Insult
See also: List of shoe throwing incidentsIn many Arab cultures, it is considered an extreme insult to throw a shoe at someone. It is also considered rude to display the sole of one's foot to someone (or even strike them with it) as well. This is because shoes are considered ritually unclean in the Muslim faith. In 2008, Iraqi cameraman Muntadar al-Zaidi threw a shoe at United States President George W. Bush while the president was visiting Baghdad, and was arrested and incarcerated. President Bush ducked and was not struck by the shoe. Shoe throwing as an insult is not just limited to the Muslim world, as there are also other notable incidents that have occurred involving other celebrities and world leaders. Some of these have involved Steve McCarthy, David Beckham, Lily Allen, and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.
Read more about this topic: Shoe Tossing
Famous quotes containing the word insult:
“To insult a friend implies that you respect his masculinity enough to know he can take it without acting like a crybaby. The swapping of insults, like the fighting between brothers, becomes the seal of the male bonding.”
—Frank Pittman (20th century)
“Though a censure lies against those who are poor and proud, yet is Pride sooner to be forgiven in a poor person than in a rich one; since in the latter it is insult and arrogance; in the former, it may be a defense against temptations to dishonesty; and, if manifested on proper occasions, may indicate a natural bravery of mind, which the frowns of fortune cannot depress.”
—Samuel Richardson (1689–1761)
“The tops of mountains are among the unfinished parts of the globe, whither it is a slight insult to the gods to climb and pry into their secrets, and try their effect on our humanity. Only daring and insolent men, perchance, go there. Simple races, as savages, do not climb mountains,—their tops are sacred and mysterious tracts never visited by them. Pomola is always angry with those who climb the summit of Ktaadn.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)