Great Regulars: I found myself caught up in what you

could call a world historical event. You could say it's a great political and intellectual event of our time, even a moral event. Not the fatwa, but the battle against radical Islam, of which this was one skirmish. There have been arguments made even by liberal-minded people, which seem to me very dangerous, which are basically cultural relativist arguments: We've got to let them do this because it's their culture. My view is no. Female circumcision--that's a bad thing. Killing people because you don't like their ideas--it's a bad thing. [--Salman Rushdie]

from Charles McGrath: The New York Times: Life During Fatwa: Hiding in a World Newly Broken

~~~~~~~~~~~