The controversial novelist Salman Rushdie was born in India in 1947 and became a British citizen in 1964, and grew up without a touch of the gun culture. When his 1988 novel “The Satanic Verses” came out, the Muslim world condemned him for it. The Ayatollah Khomeini declared a fatwa on him for blasphemy and put a price on his head. Rushdie lived for many years in partial hiding, often under police protection. In 1989, a radical Islamist preparing to assassinate Rushdie blew himself up accidentally with his own bomb. In 2010, Rushdie’s name was found on an Al-Qaeda hit list. When the threats died down, he apparently became complacent.
Fast forward to August of 2022 in Chautauqua, New York where Rushdie was about to give a lecture when a radical Islamist leaped onto the stage and stabbed him some fifteen times before he could be restrained. Rushie lost his right eye and the use of one hand, and almost died.
His new non-fiction book “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder” was published this year by Random House. The story of his recovery is painfully, articulately described. Rushdie is obviously an excellent writer, and his comments on facing death and suffering an agonizing partial recovery would be inspirational for anyone facing the same things.
Personally, I came away with a sense of sadness. Here was a man who had known since 1988 that he was on the hit list and countless people would have loved to kill him in return for a substantial cash reward if they escaped, and believed they’d have abundant virgins in Heaven if they didn’t … and did nothing to arm himself to preserve his life for his loved ones.
He writes that he saw his attacker coming, apparently for more than long enough to draw a gun and fire in self-defense had he been armed. But, unarmed and helpless, he writes “Why didn’t I fight? Why didn’t I run? I just stood there like a piñata and let him smash me. Am I so feeble that I couldn’t make the slightest attempt to defend myself? Was I so fatalistic that I was prepared simply to surrender to my murderer? Why didn’t I act?” And then he answers himself: “This is as close to understanding my inaction as I’ve been able to get: the targets of violence experience a crisis in their understanding of the real.”
My students have heard me explain that “fight or flight” syndrome is really “fight, flight, or freeze,” and the ones like Rushdie who have the latter response always explain later (if they’re alive to do so), “I didn’t know what to do.”
Rushdie had decades to come to terms with the grave threats against him and to learn what to do. He apparently couldn’t bear the thought of owning a gun. Ruminating about allegories to the weapon that maimed and nearly killed him he writes, “…a knife is a tool, and acquires meaning from the use we make of it. It is morally neutral. It is the misuse of knives that is immoral. Whoa, I told myself. A hard pause. Wasn’t that the same thing as saying ‘Guns don’t kill people, people kill people’? Was I falling into a familiar trap? No, because a gun had only one use, one purpose. You couldn’t cut a cake with a Glock, or cook with an AR-15, or open a bottle of beer with James Bond’s favorite Walther PPK. A gun’s only way of being in the world was violence; its sole purpose to cause damage, even to take lives, animal or human. A knife was not like a gun.”
If Salman Rushdie was as open minded as he thought he was, he would have realized that a gun can also protect, and today, he would be whole instead of maimed. His family would not have gone through the ordeal of nearly losing him.
And, by the way, the many death threats would have created an exigent circumstance which under New York State’s doctrine of necessity would have been a competent if not perfect defense against the charge of carrying a gun without a permit there…
Given that the man was born and raised in India, which has had restrictions on firearms ownership for literally centuries, his attitude toward firearms is somewhat understandable. He likely has no experience with target shooting, hunting or other uses of firearms. Like a knife, and a lot of other things, a gun is also a tool.
As you note, he apparently wasn’t able to come to terms with the reality of the threat and develop at least some type of response-other than being a victim. He definitely isn’t the only person with that issue. There’s a Helen Keller quote that goes something like this: “Safety is mostly a myth. It does not exist in nature and, as a whole, the children of man do not experience it.” That’s a reality a great many choose to ignore.
Quote of the Day:
“Denial is not just a river in Egypt.” – Attributed to various authors
That is what we have in this case: Denial. A refusal, by a man with a pacifist mindset, to believe that the threats made against his life were serious. An optimistic desire to believe that these threats were just verbal and would never be carried out in reality. As Rushdie put it: “the targets of violence experience a crisis in their understanding of the real.”
As I have noted before, a Leftist tends to reject reality in favor of an utopia “dream World”. A Leftist WANTS to live in left-wing fantasy land instead of the here and now. In Rushdie’s fantasy land, nobody would ever actually harm him. The most that they would do is spout empty threats.
It is Rushdie’s Left-wing Worldview that almost killed him. The knife was just the tool used to bring it about.
A non-Leftist would be inclined to live in the World as it really exists, not as he would wish it to be. A non-leftist would have taken security more seriously.
What could be done to enhance security? Plenty. One could work to enhance one’s situation awareness. A big step is just a security mindset (See Jeff Cooper’s Color Code system.)
