The Vicious Attack On Salman Rushdie Has Got Twitter Raging Over Intolerance & Hatred In Our World

“What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.”

Salman Rushdie, former Booker prize winner and the author of books like Midnight’s Children, Shame, and the acclaimed Satanic Verses, was brutally attacked at Chautauqua Institution in New York, where he had come to deliver a speech. 

The attacker, now identified as Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old man hailing from New Jersey, repeatedly stabbed the author in the abdomen and the neck. Reportedly, Rushdie is on the ventilator and has suffered severe liver and nerve damage. He may also lose an eye. 

As the news of the attack broke in the media, Twitter reacted to intolerance, polarization, and the threat to freedom of speech in the hatred-filled world today.  

For the unversed, a fatwa, attached with a bounty, was issued to kill Salman Rushdie in Iran in 1989, following the release of his novel, Satanic Verses. 

What is this world we’ve come to inhabit?