“The Hit Men”
Leonard starts this essay by declaring, “I hope hundreds
turned out yesterday at the PEN rally to support Salman Rushdie…It’s been a
disgraceful week. A maniac puts out a $5.2-million contract on one of the
greatest writers in the English language.” He goes on to chastise all those who
spoke out against Rushdie. This group includes people as diverse as diverse as
Roald Dahl (who recommended we destroy the books to “save lives”) and Jimmy
Breslin (who described Rushdie as “a horrid writer.”)
I really like his commentary on Pat Buchanan who:
Suggested that [Rushdie] seek refuge among Nicaragua’s
Sandinistas and allowed as how ‘the First Amendment…[is] the last refuge of a
scoundrel’ – as if that amendment, the glory of our republic, weren’t precisely
what protects the right of Buchanan to his swamp fevers, the privilege of such
pips to squeak.”
New word: fatwa = a formal legal opinion in Islamic law.
New
learning: The word assassin derives
from the Arabic hashish (“hashish
eater”). May explain Wilco lyric “I assassin down the avenue.” Link to the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot cut:
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