Why Do Arabs Throw Shoes? Posted by Shadi Hamid

You've all probably seen the video of the shoe assault of Bush in Iraq. I was talking to my father about it last night. He was really concerned not for Bush (he ducked, after all) but for Arabs. "What does this say about us? that we're willing to throw shoes when we're angry?" That's not exactly what I thought when I saw the video. I actually have no idea whether the average American watches this and says, "why are Arabs so violent and temper-tantrumy, and why do they do pointless things like throw shoes?"

Granted, average Americans probably don't read DA, but let me put the question out to all of you. What was your (gut) reaction when you saw the video? Do you think people see this and say, "what do you expect? Those arabs..." (with a patronizing tone of disapproval).

Comments

[Greg Sanders]

I figure it's the Arab cultural equivalent of throwing tomatoes. So kind of old school but not especially violent.

[Dan Kervick]

Well, the situation is cmplicated somewhat by the fact that we are talking about George Bush, and not some random target of discontent. Certainly seeing hundreds of thousands of one's countrymen killed and a few million driven abroad as refugees does not make for a mere ordinary case of being angry. Many perfectly temperate people might argue Bush is a mass murdering war criminal, who deserves the delivery of shoes to the head, or worse.

But to be honest, yes, insofar as I entertain stereotypical general impressions of Arabs as a group, I do tend to see Arabs as more "temper tantrummy", and more inclined than many other people to engage in chanting and fist-pumping, shouting, excessive displays grief and rage, religious frenzies and other embarrassing emotional outpourings. Or at least this is how I tend to view Arab masses as opposed to the much more decorous Arab elites who serve in diplomatic roles. I try to give weight to the fact that these impressions are no doubt colored by some American media and entertainment elites determined to portray Arabs in the worst possible light. But the impressions are there nonetheless, and grate against my own temperamental disposition toward uptight northern restraint and emotional suppression.

Not everyone will respond the same way. I perhaps place an overly high value on emotional discipline and self-control. I tend to be very disgusted by the sight of people losing their temper or breaking down emotionally, and especially hate it when it happens to me. Example: We have had widespread power outages here in New Hampshire due to the recent ice storm. My house was without power and water for about 60 hours, got it back for a day, and then lost it again for another 16 hours yesterday. Last night I was trying to read a book in the dark by battery-powered reading light, and accidentally broke my reading glasses. I snapped and yelled, "God fucking dammit!" and threw the broken glasses at a wall. All day, today, I have felt very badly about that display. I hate myself for losing it like that.

I saw an episode of Nightline several years back that dealt with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and was broadcast live, from Jerusalem I believe. There was one panel of Israeli leaders and another panel of Palestinian leaders, sitting on opposite sides of some kind of barrier. At some point the discussion degenerated, and one of the Palestinians - a journalist I think - started yelling quite animatedly, and began chanting some slogans and leading the audience in some similar kind of demonstration - at least that's how I remember it. The panel discussion was thoroughly disrupted. I'm afraid that the impression that was conveyed was very poor: it played right into the hands of those who argue that you can't have a civilized and constructive discussion with Arabs. Of course, not everyone responds the way I do to such outpourings, but I'm assuming the whole scene must have created an generally very unfavorable impression for Koppel's American audience. Maybe it was all a set up. Maybe Koppel chose people who could be expected to respond emotionally to the situation. But it still didn't help.

In my own mind, I tend to associate ideals of rationality, self-control and discipline with the capacity for self-government. Temperate, restrained and deliberate people are capable of resisting self-destructive impulses, and preventing the power of immediate-term satisfactions and irritations from overwhelming firm commitments to long-range values and plans. The discipline of self-governing people contrasts with the licentiousness of the consuming masses and the emotionalism of mobs, people whose behavior suggests they cannot govern themselves and must be governed by others.

[Zathras]

I think it's probably wise to consider the age of some of the people we are talking about. Compared to most Western countries, the average age of people in the Arab states is somewhat lower, and younger people, especially younger men, are more apt to engage in disruptive public behavior. The journalist in question here, as I read, is only 28.

On the other hand, he may just be very clever. He evidently works for a Sunni Arab-oriented media outlet, and by his act yesterday has probably bought himself immunity from attack by Shiite death squads for at least a year. Generally speaking, Iraqis would be better off if they had the general custom of throwing shoes at people of whom they disapproved, as opposed to torturing them with power tools or cutting their heads off. Say all you want about the American occupation, but the vast majority of Iraqi deaths since 2003 have been brought about by other Iraqis -- and before 2003 most Iraqis cooperated quite happily with one of the most vicious police states in modern history. So it isn't only, or even primarily, an isolated demonstration like this that encourages the idea of Arab temperamentalism.

[Don Bacon]

It's the same question as: Why do Arabs become suicide bombers? Answer: If they had been given Cobra helicopters with Hellfire missiles they would no doubt prefer to use them, but lacking such aid they do what they can to attack the agressors.

The shoe-thrower had apparently been upset when he witnessed the violent destruction of buildings and people by the US military in Sadr City, so in that sense his attack was a model of moderation and not "temper tantrummy" at all. In other words it's easy to criticize Arabs if we don't walk in their shoes [sic].

Put it another way: I travel a lot, away from news sources, and when these travels are in the USA and I happen to see a community flag at half-mast I cross my fingers and hope. I'm not alone in the world. So shoes are nothing.

[jørgen Pedersen]

This is one of the first officel videos of shoe trowing

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I don't think that throwing shows is due to lack of modern armaments as someone suggested earlier. It was a political act. In the West the person would have just gotten up and spoken his mind. There is no need for attempted violence to get a point across - it's the same about how you see the Arabs on tv who burn flags, cars, etc., and so on. Let's just say that I've never seen such violence and hate in the West's demonstrations and protests...

I think it's just the culture more than the people themselves. I mean, people curse Christ all the time and I've never seen Christians coming out en masse with aggressive and violent protests like the Arabs did with the Muhammad cartoons, and Christians consider Christ to be God (i.e. more than a mere man).

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