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Iraqi Reporter Throws Shoes at Bush (pg. 7)
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| Halcyon+On+On |
| quote: | Originally posted by The17sss
christ :rolleyes: |
That's about the strongest statement you've ever made on these boards. |
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| Lira |
| quote: | How to insult George Bush, wherever you are in the world
George Bush was on the receiving end of the worst of all Middle Eastern insults at the weekend when an Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at the outgoing US president at a press conference in Baghdad. Throwing a shoe at a person's head isn't, of course, considered insulting in only the Islamic world, though it does carry a particularly degrading symbolism (showing the sole of your shoes is considered deeply offensive; when the statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled in Baghdad in 2003, Iraqis beat it with their shoes). Bush steps down in January, but this surely won't be the last offensive gesture he encounters on his travels. Here, then, is our handy guide.
The V sign
In his book Gestures the anthropologist Desmond Morris concluded that we will never know the origin of the two-fingered salute. One theory, though widely discredited, is that the French threatened to cut off the fingers of English archers at the Battle of Agincourt; the English would hold up two fingers as a sign that the French had failed. Not to be mistaken with the victory or peace signs: Churchill often got his fingers facing the wrong way - and on a tour of Australia in 1992, George Bush Sr flicked the Vs to a group of farmers.
The bras d'honneur
Not easily misunderstood - the slap of one hand against the crook of the opposite elbow, the aggressive thrust of the forearm and fist, and the giant phallus it is supposed to resemble. Particularly popular in France (where it is translated as "the arm of honour") and southern European countries. An exaggerated "screw you", if you like.
The thumbs up
In the Middle East, this is possibly the biggest insult you can inflict with your shoes on. A Fonz-style double thumbs up adds insult to insult. The same goes for parts of west Africa and South America. Loosely translates as "sit on this".
The OK sign
Like the thumbs up, the hand gesture that westerners know to mean everything is fine (it comes from the hand signals used by divers) has other meanings elsewhere. Do it to someone in southern Europe, and you'll be telling them they are "nothing" (or "zero"); in Brazil or Turkey an "arsehole".
Bunny ears
Although this gesture is more commonly considered a prank to sabotage photographs, it is closely related to the Italian cornuto gesture, whereby two "horns" held up behind someone's head are supposed to imply their spouse is cheating on them.
Biting the thumb
"I will bite my thumb at them, which is a disgrace to them, if they bear it." So said Sampson to his fellow Capulet servant Gregory in the first scene of Romeo and Juliet. Rarely used in southern Europe these days but surely due for a comeback.
Open hand
Nobody likes having an open palm thrust in their face - the aggression is obvious - though in Greece, where it is known as the moutza, it means "I rub in your face". It originated in Byzantine Greece where criminals were paraded through the streets, faces blackened with soot, or worse. |
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/200...bush-iraq-world
Lovely :stongue:
Ps.: the bit about the Okay sign is so true. I once showed it to my dad (meaning "OK") because I learnt it from Eddie Murphy, but that didn't stop my dad from being offended at first :p |
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| Krypton |
This journalist is a hero now. I'd like to shake the man's hand.
| quote: | Arabs hail shoe attack as Bush's farewell gift
BAGHDAD (AFP) – Iraq faced mounting calls on Monday to release the journalist who hurled his shoes at George W. Bush, an action branded shameful by the government but hailed in the Arab world as an ideal parting gift to an unpopular US president.
Colleagues of Muntazer al-Zaidi , who works for independent Iraqi television station Al-Baghdadia, said he "detested America" and had been plotting such an attack for months against the man who ordered the war on his country.
"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 newspaper.
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.
"It was the least thing for an Iraqi to do to Bush, the tyrant criminal who has killed two million people in Iraq and Afghanistan," said Dulaimi.
"Our defence of Zaidi will be based on the fact that the United States is occupying Iraq, and resistance is legitimate by all means, including shoes."
Zaidi's colleagues in Baghdad, where he had worked for three years, said he had long been planning to throw shoes at Bush if ever he got the chance.
"Muntazer detested America. He detested the US soldiers, he detested Bush," said one on condition of anonymity.
Soles of shoes are considered the ultimate insult in Arab culture. After Saddam's statue was toppled in Baghdad in April 2003, many onlookers pelted it with their shoes.
In the Shiite radical stronghold of Sadr City, where anti-US sentiment runs deep, protesters threw shoes at passing US military vehicles, while in the central shrine city of Najaf, crowds chanted "Down with America."
In the Shiite radical stronghold of Sadr City, where anti-US sentiment runs deep, protesters threw shoes at passing US military vehicles, while in the central shrine city of Najaf, crowds chanted "Down with America." |
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/2008121...iraqusbushmedia |
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| Lira |
| I wonder if he got his shoes back :p |
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| Krypton |
| quote: | Originally posted by Lira
I wonder if he got his shoes back :p |
OMG, do you know how much those shoes would fetch on EBAY? Think about it...the shoes that were thrown at President Bush! |
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| Lira |
| quote: | Originally posted by Krypton
OMG, do you know how much those shoes would fetch on EBAY? Think about it...the shoes that were thrown at President Bush! |
Yeah, but how can you prove they're the real McCoy? Oh, regarding the article you posted, Kryp, not all Iraqis were glad to see shoes being thrown at Bush:
| quote: | BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The brother of the journalist now famous for hurling his shoes at President Bush said his sibling's actions were "spontaneous" and represented millions of Iraqis who want to "humiliate the tyrant."
