Bill Carmichael: Freedom to offend
Back in 1989, when a Muslim mob was on the streets of Bradford burning copies of The Satanic Verses, I decided I had to read the book in order to see what all the fuss as about.
I can't say I was looking forward to it. I'd always regarded Salman Rushdie – or Sir Salman as we must become accustomed to call him – as a member of the self-hating liberal intelligentsia; a man who enjoyed an immensely privileged upbringing, educated at Rugby public school and Cambridge, who then moaned about his adopted country.
Friends of mine, whose judgment I trusted, told me Rushdie was a great and courageous writer, so I was prepared to give it a go. I didn't finish it. In fact, I didn't even make it to the contentious bit, so can't really comment on its literary merits.
I'm not alone.
I'd bet a pound to a pinch of snuff that not one in a thousand of those burning his books almost 20 years ago – and those complaining about his knighthood today –
has actually read the novel.
They are offended by something they've never read,
angry because they've been told they should be.
But unlike millions around the globe we live in a free and democratic society – thank God – and Sir Salman is perfectly entitled to write what he pleases.
If you don't like it, don't read the book.
And the Queen is also perfectly entitled to confer a knighthood on whomsoever she sees fit.
On the streets of Pakistan the mobs have reacted
by burning the Union flag and effigies of the Queen –
a provocative act that many Britons find gratuitously offensive.
But you won't find chanting mobs on the streets of Bramhope or Beverley burning the Pakistani flag and threatening to slit the throat of the local curry shop owner. That's not the way we do things in this country, and that is why people from all over the world want to come here.
Including, apparently, the Pakistani religious affairs Minister Ijaz-ul Haq, who caused uproar this week by stating Rushdie's knighthood justified suicide bombings.
It is reported he is a regular visitor to the UK, so he should understand the British attachment to free speech.
He should also be thankful, given his idiotic remarks, that he swans about in a chauffeur-driven limousine, rather than risking riding on the buses and trains like the rest of us have to.
Verdict on the Beeb
The BBC is biased.
As a statement of the blindingly obvious that's up there along with the Pope is a Catholic and David Cameron is an insufferable toff.
But this time it's different as the verdict comes not from some Right-wing think-tank but from the Corporation itself.
An internal investigation commissioned by the BBC found an institutionalised liberal bias and a readiness to pander to the trendy single-issue politics of self-aggrandising celebrities such as Bono and Bob Geldof.
Some of us have been banging on about this for years. You only have to look at the BBC's disgracefully slanted reporting from the Middle East to release the Corporation has long abandoned objective journalism.
In response, it is often pointed out that newspapers are also politically motivated. True, but here's the crucial difference; you are not obliged to buy a newspaper. If you don't like its editorial line, you leave it on the newsstand and buy something else.
In contrast, you pay for the BBC whether you like it or not. The licence fee allows the BBC to ignore what its audience wants and to become woefully out of touch with the people it is meant to serve.
Wouldn't it be best for Britain – and the BBC – if the licence fee were abolished?
Last Updated: 22 June 2007 8:40 AM
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