ANALYSIS:” This choice was his only and entirely improbable.”
Why did the well-known author of” The Satanic Verses” and the most well-known heathen in radical Islam immediately withdraw from the graduation ceremony at Claremont McKenna College, and did he make the right choice?
Depending on the person you ask, the answer to both issues depends.
Rushdie may no longer be the keynote speech at the May 17 commencement meeting, according to university President Hiram Chodosh’s message to the school community on May 13.
In the internet, Chodosh wrote,” I write with information that Sir Salman Rushdie notified us yesterday of his decision to withdraw as our presentation initiation speech,” a version of which was obtained by The College Fix.
” This choice was his alone and was entirely improbable,” he said. We have invited Sir Salman to communicate on our school in the future and have remained firm in our dedication to him.
The Lavin Agency, Rushdie’s speech control group, was contacted by The Claremont Independent media outlet for more details about the decision, but it declined to comment.
The Center-right student media outlet at the school, which is also known as leaning slightly conservative, reported that Rushdie’s invitation “had been ] met with reaction, mostly from the Claremont Colleges ‘ Muslim Student Association.”
” A number of Instagram comments and op-eds were published online discussing the proposal, with MSA people even making comments to local information.”
According to the Independent, the punishment of Rushdie’s intruder was scheduled a day before the ceremony started, and it was anticipated that it would also bring worldwide attention.
The Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran issued a edict against Rushdie in 1989. He was imprisoned for ten years, and his views on free speech and spiritual sensibilities sparked a global debate.
At a lecture function in New York in August 2022, Rushdie was repeatedly stabbed in the neck, chest, gaze, and other places. He lived, but he lost one eye view. Hadi Matar, the assailant, was found guilty of attempted murder in February and given a 25-year jail sentence.
MORE: A professor at Oberlin College endorsed a judgment against publisher Rushdie
Further: Academic freedom is protected by scholars who condemn the violent assault on Rushdie.
Dhriti Jagadish, a student at Claremont McKenna who has written extensively about the discussion for the Independent, told The College Fix in an internet on Tuesday that Rushdie’s choice probably had a bearing on the timing of the punishment.
It is impossible to explain why Rushdie withdrew, or whether he had changed his mind or acted differently after his attacker’s sentence was changed to the day before commencement ( a potential factor The Atlantic overlooked ), Jagadish wrote in an email.
She said that the studies from The Atlantic and The Daily Beast that suggested he was scared away by college protests may have gone too far.
According to the Daily Beast,” It is not certain that Rushdie was “scared away” because the opposition to Rushdie’s offer has been quite civil, manifesting in posters, Instagram articles, emails to management, and op-eds in school papers,” she told The Fix.
Rushdie spoke at Claremont McKenna in 2006 without any instances being reported, and the Muslim Student Association supported his invitation to a non-commencement website.
She wrote,” I’m thankful that CMC continues to invite Rushdie, and I’m hopeful that he will return to share his story of courage and confidence,” while” I was personally disappointed that Rushdie withdrew.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations in Los Angeles addressed the controversy, drawing a lot of attention from the outside, even though the CMC campus protests may have been tame in comparison to some of the harsh anti-Israel demonstrations that have recently occurred.
Given the homicidal frenzy of Islamists, Salman Rushdie has good reason to worry about his health. According to Heather Mac Donald, a professor at the Manhattan Institute and a member of The College Fix, the Los Angeles business of CAIR did little to dispel those doubts and instead suggested Rushdie was the source of the issue.
Mac Donald has first knowledge of the violent mob at Claremont McKenna. In 2017, a crowd of demonstrators who surrounded the tower and blocked escapes while they screamed and banged on windows that effectively shut down her” War on Cops” conversation.
In a partnership grouping that also includes Scripps, Harvey Mudd, Pomona, and Pitzer institutions, Claremont McKenna is one of five private schools spread throughout Southern California.
Who may blame Rushdie for not being willing to learn, Mac Donald said,” Claremont McKenna may have been prepared to provide whatever protection that was needed to allow Rushdie to handle the service undisturbed.” Aside from that, facing the insanity of the coddled scholar mob and bashing its justice is a process that is too miserable to be undertaken without a distinct benefit.
Further: An furious mob blocks a Blue Lives Matter talk at Claremont McKenna
Salman Rushdie discusses his assault in an Instagram / 60 Minutes YouTube picture.
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