As Mas mentions, one could acquire a handgun, learn how to use it, and get a permit to carry it. If one is a pacifist and does not want to kill, even in self-defense, then use non-lethal self-defense methods instead. Learn to use Pepper Spray for self-defense and always carry it. Note that Pepper Spray is legal for adult to carry in the State of New York.
One might also consider wearing light-weight, concealable, body-armor. Especially when engaged in public speaking.
There was plenty Rushdie could do. However, his left-wing worldview caused him to enter a state of denial. Denial leads to inaction. Denial caused him to freeze during the moment of crisis. Denial almost killed him.
Folks, it is a dangerous thing to live in a make-believe fantasy world instead of the real one!
RE the relevance of reality and the denial thereof… The following is a bit of a rabbit trail, but a true story that the reader may find useful someday: I own an RV, and one day I was moving it. The steps by the door were folded in for travel. I remembered there was something I needed inside. I didn’t bother to fold them out. I just climbed up and got what I needed. In my haste to leave, I believed that the steps were out. I even acted on my belief. But reality is not defined but either of those two variables; reality is defined by what is true. Thankfully, I did not get hurt when I fell.
Rushdie knew for decades that he was under constant threat of attack but chose to do nothing to prepare himself for that eventuality. If you value your life so little that you are unwilling to defend it, don’t expect others to protect you. Unfortunately, the majority of people in modern western societies are in the same condition.
Deep down we are all animals, and some are just prey. He chose to be prey. I chose not to be on the menu.
It’s also worth mentioning that despite the police presence on site, it was not enough to prevent Mr. Rushdie from being grievously injured.
There was a NY State Trooper assigned to protect Mr. Rushdie, but he was obviously not able to fulfill his task. Only a firearm carried by Mr. Rushdie could have prevented this attack.
I read a murder mystery many years ago where the victim didn’t try to defend herself. The detectives discussing among themselves that she was a person who had never considered being attacked. Sometime later I read that the body cannot go where the mind has never been, so play the mental ‘what if’ game in life situations. After I was introduced to guns & got my CCL, it became a part of my training. It’s a shame SR could not have learned and accepted this.
A sad story indeed. Sheeple mentality.
https://www.opb.org/article/2022/08/19/revisiting-a-conversation-salman-rushdie-discusses-his-years-in-hiding
He claims the UK police offed him firearm traning and he said no, but is happy to had guards with guns. THe end part make him sound Nuts.
https://x.com/SalmanRushdie/status/226361335707996160@SalmanRushdie
Here’s the thing: Gun ownership in America is out of control, and leads to tragedies like today’s. Don’t like puns? Fine. I don’t like guns.
6:02 PM · Jul 20, 2012
https://x.com/SalmanRushdie/status/226312672147275778
After Columbine I was on Bill Maher’s old show arguing vs NRA’s Ted Nugent about gun control. Lots of Nugents on my timeline today.
2:48 PM · Jul 20, 2012
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie
Rushdie is a supporter of gun control, blaming a shooting at a Colorado cinema in July 2012 on the American right to keep and bear arms.
https://news.yahoo.com/news/blogs/the-sideshow/rushdie-colorado-shooting-twitter-backlash-142710977.html
I find it amzing that a man, born when and where he was, has not observed the conduct of the former eoverlords of his birth nation, which overlords have a near unbroken record of the useof force/threat offorce to subjugae their hapless subjcts in nearlyevery corner of this planet going back a thousand years, and ot realised that the tools they use for offense and subjugation are he same ones so useful for protection.
Even the horse understands this. The very teeth and hooves possessed by the horse and so useful for sustainance and mobility are also very effective as offensive and defensive weapons.
The Brits have been out of power in India for several decades now, but the mantle of violence is even presently well maintained by the present government under that tyrant Modi. The same tools formerly used against the naive Indian peoples are now used by them against others now on the wrong side of “the sword”. Mr. Rushdie has seen, during his lifetime, the same weapons used to protect and to destroy. He would be very wise to learn frim this near miss, and take appropriate action. If he cannot “lawfully” make use of these tools in his present state of residence, he should move to one that “allows” him to adopt them. Next time he will be a bit slower in response, perhaps too slow.
“Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look back upon the Act depriving the whole nation of arms as the blackest” – Mahatma Gandhi
SR was on the verge of an epiphany regarding the perception of tools versus people as moral agents; but, faced with the refutation of his long-held beliefs about firearms, he immediately retreated to his “safe space”. He quickly spent his energy explaining why he had not been wrong, rather than accept the new truth staring him in the face, much the same way as he could not accept the reality of being attacked. Some beliefs may be worth your life. Denial of the existence of evil, denial of the existence of sociopathy and the ascribing of moral agency to inanimate objects are not among such beliefs.
