Salman Rushdie has an altogether too intimate acquaintance with tyranny.

The Indian-born, British-American historian and novelist is best known for his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses. When published in 1988, Islamic factions saw it as an irreverent depiction of the Prophet Muhammad, and Iran’s leader, Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s death.

Forced into hiding for years following several assassination attempts, Rushdie eventually returned to living openly, and was blinded in one eye by yet another stabbing attack at the Chautauqua Institution in New York in 2022.

So yes . . . he understands tyranny and tyrants all too well. And in a satirical fantasy published in 2015, he had this to say on the subject:

“The enemy is stupid, he replied. That is ground for hope. There is no originality in tyrants, and they learn nothing from the demise of their precursors. They will be brutal and stifling and engender hatred and destroy what men love and that will defeat them. All important battles are, in the end, conflicts between hatred and love, and we must hold to the idea that love is stronger than hate.”

– Salman Rushdie, “Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights”

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We can only hope that Rushdie’s optimistic view of the self-defeating nature of tyranny holds true. But hope alone isn’t a guarantee of success; we need to keep fighting the good fight in order to restore the democratic principles we hold so dear.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
12/9/25