Dhirgham al-Zaidi, who sometimes worked as his brother's cameraman, described the reporter's hatred for the "material American occupation" and the "moral Iranian occupation."
Muntadhar al-Zaidi's feelings were influenced by watching the agony suffered by everyday Iraqis. Most of the reporter's stories focused on Iraqi widows, orphans, and children, said the brother.
Sometimes the 29-year-old journalist would cry. Moved by the tales he reported of poor families, he sometimes asked his colleagues to give money to them. On most nights, he returned to his home in central Baghdad after reporting from Sadr City, one of the country's most violent slums and the epicenter of several of the war's pitched battles.
Muntadhar al-Zaidi's reporting for Egypt-based independent television Al-Baghdadia was "against the occupation," his brother said. The journalist would occasionally sign off his stories "from occupied Baghdad."
Yet Dhirgham al-Zaidi said he was "shocked" when he saw his brother hurling his shoes at President Bush at a Sunday news conference after a surprise visit by Bush to Baghdad.
Bush swiftly ducked the flying footwear and later told reporters aboard Air Force One that the "bizarre" incident was not a sign of popular opinion in Iraq.
"These journalists here were very apologetic," Bush said. "They ... said this doesn't represent the Iraqi people, but that's what happens in free societies where people try to draw attention to themselves."
The reporter called his shoe-throwing -- a traditional insult in Arab culture -- a "farewell kiss" to a "dog" who launched the 2003 invasion of Iraq. VideoWatch how people in Baghdad are reacting »
Dhirgham al-Zaidi said Iraqi journalists told him after the incident that U.S. security stopped Iraqis from hitting the reporter.
The journalist was hustled out of the room and arrested. He remains in jail and has been tested for for alcohol and drugs to determine his state of mind, said a government official, who requested anonymity.
The al-Zaidi family plans to retain Egyptian lawyers to defend Muntadhar al-Zaidi. The reporter's brother said the family has not been contacted by the Iraqi government.
Dhirgham al-Zaidi said he is "proud" of his brother whose act, while rash, was a statement of behalf of "millions" of other Iraqis. Dhirgham said the shoe throwing was "Iraq's reaction" to the war and years of U.S. sanctions against Iraq before the conflict began. The reporter was not motivated for personal reasons, or because he has "anything against the American people," he said.
Dhirgham al-Zaidi says his brother started working for al-Baghdadia in 2005 as one of its founding staff members.
Al-Baghdadia is devoting round-the-clock coverage to the incident and calling for the immediate release of the reporter whose co-workers describe him as usually "calm and polite."
In a statement read on the air, Al-Baghdadia said al-Zaidi should be freed "in accordance with democracy and freedom of expression Iraqis were promised by the new era and American authorities."
The channel also ran the reporter's image with what it said were messages of support from viewers in a crawl at the bottom of the screen and called on Arabs, Muslims and Iraqis to support "your brother."
Dhirgham al-Zaidi, who worked with his brother but is now employed by another channel, said his brother was kidnapped in November 2007 as he was heading to work. The kidnappers tied his hands and covered his head, feeding him just two meals in three days. He was released after three days, "in very bad shape," he said. |
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/m...file/index.html
Doesn't really sound like his fellow countrymen consider him a hero :p |
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| Krypton |
| quote: | Originally posted by Lira
Yeah, but how can you prove they're the real McCoy? Oh, regarding the article you posted, Kryp, not all Iraqis were glad to see shoes being thrown at Bush:
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/m...file/index.html
Doesn't really sound like his fellow countrymen consider him a hero :p |
Iraqis are just so disgusted by his actions! |
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| hundred |
| would have been crazy if 1 of the shoes actually hit bush in the face |
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| DJ Damerchi |
tt.. 64 of the top 100 most viewed vids on youtube right now are about this, never seen anything that saturated in the time ive been yousing the tubes. the guy certainly made a name for himslef and took a load of pressure of blagoyevich(not that it matters)
speaking of the governor, has anyone seen the Daily show episode where one of the reporters(before hit the fan) asked blagojvich to pretend like he was doing some business on the phone, and everything he was saying was covert convos in which he was speaking like he was tapped haha. |
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| Dublin Guy |
| He even made a nice shoe based pun. Sickened he's finishing as president, he's only hitting his stride now. Good reflexs for an ole lad all the same |
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| Dr. DAS |
| This just in: US invades and occupies all Birkenstock factories in what has been called 'a proportional response' to the recent shoe-based attack on US President Bush. |
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