Rushdie’s Attacker was from New Jersey

How to describe my reaction to news that Salman Rushdie had been attacked and seriously injured by a Muslim attacker?  That it happened was logical I felt.  Rushdie had a Fatwa on him after all.  That it happened was in keeping with the spirit of Clown World I thought as well.  I mean by the latter thought that it was a unbelievably stupid security breach.  I bet the place where the attack happened was more worried by silly Covid protocols than real security concerns.  The place was also probably more concerned with diversity concerns than security as well.

The attack brought back two memories in my life.  One was from Winnipeg; the other was from Wuxi.

I was attending the University of Winnipeg when the fatwa was issued against Rushdie.  The school had a speaker from Iran who tried to explain the Fatwa, and justify it.  The speaker was torn to shreds by a professor in attendance who explained what Rushdie’s intentions were in writing the novel Satanic Verses.

In Wuxi, my old school hired a Muslim who said he was from New Jersey.  He was very observant of his religion and was always looking for a spot to pray.  His English was horrible however and the other staff thought his story was dodgy.  One thought he had a fake passport.