LibertyVox
08-16-2010, 10:38 AM
I do believe most here are familiar with Richard Dawkins notion of a meme?
A meme is a unit of cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena. (wikipedia)
In recent times the shoe too has become a symbol of defiance and resistance and it all started with one brave man in Iraq back in 2008, a journalist by the name of Muntadar al-Zaidi who threw the Holy penny loafers towards arguably one of the most disgusting mass murderer of our times.
His accompanying screed?
"This is a gift from the Iraqis. This is the farewell kiss, you dog,"
"This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq,"
This from a shiite Iraqi, whose country we were trying to save for him. Zaidi was brave enough to suffer the consequences of his detention and torture later on. He was an instant Hero in Iraq and the world over.
Bush:
YouTube - George Bush shoe attack (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFX-dKpcDz8&feature=related)
Well that set off a chain of events globally. Soon after, shoes rained. All becasue of one man who stood up against a mass murderer (no Nuremburg for these I guess).
In Stockholm, the Israeli ambassador got shoed.
YouTube - shoe hits israeli ambassador in a university in Stockholm (sweden ) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIa7WRitpus)
The Chinese Premier got shoed
YouTube - Wen Jiabao prime minister of china gets a shoe in the face (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obML1L23trw&feature=related)
Tony Blair got shoed in Malaysia:
http://maxinews.co.uk/world/europe/protests-rise-in-malaysia-against-former-british-prime-minister-tony-blair/ (http://maxinews.co.uk/world/europe/protests-rise-in-malaysia-against-former-british-prime-minister-tony-
blair/)
The protestors comprised of many Iraqis living in Malaysia who said Blair was a war criminal and said that he should be hauled up before aninternational court for the death of innocent Iraqi people.
Shoes were then thrown at Pakistani chattel Zardari a couple of days ago on his visit to Britian while the country suffered from one calamity and humiliation after another including the recent flood which has affected over 20 million people.
The culprit was an old man, who has also become an instant hero in the country.
YouTube - Shoes Thrown on Asif Ali Zardari By Shamim Khan, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsqafxysBz4)
Some of his quotes:
"(I threw th shoe) when he used abusive words for the protestors outside who were using their god given right to protest." (Zardari said he could mince them out).
"I am not afraid...it is my request for everyone to pick up a shoe. Just one shoe and you'll send them shivering."
"Pakistani government is a slave, it has humiliated its people and asked sacrifices from its people which are not even acknowledged (internationally), except for "do more"."
" I did it in the name of those millions who have no voice except (crying)whimpers."
"These rulers are a curse from God."
And this morning, a Kashmiri policeman threw a shoe at the Chief minister in the Indian occupied Kashmir. The anger in Kashmir brews after decades of violent oppression and state sponsored mass murder and rapes. The situation is Kashmir is akin to one in Tibet: the people do not see themselves as part of some supraimposed psuedo identity by the government and consider themselves a distinct people. The Kashmiri government officials are mostly from Kashmiris themselves including the Chief minister Omar Abdullah but have no public standing among the Kashmiris.
"What he has done is unbelievable. He has done us proud. It was the manifestation of the anger that every Kashmiri harbours," Merhaj-u-Din, a contractor and part of the crowd at Ajas, told AFP by telephone.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100816/wl_sthasia_afp/indiaidayunrestkashmir
YouTube - Shoe thrown at Chief Minister in Indian Kashmir (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3Zdu0itb8Q)
Arn't shoes just fantastic?
:D
...especially given that the world's oldest shoe was recently found recently in Armenia:
http://gdb.rferl.org/C3F72CAA-C459-43CC-B82C-D169A72A7720_mw800_mh600_s.jpg
Dedicated to the shoe:
YouTube - Good Old Shoe, Good Ol' Shoe - George Bush (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jp8KmOJAb0)
A meme is a unit of cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena. (wikipedia)
In recent times the shoe too has become a symbol of defiance and resistance and it all started with one brave man in Iraq back in 2008, a journalist by the name of Muntadar al-Zaidi who threw the Holy penny loafers towards arguably one of the most disgusting mass murderer of our times.
His accompanying screed?
"This is a gift from the Iraqis. This is the farewell kiss, you dog,"
"This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq,"
This from a shiite Iraqi, whose country we were trying to save for him. Zaidi was brave enough to suffer the consequences of his detention and torture later on. He was an instant Hero in Iraq and the world over.
Bush:
YouTube - George Bush shoe attack (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFX-dKpcDz8&feature=related)
Well that set off a chain of events globally. Soon after, shoes rained. All becasue of one man who stood up against a mass murderer (no Nuremburg for these I guess).
In Stockholm, the Israeli ambassador got shoed.
YouTube - shoe hits israeli ambassador in a university in Stockholm (sweden ) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIa7WRitpus)
The Chinese Premier got shoed
YouTube - Wen Jiabao prime minister of china gets a shoe in the face (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obML1L23trw&feature=related)
Tony Blair got shoed in Malaysia:
http://maxinews.co.uk/world/europe/protests-rise-in-malaysia-against-former-british-prime-minister-tony-blair/ (http://maxinews.co.uk/world/europe/protests-rise-in-malaysia-against-former-british-prime-minister-tony-
blair/)
The protestors comprised of many Iraqis living in Malaysia who said Blair was a war criminal and said that he should be hauled up before aninternational court for the death of innocent Iraqi people.
Shoes were then thrown at Pakistani chattel Zardari a couple of days ago on his visit to Britian while the country suffered from one calamity and humiliation after another including the recent flood which has affected over 20 million people.
The culprit was an old man, who has also become an instant hero in the country.
YouTube - Shoes Thrown on Asif Ali Zardari By Shamim Khan, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsqafxysBz4)
Some of his quotes:
"(I threw th shoe) when he used abusive words for the protestors outside who were using their god given right to protest." (Zardari said he could mince them out).
"I am not afraid...it is my request for everyone to pick up a shoe. Just one shoe and you'll send them shivering."
"Pakistani government is a slave, it has humiliated its people and asked sacrifices from its people which are not even acknowledged (internationally), except for "do more"."
" I did it in the name of those millions who have no voice except (crying)whimpers."
"These rulers are a curse from God."
And this morning, a Kashmiri policeman threw a shoe at the Chief minister in the Indian occupied Kashmir. The anger in Kashmir brews after decades of violent oppression and state sponsored mass murder and rapes. The situation is Kashmir is akin to one in Tibet: the people do not see themselves as part of some supraimposed psuedo identity by the government and consider themselves a distinct people. The Kashmiri government officials are mostly from Kashmiris themselves including the Chief minister Omar Abdullah but have no public standing among the Kashmiris.
"What he has done is unbelievable. He has done us proud. It was the manifestation of the anger that every Kashmiri harbours," Merhaj-u-Din, a contractor and part of the crowd at Ajas, told AFP by telephone.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100816/wl_sthasia_afp/indiaidayunrestkashmir
YouTube - Shoe thrown at Chief Minister in Indian Kashmir (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3Zdu0itb8Q)
Arn't shoes just fantastic?
:D
...especially given that the world's oldest shoe was recently found recently in Armenia:
http://gdb.rferl.org/C3F72CAA-C459-43CC-B82C-D169A72A7720_mw800_mh600_s.jpg
Dedicated to the shoe:
YouTube - Good Old Shoe, Good Ol' Shoe - George Bush (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jp8KmOJAb0)