We live in a frightened time, and people self-censor all the time and are afraid of going into some subjects because they are worried about violent reactions.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the fear people feel in discussing certain topics due to potential backlash.
Salman Rushdie's quote emphasizes the current societal climate where fear of violent reactions leads to self-censorship. It suggests that individuals often avoid discussing controversial or sensitive subjects, thus stifling open dialogue and critical discourse, which are essential for healthy discourse in a democratic society. This fear can be detrimental, as it prevents the exploration of important issues that need to be addressed.
In practice
In a speech on freedom of expression, I would quote Rushdie to highlight the dangers of self-censorship in today's society.
I've been fascinated by Machiavelli since I was very young. I've always felt that he had a bad rap from history, and that he was actually a person quite unlike what we now think of as Machiavellian. He was a republican. He disliked totalitarian government.
Killing people because you don't like their ideas - it's a bad thing.
faith without doubt is addiction
I am clearly vulnerable to these more passionate and volatile unstable relationships. I am trying to not be so vulnerable.
In India, as elsewhere in our darkening world, religion is the poison in the blood. Where religion intervenes, mere innocence is no excuse. Yet we go on skating around this issue, speaking of religion in the fashionable language of 'respect.' What is there to respect in any of this, or in any of the crimes now being committed almost daily around the world in religion's dreaded name?
Reality is a question of perspective; the further you get from the past, the more concrete and plausible it seems - but as you approach the present, it inevitably seems more and more incredible.
Yes, it is hard out there. But hard is relative. I come from a middle-class family, my parents are academics. I was born after the Civil Rights movement, I was a toddler during the women's movement, I live in the United States of America, all of which means I am allowed to own my freedom, my rights, my voice and my uterus.
Back then, as a teenager, I kept thinking, why don't the adults around here just say something? Say it so they know we don't accept segregation? I knew then and I know now that, when it comes to justice, there's no easy way to get it. You can't sugarcoat it. You have to take a stand and say, 'This is not right.'
Child slavery is a crime against humanity. Humanity itself is at stake here. A lot of work still remains, but I will see the end of child labor in my lifetime.
The interaction between human rights campaigners from Pakistan and India was a big taboo in the 1980s. When we started traveling to India to increase people-to-people contact between the two nations, we knew that we would face serious repercussions back home.
Without a sign, his sword the brave man draws, and asks no omen, but his country's cause.
Women have to summon courage to fulfill dormant dreams.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.