Fundamentally Speaking: Cat Stevens vs. Salman Rushdie

AN ASPECT of the Salman Rushdie episode that particularly intrigues is the way passions have been so readily aroused. It is as if the text in itself is a catalyst for society's new more willing predisposition to take offence. Divisions that were always apparent now seem deeply and dangerously entrenched, and suddenly a chasm of misunderstanding is open to our eyes.