Rex Murphy: Joe Biden for example expressed presidential thanks to “Rushdie and all those who stand for freedom of expression.” Our prime minister placed a similar stress on the horrible event: “The cowardly attack on Salman Rushdie is a strike on the freedom of expression that our world relies on.” The same emphasis on the cardinal value of freedom of speech and expression may be found in the statements of many other leaders.
I have no doubts that the expressions of sympathy were absolutely genuine. I am far less impressed by the — to me — new found reverence for freedom of expression. Especially since so many leaders, including Mr. Biden and Mr. Trudeau were rather stringent, laconic even, in its exercise.
So in all this reverential talk about “freedom of expression” why was that freedom not deployed to make the very necessary point that Rushdie’s life has been in danger because fundamentalist Islamists have been calling for his murder, and offering a huge reward for his death, for over 30 years. That is the most egregious and particular factor — the central fact of the villainous onslaught.
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