Rushdie Haunted by his unholy Ghosts — Page 157
Rushdie: Haunted By His Unholy Ghosts 157 who feel any sympathy for him. Some of his fervent supporters have become tired of his egotistical motives and of his continual ar- rogance. It is for his own good that he should become a ‘forgotten’ man; the more Rushdie becomes a symbol, the more dangerous it is for him. Symbols are invulnerable; they do not need rescuing. There is a risk of a living extinction as his fate becomes the norm in the world’s eyes. Salman Rushdie has for too long been hiding behind his pen, living in a world of make-believe and fiction, aspiring to spread the message of his benefactors. It is about time he woke up into the real world where real people live and where there has to be self-restraint to ensure that the sensitivities and susceptibilities of others are not offended. It is about time he learnt that freedom of expression, like all freedoms, carries its own responsibilities and conditions. Of course, Rushdie has the right to write a book challenging aspects of the Islamic faith or any faith for that matter. But as someone aware of the deep feelings of Muslims, he must have known that the way he chose to carry out this challenge was bound to provoke fury. This has shown the writer to be gravely irresponsible. He has also fuelled the fires of anti-Muslim sentiment in the West. It seems that he was deliberately coerced by powers in the West to rouse racial hatred between Muslims and Christians. Rushdie was an opportunist who displayed mercenary qualities which were ex- ploited to the full by powers which will always remain obscure but whose identity is discernible to the astute. Rushdie has been left in the lurch and there is nothing he can do about it. This is no more than what he deserves for putting race relations and East/West rela- tions back almost a century. Like the amateur floor painter Salman Rushdie has written him- self into a corner, and there seems to be no way out for the most infamous writer of the century !