In July 2007 New York Times Book Review there is an essay written by Rachel Donadio, writer and editor at the Book Review. The essay’s title is “Fighting Words” and elaborates on Salman Rushdie’s bestselling book “The Satanic Verses”.
She explains how prominent writers in the 80s and 90s have asked Salman Rushdie to stop printing his famous novel. Their reasons, and Donadio’s, are supported by the idea that it was His book the one that caused a hatred to Islam and Muhammad to rise in the world. More so, they asked him to stop publishing the book since they consider too many people had already died because of it.
I have just one question to them, since it seems they have long forgotten contemporary history. It was during Mao’s Cultural Revolution that hundreds of people died because of spreading ideas and, millions of books,printings and essays were burned and destroyed. Should we stop writing and publishing books as well?
It is printing books and spreading different ideas that will save lives and open our minds. Let us all read and set ourselves free! It is more books and the willingness to tolerate other’s right to think different that is actually going to stop deaths.
Let us not be defeated by fundamentalism. It was long ago that history taught us the effects of burning books.
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