When Salman Rushdie was whiling away the hours in hiding after his fatwa was issued, he could scarcely have imagined that 23 years later a) he would be alive and b) the Iranians would release a video game called The Stressful Life of Salman Rushdie and the Implementation of his Verdict, in which players set about acting on Ayatollah Khomeini’s death warrant.
Rushdie is presumably chased from literary party to catwalk after-party with an attractive woman on his arm (in a fetching head-to-toe number, of course, for this is Iran) ducking to avoid YOU, the Islamist, hellbent on destroying him. The game was unveiled this week at the second International Computer Games Expo in Tehran which sets out to provide “an opportunity to introduce Iranian culture, value and Islamic identity and also a way to present Iranian products to international computer games designers and producers”.
“We felt we should find a way to introduce our third and fourth generation to the fatwa against Salman Rushdie and its importance,” said a spokesman for the Islamic Association of Students, which invited script submissions for the game which it then handed to games developers.
More than anything, the game is an insult to Ayatollah Khomeini – when a Mafia boss orders a killing he’s not going happy if subordinates hand him a joystick and a bag of crisps.
This week two men were sentenced to death in Iran for the possession of alcohol – if only the Islamic Republic were content with punishing them with a video game called The Stressful Life of Anyone Who Fancies a Pint in Tehran.
Stressful Life could become a brand for the Islamic Republic – it accurately describes the effect of its rule, not just on Rushdie but the scores of people whose lives it has blighted over the past three decades.
If there is any hope to be gleaned from this perverse video game, it is that the most vicious fundamentalists might be content to console themselves with games consoles. Next will probably be a game for killing a Danish cartoonist or crushing the Green movement, or another one called MP, where an employee of Iran’s state-owned Press TV stands for election in the UK parliament (will he manage to convince the Pakistanis of West Bradford that he's more Pakistani than the Labour candidate?)
If video games are a vent for violent urges, then bring on the fantasy fatwa: these games should be supplied to radicals the world over.
Some years ago I spotted Salman Rushdie in a pub with his then partner Padma Lakshmi. I plucked up my courage and went up to apologise personally for the Ayatollah’s fatwa – I was very possibly the first Iranian to have done so. I was wearing stubble and a camouflage jacket which didn't help, but I like to think Mr Rushdie appreciated the gesture.
As the West fails to hit Iran where it hurts, with infantile posturing and bluster about a nuclear threat instead of Iran’s ongoing human rights abuses, its political prisoners and its suppression of the opposition, the mullahs are having are laugh and going “Wiiiiiii”. If the West backs the people of Iran rather than war, the mullahs will fail the next level: game over.
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Thanks Peyvand for your article
by Anahid Hojjati on Mon Jul 02, 2012 10:09 AM PDTWe Iranians in Diaspora really need to be updated about the latest technological developments in Iran. I have to watch what I write or they will have a game titled" stressful life of a female blogger in Diaspora". These IRI guys really have no shame.
Special delivery...Fatwa included!
by Dr. Mohandes on Mon Jul 02, 2012 09:46 AM PDTHere we go faramarz. you want a fatwa? you got a fatwa.
Hey there sexy wild thing:) grrrrrrrrrr.
I hearby sentence you or rather bestow upon you a nice juicy fatwa stating that from here on out you are doomed to stay with any blond, brunett, black skinned, chiqitas, of your own choosing.
Drink and eat and be merry and feel the joy! Stay in bed all day with them chiquitas and not be worried about thy daily subsistance for it shall be provided!
Enjoy the scenery all around...use your wisdon and intelligence to discover the unexplored holes and caves and feel free to plunder their dungeons:)
I heard that last line on this movie i was watching...what was it called? oh , "17 again".
.....
by First Amendment on Mon Jul 02, 2012 06:10 AM PDTSomething to read..........kinda rarity these days.......thanks.....
I Want a Fatwa Too!
by Faramarz on Mon Jul 02, 2012 05:52 AM PDTWhat should a man do to get a Fatwa around here?
I look at the picture on this blog where a goofy-looking Rushdie is drawn to a gorgeous model’s perky breasts at his eye level, dreaming about all the fun and excitement that awaits him. He must be thanking Khomeini deep inside!
I wish the same fate for Shahin Najafi and maybe some day soon, I’ll be talented enough to get a well-deserved Fatwa and all the perky perks that come with it!
God truly hates Salman
by choghok on Mon Jul 02, 2012 04:46 AM PDTYou could see how he is in agony and pain not to say stress while hugging the beauty next to him.