In general, writers shouldn't be killed for what they write, though I can think of exceptions.
Interpretation
Writers should have the freedom to express their thoughts without fear of violent repercussions.
Salman Rushdie's quote emphasizes the importance of freedom of expression for writers, suggesting that, in general, they should not face lethal consequences for their work. However, it also hints at the complexity of this issue, acknowledging that there may be situations where exceptions exist, highlighting the nuanced relationship between art, expression, and societal values.
In practice
In a speech advocating for journalistic freedom, this quote could highlight the necessity of protecting writers.
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.
Making music has gotten easier; selling it has gotten harder. Making music has been democratized, but the market is in the hands of fascists.
What release to write so that one forgets oneself, forgets one's companion, forgets where one is or what one is going to do next to be drenched in sleep or in the sea. Pencils and pads and curling blue sheets alive with letters heap up on the desk.
I don't profess to have music as my big wheel and there are a number of other things as important to me apart from music. Theatre and mime, for instance.
For me painting is a dramatic action in the course of which reality finds itself split apart
The Singaporean speculative tradition is different. Singapore doesn't conceive itself as the centre of the world or the one country that's going to save the world, so there's a different tone that comes out in the way speculative fiction is done. That's refreshing to read.
The writer's duty is to keep on writing.
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