George Bush Shoe Attack
How many times does one get to see such blatant shows of disrespect and personal outrage committed against any public figure. True, one could argue Bush to be the reason for loss of innumerable lives in a short span of time. True, one could argue that all of Bush's motives were not above board. True, one could continue further and follow the 'lunch hour school bully' tack against the US actions. But among all the 'dirt flying around' shall we stop and ask... "Is this what the freedom of speech and actions has fundamentally boiled down to?" " Is this the true form of journalistic fervour?" Amidst the gloom of clear and present contempt, can we but see the glimmer of anarchy and a veritable 'royal rumble' taking root and form?
The shoe throwing incident, was one person waging a personal war. A journalist at that. It doesn't suit a dispassionate profession such as journalism to be vexed to the point of public display of personal opinions. As soon as such biases are given free reign, they tend to color the objectivistic view of the situation. This in turn becomes a potent weapon for misinformed public opinion and knee jerk reactions. I say 'misinformed' because a biased view gives only that...a biased view in which people are ill equipped to weight all the facts and come to a conclusion for themselves, more so because the conclusions they 'should' come to has already been concluded. No more is the journalist a dispassionate bystander who reports as he sees, but he has evolved into reporting as he thinks. Even though on a cursory glance this seems quite an 'evolution' of sorts, I beg to differ.
Once people start reporting colored opinions, it no more remains an object of consistency, but is answerable to Einstein's Theory of Relativity....ie, the veracity of the report is no more a function of its existence, but a function of the viewer , as such defeating its very purpose.
One man, Muntader al-Zaidi, chose to see the Iraq war as contemptible loss of human life and used them as justification for his actions. What if another comes up and puts a new spin on the viewpoint.
People were already repressed under the dictatorial rule in Iraq, many of their freedoms were curtailed, much of their life was spent languishing in their duties to their dictator. They spent their life dying a slow and prolonged death. Not being able to live upto their potential of life, not able to taste of all that life had to offer them, dying unsatisfied suffering. What if the many that died, they were the price to freedom, the price for others to live under a democracy, the price for 'brave' people like Muntader to be allowed to throw shoes at authority without the fear of death as a penalty. What if the death of the many that died, was the price for a better life!
Sure there will be teething troubles in the beginning, but is that reason enough to continue under the yoke of suppression? The options that the people had were two -
1. To continue living under the regime and die a slow death .... and continue living under the regime for all eternity
2. To sacrifice one's life for freedom and democracy and hope for a better future for the generations to come.
Will perhaps, in some distant future , George Bush be named as the saviour of the Iraqis??
In throwing the shoe, Muntader used the freedom granted to him to question the freedom granted to him . Oh the irony!
Thus has all reality become the functions of thought.
Stanley Varkey
BVCOE
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Stanley a.k.a Stanakin :D
