SBD

The latest literary controversy exists over Random House backing out of publishing Sherry Jones's "The Jewel of Medina" which is about Mohammed's favored wife. The controversy boils down to (from what I understand) RH sending the ARC to a Islamic expert professor at University of Texas, who had a screaming meany fit and called up her Muslim friends to alert them of the upcoming book and then called RH to warn them the Muslims might cause harm to RH if they published it. (This is the cliff notes version, so if you're interested in details, Google).

Several things bug me about this.
1) the anti-Muslim slant that if they are upset about a book they probably wouldn't have read anyway, they are going to bomb RH. Simon and Schuster has published Brad Thor's latest thriller about a discovery that blows up the entire concept of Islam. Now while Glenn Beck announced he thought that Brad would have a death threat for this book, no one has done so. (I love that I have now put Glenn Beck and the UT professor Denise Spellberg in the same category). I truly think Dr Spellberg did a great disservice to the Muslim community.

2) the anti-feminist slant. Ms. Jones's book is a historical fiction written by a woman and therefore isn't the same as the Satanic Verses or the Last Temptation of Christ because well I don't know, because Ms Jones doesn't have a penis? I've noticed that her book has been put down as a "bodice ripper", "stupid ugly book" (that one from the esteemed Dr. Spellberg), and etc. And of course it isn't a bodice ripper. Ms Jones got a $100,000 two book contract, romances don't.

3) Most importantly, RH is a bunch of pussies. Publishing houses have always been on the forefront of freedom of speech and freedom of expression. To have one cave under the possibility of the possibility of someone might be upset and possibility could do something violent is disgusting to me. Think of it this way: not just extreme Muslims, but also extreme fundamentalist Christians would believe that violence is the way to stop abortions, would RH cave to them? What about the extreme Luddites would fear technology? There is always some extreme wacko ready to get his/her panties in a wad. You can't live worrying about them.