“Why would he include a few passages in his enormous amount of published writing that would endanger his life. I don’t get it.”
Why would Charlie Hebdo magazine in France go ahead and publish cartoons mocking Mohammed even after terrorists threatened to attack them if they did?
Because the only way to stop people trying to intimidate you is to go ahead and do the thing they are trying to stop you from doing. If you don’t, they’ll know intimidation works and they’ll never stop. Now, if you do the thing, they may escalate beyond intimidation. But if you put a value on freedom, then that’s a risk you have to take if you want to enjoy it free from coercion.
“Why would Charlie Hebdo magazine in France go ahead and publish cartoons mocking Mohammed even after terrorists threatened to attack them if they did?”
I’d say because he wanted to.
Rushdie is a broad, imaginative, literary person. Seems odd that he’d want to stir up dangerous people.
Well said! The very title of the book is a reference to the the voices heard by Mohamed.