Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Historical Shoes




Iraqi journalist Muntadhar Al Zaidi's shoes made history! His shoes are forever immortalized in history as the shoes that almost hit outgoing U.S President George W. Bush during a press conference!
Seriously and strictly speaking, as a journalist, what Al Zaidi did was unprofessional especially that journalists are expected to be objective and dispassionate.
But can we blame him for doing that?
According Al Zaidi's brother, Muntadhar was provoked when Pres. Bush mentioned about a farewell gift to the Iraqi people, he then took of his shoes and threw them at Bush screaming in Arabic "This is a farewell kiss, you dog! This is from the widows, the orphans, and those who were killed in Iraq!".
Basically, he symbolized what most of his countrymen felt on the war. Yes, he was a journalist but also human and being a journalist does not stop him to feel emotion. Yes, he could have done it in a more graceful way but I could not blame him if he lost his cool during that moment , he may have felt that he could not stand that moment, feeling oppressed. As of the latest report I've read Al Zeidi is imprisoned, fate still unknown. But I do hope he will be set free, I really want to hear his side of the story.
Hmmm.... I wonder what happened to the shoes?

No comments: