In a post I wrote awhile back, I bemoaned the increasing prevalence of censorship done in the name of “tolerance”. It seems that I am not alone in my opinion. I found this opinion piece by Jo Glanville by way of a RichardDawkins.net reprint. In it, Glanville calls the corporate coward Random House Books to task for caving to threats of violence and reversing a decision to publish The Jewel of Medina.

“It was also disingenuous of Random House to suggest that the novel might incite violence. Certain members of the population might choose to commit an act of violence, but that is not the same as the book itself inciting violence. To pass the responsibility in this way to the novel was a betrayal of the author and of free speech.”

But Glanville brought something to my attention that I was unaware of. The Jewel of Medina will be published, at least in Britain. A small and brave publisher, Gibson Square Books, has signed a deal with the book’s author, Sherry Jones.

The decision by Gibson Square’s owner, Martin Rynja, was met with violence. Over the last weekend, Gibson Square’s offices suffered a fire bomb attack. No one was injured and three suspects are in custody.

In my opinion, the book sounds completely awful - it’s a historical fiction based on the romance between Mohammed and his prepubescent wife, Aisha. Despite that, I’m tempted to buy it just to rub it in the faces of these self-righteous assholes. More likely, I will purchase another book from the publisher simply to reward their dedication to free speech.

This above image is licensed by Windy Ed.