The mohammed cartoons were stupid. Stupid & juvenile. Stupid, juvenile & insulting scribbles that resulted in stupid, juvenile & insulting people reacting with destruction & violence. But, we in the West, revere free speech and people's right to that speech. We will defend to the death your right to be stupid.
In Canada, not so much.
Ezra Levant was one of the few publishers in Canada to reprint the notorious “Mohammed cartoons” in 2006. Two years later, he’s been hauled before a “human rights officer” to explain why offending the delicate sensibilities of sharia-minded imams is legal, legitimate and necessary.
Levant is correct in stating that the most unreasonable speech must be protected. It is the unreasonable free speech of women that got them the vote; the unreasonable free speech of blacks that allowed schools to be de-segregated; the unreasonable free speech of Native Americans that allowed them to be repaid for past wrongs; the unreasonable free speech of South Africans that got rid of apartheid.
Equally important is the declaration by Levant that the one institution that he does not have to answer to about the reasonableness of his free speech is the government.
