“All in all it’s much safer to write about daisies. Such pretty flowers…”
(…)
“The issue here is not whether I want to say, for instance, that contrary to some ignorant stereotypes the Prophet Mohammed was a really nice guy, a teddy bear in fact. It is whether if I say such a thing I may be hauled before some tribunal to answer for the fact that in Sudan I would have a mob howling for my blood, or because I didn’t say Peace Be Upon Him.
“So I refuse to be drawn into any sort of debate about what might be causing image problems for the Islamic faith. Not that it has any. My lips are sealed on such questions as dishonour killings. I’m sticking to flowers. Or favicons, you know, those cute little icons that appear next to some of the items in your browser ‘Favourites’ list. How, I ask you, can a business in this day and age not have a favicon? A nice blue one with white letters, or a flag, or a tiny building or something. You can even have your own picture. Unless your faith forbids depictions of the human face.
“Gaaack! I didn’t say that. Nor would I dare suggest that these human rights tribunals, at once prosecutor and judge, are alien to our constitutional order and should be abolished. You see, section 48 (1) (2) of the Canadian Human Rights Act stipulates, respecting the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (to which the CHRC may refer obstinate defendants), that ‘Persons appointed as members of the Tribunal must have experience, expertise and interest in, and sensitivity to, human rights.’ If you think that means sensitivity to ancient rights like free speech, you’re about ready for some ‘sensitivity’ training. Not for me, thanks. I’m doing daisies…”
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