The Indian born British-American novelist, Salman Rushdie, was yesterday stabbed on stage in New York, where he was present for a lecture. The 75-year-old author was to address a large audience on the topic of artistic freedom when the incident took place.
The author’s agent said that Salman Rushdie suffered severed nerves in an arm and damage to his liver, and could lose an eye. “The news is not good,” Andrew Wylie, his agent, wrote in an email. “Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged.”
The world is inhumanely becoming an unsolved puzzle, full of people with hate and suppressed anger, offended at any given circumstance. Whatever we may deem from this incident, or any other, one thing remains irrevocably clear: Art is a freedom of expression, and it is the right of an artist to create and present their views, their thoughts, in a way that they seem legitimate. To consume that piece of art, then, becomes optional. For you, for us, for everyone. Consumption of art is a choice, but creation, a need. If we continue this culture of nonsensical viewership over creative freedom, then as a society, we are bound to doom.
We must always remember, without art, we are nothing. We wish Salman Rushdie a speedy recovery, and pray that he is back to his best. Although things would never be the same for him, there is still a hope for resurgence.
