What did this guy get a knighthood for?
Major Author.
And famous for being sentenced to death by the Ayatollah after one of his books, The Satanic Verses, did not portay Islam in a very good light.
One of his sh!tty books. He's written some absolutely great books too, btw. Although too self-respecting they certainly are... still, has anyone on here read
Fury?
I read this interview with a Marathi author about it... reiterating the point (also made by Rushdie a lot) that Iran were actually johnny-come-latelies to the "Burn the Satanic Verses" camp - the book was banned in India before anybody in Iran took note at all.
He also expressed outrage at the committee that nominates candidates for the Knighthood, and their ridiculous declaration that they hadn't expected this to be controversial at all and had hoped to make a gesture of east-west reconciliation. He basically said "this is so dumb a lie that no one in the world will fall for it. They must have known how controversial this would be, and if they don't have the courage to stand by their decision then it would have been better if they hadn't made it."
And of course he commented negatively on censorship on account of hurt religious feelings, whether Muslim, Hindu, or Christian (cough Da Vinci Code) , all of which is quite common in the Subcontinent and becoming more so.
