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The conversation doesn't start with questioning what Matar says or thinks. It starts with "I forgive you. I love you. I pray for you." Wondering what or why is a waste of time. Forgiveness doesn't mean that you don't want him to pay for his crimes, but it is the first step in your healing. He does not control you. Hate is a poison you take hoping the other person will die. Once you are free of him, you can redouble your efforts to be a better person and love humanity more deeply.

As to why it happened, contrary to dunce ex-President Carter who is always ready to excuse Islamist violence, it is all Matar's fault. He chose to do it. He chose violence. He is part of a death cult.

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Huzzah for Salman Rushdie.

It is time for the sane and secular world to declare a fatwah against every ayatollah alive.

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Apr 22·edited Apr 22

Mr. Rushdie wondered if Jimmy Carter had been right? No, rest assured, Mr. Rushdie, the American public answered that question for you. They sent him packing. And ever since then, Carter has justified that rejection by acting the well-meaning fool; supporting leftist causes and excusing the evil and atrocity attendant to them.

And thank you for giving us the truth and a name for Islam - the Satanic Verses. Says it all.

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The poor old fellow. Imagine all the peace the religion of peace wishes on him. The same people you reprobates on the left support over lonely Israel.

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I love this:

“To regret what your life has been is the true folly, I told myself, because the person doing the regretting has been shaped by the life he subsequently regrets.”

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If I had a dime for every time the NYT published an embarrassing op-ed, I could stop playing the lottery.

Rushdie is an international treasure, and I would hope that his works are on the mandatory reading lists of whatever remains of English departments in American universities.

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London or New York, it doesn’t matter. The murderous Islamic fundamentalists are everywhere and they will perpetrate their evil wherever and whenever they can or want to. We aren’t doing enough to stop them. Rushdie is an extraordinary man but he won’t be their last victim.

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Your old friend, Christopher Hitchens, would be proud of you and your recovery. Your decision to rebuild and continue your life is the best possible answer to those who would silence you, and that you are able to ask yourself whether you were saved by a supernatural power is simply a sign of an enquiring and intelligent mind. If there were to be a God, he would be proud of your spirit.

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“NOT TODAY, SATAN!” -Salman Rushdie (citation needed)

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Belief in a “sane and secular” world, is the deepest fantasy.

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I read most of Rushdie's books and I can think of only two other writers in the English language, alive today, of his stature: Ishiguro and McEwan. Every day that Rushdie lives and writes is a gift to all of us. And yet I don't see where the miracle lies. He was saved by the quick and level-headed action of a few people at the scene, by prompt and dedicated care, and not least by the incompetence and stupid fury of his attacker who stabbed him many times but fortunately failed in his enterprise.

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I am glad Mr. Rushdie survived so his story can be told over and over again.

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It’s interesting…to live in a world where you don’t believe in miracles. For me, that’s like saying you don’t believe in the sky or trees or the sun.

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On a silly level, I'm glad Mr. Rushdie came out of the shadows. He had a small part in one of my favorite movies, Bridget Jones' Diary. And I'm so thankful he wrote a book after this attack. The printed word will survive long after his assailant.

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Thanks for the reminder of the grossness of Jimmy Carter. His malevolence has long been forgotten and he will likely be remembered for building houses not his ever growing hostility to Israel and his own country in favor of Islamic terrorists.

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I'm In for the Fatwah on the Ayotllah's, these people are not humans but animals. Are there not enough Muslims in the world who need to learn to live without Western Aid and Support then attack the very people who try to assist them. The Palestinians' could exist without Western Aid they produce little or nothing they rely on others for their very existence yet they attack Israel at every opportunity. Start with cutting the aid most of which seems to flow to Hamas. Time to bring Iran to heel as well, no good can come from allowing this to continue.

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