"An attack upon our ability to tell stories is not just censorship - it is a crime against our nature as human beings." ~ Salman Rushdie

submitted by JasonCarswell from media.npr.org

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[–]TimesThreeTheHighest 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (10 children)

Am I the only person who thought The Satanic Verses was kind of dumb? All the hoopla over that book and the death threats that followed, but it really wasn't all that memorable.

[–]bablarb 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

The hoopla makes sense when you look at how the West has tried to regime change Iran over the last 40 years. And Iran plays right into it, with their silly clerics playing the 'fanatics' role that our media loves them to play.

The irony is that we ban books just like Iran, but we're far more sly about it. Look at how cleverly the english translation of 'Journalists for hire' was "removed" from western readers.

[–]TimesThreeTheHighest 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Surely you're not suggesting that the West engages in censorship? :P

[–]JasonCarswell[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

Tell me/us more!

Links?

[–]bablarb 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Short version: Ulfkotte wrote a german bestseller. Tayen Lane bought the English rights. Ulfkotte died. Tayen Lane pretended to sell his book but has actually refused to sell a single copy to this day.

Have a good look at tayen lane. Classic example of what a 'front' looks like.

[–]JasonCarswell[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I guess that's why my search came up empty.

[–]bablarb 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

https://off-guardian.org/2018/01/08/english-translation-of-udo-ulfkottes-bought-journalists-suppressed/

[–]JasonCarswell[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Great link. I wanna pirate seed the hell out of this book now.

[–]MarxIsanidiot 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The "Hoopla" was because of the fact that the Iranian government said that he needed to be killed because of the book, not because he was some great writer. Besides your expecting logic from a bunch of crazed Islamists?

[–]JasonCarswell[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I guess I was lucky not to have fallen for the hoopla. I often do and read things that were banned and find it was overblown.

[–]TimesThreeTheHighest 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

He was smart about it though. I'm sure he was genuinely scared at the time, but he definitely milked it for all it was worth.