Mon, Dec 15 2008

Worst insult ever? Not quite.

The story of the shoe-throwing journalist in Iraq brought back memories, but not because the fellow is a journalist. When I was a child, my aunt my cousin and I accompanied my aunt to the St. Louis Zoo, where things were not as progressive as they are today. A lot of large animals still resided in cramped cages and had little chance to hide from humans. The baboons were particularly subject to the hoots and hollers of people passing on all sides of their cage, which was at the intersection of a set of walkways. The bored, frustrated animals would take the verbal abuse for awhile and then would reach down and slap the pools in the cage, sending waves of water all over the offenders on the other side of the bars. If that didn't get enough of a rise out of the onlookers, the baboons would reach behind and defecate into their hands and toss the fresh stools at the jeering crowd. Their clever behavior evoked screams and panic amongst the silly humans and the baboons celebrated with dancing and laughter.

So when the article on Reuters mentioned that throwing shoes at someone was the worst of insults in an Arab world I had to smile. The Iraqui journalist has obviously not yet attained a level to rival the quick-witted rebuke of a surly baboon. To top it off, the ill-tempered man probably had to walk home barefoot. Is it any wonder that the whole idea of humans having evolved from apes amuses some of us so much?

posted at: 12:30 | category: /Politics | link to this entry