From the OTHER SIDE OF THE DESK
United, not divided
As writers, shouldn’t we look for what we’ve got in common, and not just at what divides us, asks Piers Blofeld
Piers Blofeld
One of the most depressing aspects of the Salman Rushdie stabbing is the way that it so quickly became folded into our ongoing obsession with the so-called culture wars. It is extraordinary and saddening that when writers as august as Philip Pullman, Antony Horowitz and Ian McEwan talk about cultures of fear, self-censorship and death threats, they are not talking about the ravings of fascistic theocratic nutjobs, but their colleagues in the publishing business, other writers, readers. People who love books.
Just to be clear, I don’t think that there are many writers who post death threats on Twitter – if any – but the objects of fear are not some clearly defined ‘other’ but people who just a few years ago would have simply been assumed to be in ‘our’ camp. There is no longer any ‘our’.