In the African-American culture, throwing a shoe at someone, typically after a performance of some sort, is a sign of appreciation. There may be a knock on the dressing room door. Before you have time to say “Come in!”, the door opens and you have to duck as fellow cast members or friends from the audience throw their shoes at you. “You tore it up, girl!”, “That was fierce!”, “You blew me away…”, may be comments heard.
In the Arab culture the throwing of a shoe expresses something very different, as was made clear last week (Bush in Iraq dodging a flying shoe, thrown by a local journalist).
I wonder what may be thrown when Barak Hussein Obama visits the Near East in years to come? And what the significance of such an act may be?
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