Errr no, I asserted that the “thumbs up” was the *Arab *middle finger. Sorry if I wasn’t clear. As far as I know, Germans flip standard issue birds 
Do you have a cite for that?
If not, can anyone give a cite for the real reason shoes are insulting?
As Mark Twain said in a different context, “One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact.”
So if it was done between Arabs, what if the receiver of the insult reacted like Bush? I assume you can give an authoritative answer. But it seems obvious to me that if it was done to the leader of an Arab country, the guy would be imprisoned and/or tortured and/or executed.
What if Bush had called the idiot the son of a whore or whatever might be customary in the situation? Everyone would be criticizing him anyway. Damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t.
At least in our culture, it seems to be that if you return the insult, you’ve lost the exchange, because the purpose is to GET the reaction.
Er, well…apart from getting online and Googling, which pretty much just yields rehashed news of the Bush assault, no. Not really. As an Arabic Linguist I was exposed to various elements of the culture, the foot thing was explained to us on numerous occasions by different native instructors. I don’t know if you’re asking me for which page of Nabila Post’s Guide to Etiquette in The Middle East we’ll find the foot reference on, because I’m not sure there’s an official list of dos & don’ts. You just sort of pick it up. Like you pick up that belching loudly after dinner isn’t polite in some parts of the world and the height of praise in others.
Maybe. What does that have to do with shoe throwing? I’ve seen no evidence that shoe throwing has nothing to do with Islam, but I’m certainly open to the possibility. In two cases of shoe throwing I’ve seen or heard of (one of each) the thrower was likely Muslim in both instances.
Wrong. As I’ve said before, I have seen a shoe thrown in the heat of an argument in real life, and I assure you it was very funny to me. It might not be funny to you, as you are very enlightened and cultured. I also find “preachers” yelling at people in parks funny. Is that bad too?
He is dead wrong, of course, but what’s wrong with that? Cultural insensitivity and ignorance have served our arrogance quite well. Just because most Americans (and other selfish knuckle-draggers) have absolutely zero curiosity or concern about other cultures and other peoples doesn’t mean there is anything wrong… how can we continue doing whatever the fuck we want if we stop and consider other folk’s traditions and mores? That way lies guilt and compassion. Don’t go there.
You wouldn’t believe the number of people who lose the argument in the Pit…
Inigo, if you throw ‘meaning’ into the google search, it’s much quicker;Shoe throwing - it’s more than just a sport…
The '03 incidents are what I was referring to in my earlier post. It does seem to mainly involve throwing the shoes, but hitting an image of a person with a shoe or walking over an image of them are both valid alternatives, as the intent is to describe the tossee as being ‘beneath’ the tosser.
The BBC’s take covers the ‘but throwing *anything *is rude’ angle.