"Writers represent the part of our culture that engages with humanity through ideas ... May it never be eroded by the brute force of an arm wielding a knife."

Salman Rushdie (seen above in earlier days), was attacked by a knife-wielding loon earlier this week, 

33 years after a 'fatwa' was placed upon his head for writing his novel The Satanic Verses

"[J]ust as the mind recoils at the sight of a single book burned, the spilled blood of an author inspires revulsion.
    "[Salman] Rushdie ... has become something of an absolutist on the freedom of expression. In a speech at Emory University in 2015, he said that “limiting freedom of expression is not just censorship, it’s an assault on human nature.” He rejected the relativistic notion that “freedom of expression is culturally specific” and that certain cultures can simply “reserve the right to reject it.” To him, the right to speak your mind, about anything, is universal, and he warns of the danger that accompanies the fact that it has ceased to be considered as such....
    "Writers represent the part of our culture that engages with humanity through ideas, whose passion is expressed through sentences and paragraphs and pages. It’s a realm we should not just preserve but defend. May it never be eroded by the brute force of an arm wielding a knife. We should all hope that Rushdie survives. And not just because a writer should never have to give his life for what he has written. But because we need him to keep reminding us of the worst of what can happen—the violence that can happen—to someone who has used nothing more than his words."
          ~ Gal Beckerman, from his op-ed 'All Because Salman Rushdie Wrote a Book'