But if a person such as SR believes that the life of their unjust attacker is worth more than their own, how can we gainsay him? If he does not trust himself with the ethical use of a firearm, I will not attempt to refute him. Some people’s purpose is to serve as a warning to others.
I suspect that Mr. Rushdie moves in a social milieu in which there is not merely no one who owns a gun but is filled with people who would have told him that even considering owning a gun was too monstrous to even be considered.
I remember visiting the Queen’s Art Gallery (it’s open to the public) in London for the second time a number of years ago. I had to turn in my Swiss Army knife at the door. I commented that there were far fewer knives in the drawer than the first time. Maybe two instead of the eight or ten a few years earlier.
The guard drew himself up and stated ‘ Well, COUNTRY PEOPLE just have no understanding of knife crime. They think they can just walk around anywhere with a KNIFE.’ Being not a British country resident but at the time an urban Milwaukeean who had carried a knife daily for well over thirty years at that point I just kept my mouth shut. Not my country, not my battle.
Swiss Army knives: slavering weapons of mass murder masquerading as innocent tools for opening a bottle of beer, cutting salami or a sandwich, slicing some cheese, or pulling a cork.
From what I read things have gotten a lot worse over there since. This is the social milieu in which Rushdie lives.
Please remember the scissors, toothpick, and above all, the tweezers. Anybody who is careless enough to get a splinter in the posterior in the UK from a park bench deserves to live with it until the ambulance arrives. If you want to carry a dangerous tool similar to the SAK, get a government permit to make your own stone implement with a piece of flint and a deer antler. If the Stone Age was good enough for the Neanderthal, it should suit the modern citizen.
One of your best articles in recent memory Mas, I knew none of this regarding Mr. Rushdie. But I do know that in the land I fled some 20 years ago, the same anti gun and self protection drivel has formed a mentality among the collective (word deliberately chosen) masses that is beyond describing for a regular guy like me. We can’t let this happen here, my wife and I have agreed that we will never live in a non Constitutional Carry state ever again.
In the early to mid 1990’s there was an ATF/US Customs Agent who traveled the country teaching a class to cops about mental mindset. The agents name was Jim Crotty. The class was called “Mental Preparation for Armed Confrontation”. He demonstrated through audio and video recordings of those who mentally prepared, and those who didn’t. I went to the class three times i believe. The videos back then were all state trooper traffic stops and undercover recordings and weren’t too good, but you got the message. Then he had videos of the officers that were involved. Basically, every time you were on a call, really ANYWHERE, you would say “what if” and create a plan. He explained it as 1st you must see the threat. 2. Accept the threat. 3. Formulate a plan. 4. Execute the plan. IF YOUVE already accepted and planned what to do…you just act. I retired with 30 years in. Also look up book “Left of Bang” i believe.
He should learn flight before he fight.
If Rushdie had enough money, he could have hired a bodyguard. Instead, by freezing, HE BECAME AN ACCOMPLICE TO HIS OWN ATTEMPTED MURDER! Even a pacifist would try to run away, or grab the arm that was stabbing him.
I’m glad Salman the sheep survived. Maybe he can educate other sheeple. Nah, now I am being way too optimistic. Did the sheeple learn from October 7th, 2023?
Salman’s enemies are the most dangerous people on earth. Jihadists are the most likely to attack an infidel. Very few infidels will criticize Islam in public, because critics often get their heads cut off with dull knives. Jihadists demand respect, and they get it.
This morning I was listening to Sid Rosenberg on the radio. He said about 50% of American Jews are still not ready to leave the Democrat Party, even though the Hamas wing of the Party hates Israel.
You most certainly can open a beer bottle with a PPK.
There is a Simpsons episode where Homer buys a gun. He uses it as a tool for all kinds of jobs, including opening a can of beer. Worked great in the cartoon world. Not recommended for the real world.
People who don’t like guns are protected from criminals, by police with guns. They are also protected from foreign armies by soldiers with all types of guns, large and small.
His introspection is something, but Rushdie likely speaks nearly exclusively in places where he wouldn’t have been able to carry, even if he was permitted and well practiced.
You need a different mindset to get past the freezing at a perceived threat phase. I hope he has it now.
He wouldn’t have been allowed to carry a gun in communist NY.
Question to “Sam” in the comments section. You say you argued against the NRA after Columbine [regarding guns.] How is it that EVERYBODY remembers the “guns,” but NOBODY remembers the tanks of PROPANE which were intended to blow up as well?
We decry the use of guns, and of the bullying that led to this incident, but STILL nobody has really addressed the root cause of bullying?
… And, if we are going to condemn the “Gun,” then why are we still so free with access to tanks of PROPANE?
Comments are closed.