|
The pen is still mightier than the thrown shoe |
We journalists have taken many hits in recent decades, especially over the last few years.
Some have accused us of slanting stories, some have accused us of making up stories, and others have just plain cussed us for being dregs of the earth.
But, as far as I know, not one of us has thrown a shoe at a head of state.
After watching the tape Sunday from Baghdad of the Iraqi journalist throwing his shoes at President Bush, I wondered: Doesn’t that guy know that the pen is mightier than the shoe?
Lots of other lines came to mind as I mulled over the incident. The best I could come up with was this: Have you ever seen George Bush move so quickly to the left when attacked by a righty?
Never mind that shoe-thrower Muntadar al-Zeidi would now be history if he had the courage to throw a wing tip at Saddam Hussein while he was in power.
Never mind that his accuracy, or strength of arm, can be called into question.
And never mind that our Secret Service guys, usually so quick to jump in front of the president during trying times, were a little slow on the draw, or perhaps not even there.
You wonder if shoe-throwing will now become a replacement for dunk tanks at events such as county fairs. People may begin practicing with shoes in their back yards to hurl them at mayors, coaches, or politicians – like, say, Jesse Ventura – instead of throwing softballs to knock someone into the water on a hot July or August afternoon at the fairgrounds.
We’re told that it’s the supreme insult in Iraq to hit someone with a shoe. So the shoe-thrower, called a devoted journalist by friends, thought he was making an important statement.
But al-Zeidi, hustled off by security guards, was apparently beaten and then jailed. And, a fellow journalist said, he has thrown away what was apparently a good future in the reporting business. He missed a chance to make a statement with his reporting, deciding instead to do so by throwing a couple of shoes.
A letter writer in the Star Tribune on Tuesday went so far as to call al-Zeidi the first hero to emerge from the war in Iraq. I thought that was well beyond the bounds of decency but in this country, thankfully, you can say and write what you think, contrary to how it is in other countries.
I thought it was remarkable, if not amazing, that a 62-year-old man could dodge a shoe thrown from 12 feet. My fellow journalists have failed to comment on that aspect of the incident, missing out, I think, on an important part of the story.
President Bush’s approval rating has spiraled downward for months now, especially since the economy went in the tank in the latter part of the year. Now, with only a month to go in a presidency that isn’t getting high marks, maybe his move to the left will get him some higher marks.
Or, at the very least, it will be the job of his press secretary, probably an ex-journalist, to convince us that should be the case.
 |
Tim Fleming
www.eloquentbooks.com/MurderOfAnAmericanNazi.html
http://leftlooking.blogspot.com