What a marvelous essay by Mr. Rushdie, which can be found here http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/28/opinion/sunday/whither-moral-courage.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0, excerpts of which are below:
[W]e have become suspicious of those who take a stand against the abuses of power or dogma.
It was not always so. The writers and intellectuals who opposed Communism, Solzhenitsyn, Sakharov and the rest, were widely esteemed for their stand.
...
As recently as 1989, the image of a man carrying two shopping bags and defying the tanks of Tiananmen Square became, almost at once, a global symbol of courage.
Then, it seems, things changed. The “Tank Man” has been largely forgotten in China, while the pro-democracy protesters, including those who died in the massacre of June 3 and 4, have been successfully redescribed by the Chinese authorities as counterrevolutionaries.
...
Such is the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church that the jailed members of the Pussy Riot collective are widely perceived, inside Russia, as immoral troublemakers...
...
In February 2012, a Saudi poet and journalist, Hamza Kashgari, published three tweets about the
Prophet Muhammad:
“On your birthday, I will say that I have loved the rebel in you, that you’ve always been
a source of inspiration to me, and that I do not like the halos of divinity around you. I
shall not pray for you.” “On your birthday, I find you wherever I turn. I will say that I
have loved aspects of you, hated others, and could not understand many more.” “On
your birthday, I shall not bow to you. I shall not kiss your hand. Rather, I shall shake it
as equals do, and smile at you as you smile at me. I shall speak to you as a friend, no
more.”
...
He found little public support, was condemned as an apostate, and there were
many calls for his execution. He remains in jail.
