Late-night talk show host Bill Maher responded on Friday to the Paris terror attacks by saying, “When there’s this many bad apples, there’s something wrong with the orchard.”
Mr. Maher broached the subject with bestselling author Salman Rushide, who was forced to go into hiding after Iran’s spiritual leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, placed a fatwa on the author for his book “The Satanic Verses.”
“This is not a random mutation,” Mr. Rushdie said of the radical jihadists carrying out a multitude of terrorist attacks since 9/11, Mediaite reported Saturday. “This has been a mutation that a lot of work has been put in to.”
Mr. Rushdie also pointed out that, while the general reaction to the Paris attacks had been a state of outrage, he was bothered by the many people who only half-heartedly defended Charlie Hebdo, calling them the “but brigade.”
“What I’ve noticed is it’s been 48 hours since these attacks and already the ’but brigade’ is out in full force,” Mr. Rushdie said. “You know, ’Free speech, but maybe you shouldn’t have done that.’”
He added that people in the mainstream are afraid of speech that will rock the boat and provoke radical jihadists.
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“Satire, political cartoons, one of their functions is to rock the [expletive] boat. What would a respectful political cartoon look like?” Rushdie asked, Mediaite reported.
• Kellan Howell can be reached at khowell@washingtontimes.com.
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