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The flying shoes that greeted President Bush at his press conference in Iraq on Sunday are the latest emblem of an outlook that sees all events through the prism of a wounded sense of Arab nationalism. This political culture sanctifies anti-Western fury, and continues, half a century after decolonization, to see the Arabs as hapless victims of the West. The tremendous popularity of Hizbullah's Hassan Nasrallah and even the non-Arab Mahmoud Ahmedinejad among broad masses of Arabs is a product of this political culture.
It is an undeniable fact that the individual more responsible than any other for the enfranchisement and elevation to power of the Shi'ites of Iraq is George W. Bush. The man who established a situation in which the Iraqi Shi'ite Muntadar al-Zeidi is able to work freely as a journalist, worship freely as a Shi'ite, and vote freely as a citizen was the same one at whom Zeidi chose to hurl his shoes. The peculiar political culture of self-righteous fury that bestrides the Arabic-speaking world constitutes perhaps the single largest barrier to its rational and mature development.

eva

nice propoganda-style phony logic, lol
typical of the loony left

saying one is anti-american and anti-bush
doesn't mean anti-bush = ameircan

the 50+% of Americans who voted for Obama are not necessarily anti-Bush by any means

there are millions of reasons people voted obama ranging from his policies to his skin color to his manner of speaking to things that have nothing to do with obama or bush for that matter

please spare us with shoddy logic and phony attributions

best,

samir in bay ridge

hjs,
couldn't agree more.
Bush works for the Chinese government.
Seriously. Under his watch, the Chinese government now owns more US Treasuries than does Japan. They had been neck-in-neck, the shift occurred about two weeks ago.
I preferred it when Japan held more.

clearly bush is anti-america, considering the state he is leaving this nation in!

#36,

As 52.7 percent of the voting public just indicated, being anti-Bush (and being similarly against a continuation of Bush's idiotic policies) doesn't mean you're anti-American, but thanks for trying.

One could suggest that ignoring the deaths of American soldiers, as you seem to want to, can be construed as more seriously anti-American.

But I personally don't waste a lot of time parsing who is anti or pro-American. I find the people who insist most loudly that they're pro-American - (or who insist that others who disagree with them are somehow anti-American) - to be entirely transparent.

And with record low approval ratings (7%) I think it's pretty clear that I'm not the only person who's sick and tired of our sitting President, and will be just as glad as W. will be when he leaves the office he was entirely unsuited to hold. Note that the bulk of the donations from enlisted men in this presidential election went to Obama, not to the candidate who wanted to continue Bush's follies.

eva- clearly you don't like Bush and have a lot of sympathy for ant-Bush and anti-Americans in the Arab/Muslim world. That is your right.

Having suffered directly at the hands of Muslims in Lebanon, I have somewhat a different perspective.

cest la vie

Amy wrote:

"And Samir [28], of course it was an impotent gesture--that's (part of) the point. He threw the shoes because he & so many others were impotent to stop the killing. I also don't think it's "unreasoning" to feel & express rage about the widows, the orphans, & the dead in whose name he threw them."

Thank you for expressing perfectly why so many people - not just Arabs, but Americans and Europeans and many people in Asia and Africa - reacted to this incident.

I'm amazed that people are spending more time reflecting on the shoe size than the people he spoke for. To me it says that people will ignore the message they most need to hear.

To lump it in with Danish cartoons seems wildly beside the point, when people all over the world are watching this video and understanding just how this guy feels.

The point is: they don't hate us for our freedoms; they never did. They hate us for our policy, and after the last eight years, they hate us for our President, a man we should have impeached long, long ago.

Dan [22], Germany isn't the only place where the thumb between the 1st 2 fingers means good luck, & Costa Rica isn't the only place where the same gesture is offensive. It's well known in Brazil as a good luck sign, & some people even wear pendants in that shape. But the other meaning is common not just in Costa Rica but in many Spanish-speaking parts of Latin America. On the other hand, in Brazil the gesture we use in the US for "OK"--thumb & index finger making a circle, other fingers straight--is considered obscene.

And Samir [28], of course it was an impotent gesture--that's (part of) the point. He threw the shoes because he & so many others were impotent to stop the killing. I also don't think it's "unreasoning" to feel & express rage about the widows, the orphans, & the dead in whose name he threw them. On the other hand, his action wasn't entirely harmless--unfortunately, Dana Perino was hit in the face by a microphone.

And again, samir, I point to the reactions to similar incidents around the world. Particularly those of bloggers! Come on. It's one of those unfortunate things about being human that we tend to throw out our own convictions in favor of choosing a side. If somebody we like gets humiliated, then the person who did it is a villain. If it's somebody we dislike, we place it in a larger theme that justifies it. And that stupid childish act will be seen as being a sort of release for all the people who have long stood in opposition to that person. The incident will be seen as a metaphor for that person's career.

I have seen people rich and poor, young and old, well-educated and poorly-educated take great joy in silly things done to people they hate. The failing is a human trait that I have seen too many times to so casually lay at the feet of one culture, one place or one point in history.

The Danish cartoons, however, I see as being a separate issue. On that point, I would agree that the reaction was something, at this point in history, that is more or less exclusive to the Muslim world.

Paulo, the point is not the shoe throwing - it's the reaction of the Arab world.

Reminds me of the Danish cartoons.

On the other hand, there were people in the United States who hailed crushing Dixie Chick CDs with a steam roller because of a comment they made. Our own government renamed French Fries Freedom Fries.

Samir, you can hardly claim that Americans hold the intellectual high ground on silly political gestures.

