If The Shoe Fits, Throw It

Shoes - We spend most of our lives walking in shoes. From our very own shoes we may learn something about our culture, our history, and even about oursevles. According to June Swann, a shoe historian from England, shoes are the best indicator of how people feel. Believe it or not, you can measure social change by the thickness of a sole.

Every shoe tells a story. Shoes enunciate a person's status, gender, ethnicity, religion, profession, and politics. Yes, politics. Remember how President Bush dodged a pair of shoes from an Iraqi journalist during a press conference? In India, the throwing-shoes-acts are 'succeeding' among the Indian citizens. Regular residents are learning how to voice their unsatisfaction to the politicians by hurling their shoes at them.

According to local newspapers in the country, perfecting the science of shoe-throwing is the current society's past-time. First, a local Indian reporter launched his size 9 Reebok sneakers at the Home Minister who was freed after he was suspected for the deaths of 3,000 Sikhs. A few days after this incident, a 64 year old retired school principal threw a shoe at a popular lawmaker during an election rally.

The following Thursday, the current Prime Minister candidate was another "victim" of shoe-throwing incidents. And on Friday, protestors threw shoes at the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi after Beijing sentenced two Tibetans to death for the Tibetans riot acts on March 2008.

"Flying footwears are now the weapons of mass distraction," noted a headline in the local papers. In Asian cultural context, throwing shoes is to humiliate the targeted person. In the age of instant punditry on television, shoe throwing may have a strong YouTube audience but does it really help resolve problems, such as bringing those guilty in the massacre of 3,000 Sikhs to justice?

It looks practical for protestors to include hurling shoes during their protests. However, too many shoes are missing their targets. Of course, the Iraqi journalist would have his sneakers landed right on the target, if it wasn't for the impressive reflex of the targeted man.