I'll be the first one to defend Salman Rushdie's right to publish incediary books such as "The Satanic Verses".
What I don't really understand is why the British Government would go out of its way to recommend to the Queen that he receive a knighthood from the Queen. It's one thing to defend freedom of speech; it's quite another to reward someone for something that, warranted or not, is profoundly insulting to members of a religion. And, hey, for all I know Rushdie's book is NOT insulting to Muslims and they manufactured the "insult". Nevertheless, they do express their revulsion, which they have the right to do. Alan Dershowitz defended the right of Neo-Nazis to march on Skokie. But I can't imagine him handing out Awards to those Nazis for civic pride. At such a sensitive time, why would Britain want to unnecessarily needle Islam?