Is the shoe throw really any different from any number of immature political acts around the world? Hecklers at rallies? People dressing up in dopey costumes at protests and rallies? Shouting extremely crass and offensive things at political gatherings? If the shoe throw is a sign of the impoverishment of Arab culture, it's equally sign of the impoverishment of any other culture where similar things go on. The real failing here is the security.

1) Bush has been ducking important issues for years, so his reflexes should be sharp.

2) A Yiddish curse that I heard as a youth translates as follow:

"May you eat a trolley car and [pass] the transfers"

Does it get any better than that? :-D

Zaidi's heel-hurling was "hailed by many in the Arab world as an ideal parting gift to the unpopular US president," and it actually quotes Arabs praising this silly action:

"Throwing the shoes at Bush was the best goodbye kiss ever . . . it expresses how Iraqis and other Arabs hate Bush," wrote Musa Barhoumeh, editor of Jordan's independent Al-Gahd Arabic newspaper. . . .

"All US soldiers who have used their shoes to humiliate Iraqis should be brought to justice, along with their US superiors, including Bush," said Ali Qeisi, head of a Jordan-based Iraqi rights group, calling for Zaidi's release.

"The flying shoe speaks more for Arab public opinion than all the despots/puppets that Bush meets with during his travels in the Middle East," said Asad Abu Khalil, a popular Lebanese-American blogger and professor at Stanislaus University in California at angryarab.blogspot.com.

If these comments are representative, they tell you something about the intellectual impoverishment of Arab culture.

Zaidi is a hero in the view of these men for his childish, impotent and potentially (though not actually) harmful expression of unreasoning rage.

Meanwhile, AFP reports that "Saddam Hussein's former lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi said he was forming a team to defend Zaidi and that around 200 lawyers, including Americans, had offered their services for free." Of course Dulaimi did not end up doing all that well by his last high-profile client, who as far as we know is still dead.

If Zaidi is smart, he'll hold out for a white-shoe firm.

KC #8
I see. Only Boomer trust-fund kids act that way.

Unreasoning rage? He threw a shoe at a man who ordered the deaths of thousands.

I doubt the journalist felt Bush was a "guest." Since when is the leader of an invading army considered a guest?

Did Americans really throw tomatoes, cabbage and eggs at a bade performer?

So what I get from this discussion is a dog bringing you a pair of shoes is the worst thing that could ever happen?

One gesture, two meanings. To make the gesture, make a fist, then stick your thumb out between your forefinger and "tall man."

I lived for a while in Germany, where "holding your thumbs" is supposed to bring good luck, like crossing your fingers in the U.S.

In Costa Rica, on the other hand, the same gesture is the equivalent of giving someone the finger in the U.S.

I always thought that in a soccer match between Germany and Costa Rica, a fight would break out as German fans holding their thumbs for luck offended Costa Rican fans.

When I get angry at someone on the road I prefer to give them a thumbs up or even two thumbs up instead of the finger. I feel it's a much more cynical insult and far less likely to provoke road rage.

I think all holiday visitors and others in DC should, individually and not as an organized group go to the white house and throw a pair of shoes over the fence, at Bush, but in donation to those in Iraq who have no shoes.

The great irony of this episode is that had the reporter thrown the shoe during a Saddam press conference in the "good old days" of that regime, there would be one fewer head in the Iraqi press corps ... literally.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-ostertag/throw-my-shoes-too_b_151303.html

"Muntadhar al-Zeidi is a hero."

If you agree, post a picture of yourself with your shoes at Bob's flickr group.

An insult is only effective if both parties understand it. This put Bush at a disadvantage from the start.

I know it was a joke but it's bothersome that Bush wouldn't even ponder the possibility that Iraqi shoe sizes are measured differently than American shoes. Although saying it's a 241 or a 43 1/2 isn't that funny.

white flowers as a gift -- however beautiful it's the ultimate insult in asia.

white flowers=death

In what culture is the throwing of shoes a compliment? Perhaps in West coast punk?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_Long_and_Thanks_for_All_the_Shoes

When I lived in Jamaica, the biggest insult was to call someone a "clot," referring I understand to women's menstrual cycle.

Among middle class households in Jamaica, almost all of whom employ servants to do laundry, asking the (woman) servant to wash women's underwear is grounds for the employee to quit. It is (of course) commonplace for the servants to wash men's underwear.

7- ceolaf

that's an old wives tale, not true!

Hand thing -- middle north asia (china, Vietnam) the same...that's why they waggle the outside of the hand rather than the palm to beckon someone.

Bush's reaction is not surprising considering the amount of contempt he has shown to reporters who have questioned his statements and actions for the past eight years, not to mention the contempt he has shown towards everybody else in the world. By making a joke of it, by belittling the action, he expects everyone else to treat it as such also.

In what culture is the throwing of shoes a compliment? Perhaps West coast punk?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_Long_and_Thanks_for_All_the_Shoes

I love it. What a Boomer trust-fund kid. "He was throwing his shoes to take attention away from me! I deserve that attention!"

It is a Jewish custom to name children after diseased ancestors/family members.

So, and old Yiddish insult: May a child soon be named after you.

Bush is a superb ducker. I'm so impressed. I would have preferred a shiner on him but his ducking was impressive.

Do we really want to open this can of worms?

The American equivalent would be throwing a custard pie (as we saw in the Milk movie).

If we can't impeach Bush, at least we should be able to hit him with a custard pie.

and bush's response "i don't know what his beef was"

what? clearly bush is out of touch with reality

He should be lauded as a hero here too!!! Why do you subject us to listening Bush. He's not a lame duck, the man is a dead duck, nothing matters what he says.

What was the Secret Service doing? Especially, for the second bullet -- I mean shoe.