This looks funny... but has more cultural significance than I first realized.
By Martin Asser
BBC News
"Around the Arab world, if you want to escalate a situation, by saying for example "I'm going to thump you", add the words "with a shoe" and you're literally adding insult to injury, at least the threat of injury.
It's that cultural significance that has added real sting to assault by an Iraqi journalist against US President George W Bush at a Baghdad news conference.
In Arab culture it's considered rude even to display the sole of one's shoe to a fellow human being.
Certainly, crossing one's legs ankle-on-knee style should never be done in a public place for fear of offending the person next to you.
The sensitivity is related to the fact shoes are considered ritually unclean in the Muslim faith.
In addition to ritual ablutions before prayer, Muslims must take off their shoes to pray, and wearing shoes inside a mosque is forbidden.
Shoes should either be left at the door of the mosque, or carried (preferably in the left hand with the soles pressed together).
But beyond the Islamic significance, the dirty and degrading implication of the sole of a shoe crosses all religious boundaries in the Middle East. "
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Interesting comments on my post - that is no longer up. Hmmmmm..... I have much I would like to say... but I'd better let it die.
2 comments:
Hey, your blog is your blog. Don't let anyone else dictate what you write or post. (just my two cents) Blogs are a good place (in fact, the most popular place) for controversial discussions, opinions, etc. And certainly a place for free personal expression - I am kindly withholding my personal opinion on some of your comments received...
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Yeah, my first thought was that it looked really silly and that the President did an excellent job ducking out of the way. My second thought was that it took security a long time to show up. It wasn't until I was telling someone else about it that it clicked what the cultural significance was.
I haven't had the time to check blogs in a couple of weeks. I see I missed something....
I was shocked at the whole shoe throwing episode and was wondering where security was. I had not thought of the cultural side of things. Interesting.
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