The Price Is Right

You may be under the mistaken impression that you have to be a far-right, fundamentalist Muslim in order to collect the bounty on the head of a writer. Certainly, the current examples of the Iranian fatwa against Salman Rushdie, or the money offered for the death of Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin suggest that dealing with controversial writers is one area in which Developed Nations could learn a thing or two from Developing Nations.

However, the world is full of fundamentalisms. If you just wait, your favourite writer could some day have a death threat hanging over his or her head. Below are suggested just a few of the many possibilities (with current rates as a basis for comparison). While it's true that an "I am Paul Quarrington" campaign isn't likely to spark the world's conscience, it's important to remember that no writer is so insignificant that some group wouldn't be glad to pay for his or her death.

Name Bounty Organization/Person Reason
Salman Rushdie $1 million Ayatollah Khomeni apostasy, defaming Mohamed's wives in The Satanic Verses
Taslima Nasrin $5,000 Bangladesh fundamentalists defaming Islam
Douglas Coupland Green Day tickets Young Republicans creating the "Generation X" label
Norman Mailer year of daycare NOW macho swaggering (at his age!)
Paul Quarrington barrel of Rickard's Red Greenpeace writing Whale Music
Mordecai Richler winter in Florida Parti Quebecois not taking Separatism seriously
Paul McCartney An Anthology of Verse American League of Poets they've had enough of silly love songs
Tom Clancy 6 Stinger missiles Amnesty International not getting the end of the Cold War
Robert Munsch Disney gift certificates Western Guard teaching children cooperation