Wow, now this was f-ing quick..... (last graph)

[kayakjohnny]

In the Arab world: a gesture of contempt


In the Arab world, shoe flinging is a gesture of extreme disrespect. A notable occurrence of this gesture happened in Baghdad, Iraq in 2003. When U.S. forces pulled down a giant statue of Saddam Hussein during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, many Iraqi detractors of Hussein threw their shoes at the fallen statue.

This may be an ancient gesture from the Middle East; Psalms 60:8, speaking of some of the traditional enemies of Judah, says that "Moab is my washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe...." (KJV)

The shoe represents the lowest part of the body (the foot) and displaying or throwing a shoe at someone or something in Arab cultures denotes that the person or thing is "beneath them." Showing the bottom of one's feet or shoes (for example, putting one's feet up on a table or desk) in Arab cultures is considered an extreme insult. Examples include Iraqi citizens smacking torn-down posters of Saddam Hussein with their shoes, and the depiction of President of the United States George H. W. Bush on a tile mosaic of the floor of the Al-Rashid Hotel's lobby, forcing all visitors entering the hotel to walk on Bush's face to enter the hotel.

During President George W. Bush's surprise visit to Iraq in December 2008, an Iraqi man threw shoes at him during a press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Kamel al-Maliki.<1>. President Bush later told reporters that he did not feel the incident was a "big deal" and that it "did not represent the Iraqi media as a whole."

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

[Tangerine LaBamba]

1. I love the Internets

All those tubes.

Have you checked YouTube? They got VIDEO!!

[gratuitous]

2. Interviewed on ABC by Martha Raddatz, Bush claimed

Bush claimed he didn't know what Mr. Zaidi's "beef" was. Bush's tone and demeanor said to me that he didn't think anyone could possibly have a "beef" with him.

[Ian David]

3. Too bad he wasn't following Malachi 2:3

Malachi 2:3 Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces."

http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/mal/2.html#3

[panader0]

5. I know how to spread dung

but how exactly does one corrupt seed?

[undeterred]

7. Doesn't seed mean offspring?

Like I will get your young daughters drunk and have nasty sex with them.

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

9. Yes, in that context it would.

I'm calling "not it."

[uppityperson]

4. naw, it just represented those who had been kidnapped and tortured or killed.

that seems enough though.

[peacetalksforall]

6. Wiki also has this on the al-Rashid Hotel -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Rashid_Hotel

Wow! That's a lot more serious than a single or a pair of shoes, isn't it?

Let's hope there will never be another Bush in or near the White House.

Let us hope that these criminals of imperialism and death-destruction - all of them - are finished.

[ColbertWatcher]

8. Pic of that mosaic ...