click IGNORE. But I can ignore you anyway.

The Islamic reaction and the “death sentence” is what made this man famous. Same with the Dutch cartoon.
Absolutely counter productive. Controversy is the best publicity, it makes everyone curious. So, the Islamic community that reacted so strongly made him more famous than ever, caused more people to read his book than ever would have otherwise and therefore made his work maybe ten times more influential.
  This is the West, we can make fun of religion and/or criticize it harshly. Though we are not barred from doing so by law, obviously no author who does so is free from impunity as the cheap spy novel guy says.
  The Queen knighting Salmon wasn’t the most diplomatic move ever. It showns a lack of tact. What boldness it shows is lame, because it is unlikely that the Queen will pay for it, but rather a cafe full of college students or something like that.
  If you don’t like something, don’t read it. Its not posted on gigantic signs on the highway or tacked to your door…something that we do prohibit with a no soliciting sign. Its hidden in a book that’s closed until you open it. So, you have a problem with someone else reading it! That is called “control freak,” and also creating controversy just makes more people read it!
  I will set an example. I don’t care to read anything else YOU might write, thus I shall click “IGNORE” on your profile.