Biden's comment on the attack on Rushdie was vacuous.

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Aug 13, 2022 at 17:38

Dear Dr Pipes, The Times of India reported that President Joe Biden made the following statement on the attack on Rushdie:

"Jill and I were shocked and saddened to learn of the vicious attack on Salman Rushdie yesterday in New York. We, together with all Americans and people of the around the world, are praying for his health and recovery."

I find that Joe Biden's statement was essentially vacuous. For example, he could have made exactly the same statement of Rushdie had been attacked by a wild animal during an African safari. In his next statement on this or similar issue, I suggest that Biden adds one of the following three example sentences to his statement (many other are possible):

1. As the president of the United States, I say that this kind of violence goes against the values that USA stands for and we will not tolerate this kind of attacks on our soil.

2. This country stands for freedom of thought and expression. We oppose all ideologies that suppress these freedoms.

3. We would like Islamic terrorists to understand that their belief systems violate our values. There is no space in America for this kind of thinking.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".