That time 16-year-old Malala Yousafzai left Jon Stewart speechless with a comment about pacificism
Pakistani activist and 2014 Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai is scheduled to appear on the Daily Show on June 18th, 2015. It is the second time she has appeared on the show.
Yousafzai's first appearance, back in 2013, was exceptionally memorable. She appeared on the show just days ahead of her receiving the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize.
Her answer to one of Jon Stewart's questions left him speechless.
An outspoken critic of the Taliban's tactics in her native Swat Valley from a young age, Malala was the subject of an attempted assassination at the hands of a Taliban gunman because she was unafraid to speak out.
Then, at just 14 years old, a Talib fighter boarded her bus, pointed a pistol at her head, and pulled the trigger. But she survived, made a full recovery in England, and has become a transformative figure on human rights.
She was favored to become the youngest Nobel Peace laureate ever, and has been widely recognized for her work.
In the key moment of the interview, Stewart asked her how she reacted when she learned that the Taliban wanted her dead. Her answer was absolutely remarkable:
I started thinking about that, and I used to think that the Talib would come, and he would just kill me. But then I said, 'If he comes, what would you do Malala?' then I would reply to myself, 'Malala, just take a shoe and hit him.' But then I said, 'If you hit a Talib with your shoe, then there would be no difference between you and the Talib. You must not treat others with cruelty and that much harshly, you must fight others but through peace and through dialogue and through education.' Then I said I will tell him how important education is and that 'I even want education for your children as well.' And I will tell him, 'That's what I want to tell you, now do what you want.'
Watch below (answer at 4:20):
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