was watching the ZDF morning show before going to work, and they did a small report on the shoe incident. apparently it took 9 seconds before the guards reacted. that’s kind of slow.
the shoes are symbolically meaningful, the report said, since according to iranian beliefs they covered the dirties part of the body – the feet, which touch the ground. in persian, to call someone a ‘dog’ is also terribly insulting. coincidentally it’s the same as indonesian – you never want to call someone a dog. and the feet are indeed the dirty part of the body. and touching someone’s head is a no no. so you’ve got shoe aimed at head, and on top of it, the word dog.
so as far as expressing your emotions go, that pretty much says it all. it was more effective than if al-zaidi tried to shoot bush. so i wondered what happened afterwards to him. what is the punishment for throwing shoes at one of the most ‘powerful’ men in the world, i wonder? an IHT report said that he will get 7 years prison time for attacking a visiting head of state.
also funny were people’s reactions. according to the IHT al-Zaidi was apparently awarded a medal of courage by someone in Libya. and in southern Iraq people were taking off their shoes and throwing them at a US convoy. the ZDF reported that 50 lawyers offered their services to him for free. the IHT article quotes over 100. that’s a lot of people…
my personal experience doesn’t contradict those sentiments. most found it simply hilarous. some people on facebook also commented that they thought bush had it coming. that god is just and he got what he deserved.
bush has lost just so much respect that a reporter would have the courage to do what he did, and lots of people applaud the action and wished they would’ve done it themselves. i have heard very few indignant reactions. even bush didn’t seem indignant. and that’s saying a lot.
