When Al-Zeidi threw his shoes at US President George W. Bush at a news conference in Baghdad, he shot to instant fame and won fans all over the Arab world.
But to analyze this incident properly, we have to look at what it meant to Arabs in general and to journalists in particular.
In an instant Al-Zeidi turned from an obscure journalist to a national hero. There were protests on the street asking for his release. Others hailed him as a hero who had the courage to defy America. Around 270 lawyers announced that they are going to defend Al-Zeidi in court, a Lebanese TV channel offered him a job effective from the moment he threw that famous shoe, and broadcasters all over the Arab world made no attempt to hide their support for his act.
Yet there were some who held a different view. The New York Times interviewed Iraqis on the streets of Basra and Baghdad. Some said Al-Zeidi expressed their feelings, but they thought he used the wrong means to do so. Others said he was a brave man.
An Iraqi journalist told me while discussing the incident with a group of journalists: "Is this what we've sunk to? Are we to abandon our pens for shoes?"
She was angry, and her anger made sense. Al-Zeidi was not an ordinary man on the street that decided to attack the American president. He was a journalist and was allowed into the conference in that capacity. He could have voiced his opinion in a civilized manner, but chose to abandon his professional responsibilities.
Ammar, an Iraqi said, "I support him but I do not like the way he did it." Lucy, a Lebanese journalist said she understands Al-Zeidi's frustration and thinks he did what others felt like doing, pointing out other instances of people attacking heads of state by throwing eggs or tomatoes at them. At this point, she was interrupted by an older Iraqi journalist who said, "This whole thing looks surreal. It shows how bad things have become."
Someone mentioned the surge in jokes over the Internet on the incident and also the electronic game that was exchanged on Facebook re-enacting the shoe-throwing incident. A British friend said that the incident "trivializes the Iraqi cause; it took away from the seriousness of what Bush did by launching the war and turned the war crimes he committed into a children's play".
An Arab commentator wrote that the incident shows that Iraq lives in a free atmosphere that allowed Al-Zeidi to do something like that, and not be killed instantly as was the norm during Saddam Hussein's time. This seems to be the opinion of President Bush when he commented on the incident, saying that it meant that freedom has come to Iraq.
But, judgments aside, there is an explanation to the mostly supportive wave that went through the Arab street. People are frustrated and angry and are looking for a hero to follow. America has never been so hated in the Arab world, and Bush is definitely the most unpopular president inside and outside America. So unconcealed glee at his discomfiture is understandable. But surely there is a more constructive way of expressing one's anger than throwing shoes.
