It is worrying - especially the self-censorship of Random House in this instance (
if the story is true). It was the same with the cartoons, which had been published in newspapers in muslim countries several months before any trouble arose. Yet the idiocy of it was that no British paper was prepared to print them so people could see what the fuss was about. For years I boycotted WH Smith because they withdrew
The Satanic Verses from sale when people started burning books in Bradford. Hardly the actions of a bookseller on the side of free speech...
I don't know how the story applies to the UK, or if it simply described the situation in America. I expect that the vast majority of muslims in this country (UK) are as embarrassed and appalled by this censorship as I am, for it singles out their religion as something that cannot be written about when Jerry Springer the Opera is aired without problems on TV. This implies that the nation's media thinks the muslims living here are rabid fundamentalists and if they continue to assert that impression then it will create sufficient divides and tensions that the prophecy could become self-fulfilling.
The Guardian tried to stir up a fuss over the filming of Brick Lane where I live, claiming the local community was up in arms about it. In fact most people from the local community were queuing up hoping to be cast as extras.
Sorry to be serious, but it's nearly impossible to write without offending someone. I say we should not be cowed, but should get on with it, treating everybody and every religion equally, even if it is equally badly.
www.keithmansfield.co.ukjohnnymackintosh.comJohnny Mackintosh and the Spirit of London was published by Quercus on 3 July 2008
So much for freedom of speech
08 Aug 2008, 10:50
lest anyone find me and think me to be offensive.
