The fifth column of the fourth estate

JohnAnt

'The Shoe Thrower', with Johnny Depp in the title role, Woody Harrelson as Pres Bush, Ralph Fiennes as Nouri Al Maliki, and Kate Winslet as the girlfriend/muslim feminist Al Jazeera journalist and academic from Cairo who gives the shoe thrower the idea and boldly hides him in her hotel room after he escapes from prison where he has been cruelly tortured by the CIA.
Director: Stephen Spielberg
Wins an Oscar for best silent emoting, and the blind 83 year old oud player wins the music award.
They will, Oscar, they will.

Winston Smith

The fall of the Roman Empire could only ever have been done by itself. No other power on earth at time was great enough to defeat it.
The same could be said for the British Empire. It destroyed itself too, although WWII certainly was the nail in the coffin, there's no doubt about that.
Now we are seeing the Swan Song of the West as our own people, lap up the Islamic Victim Rhetoric, damning themselves and their culture in the process. I wonder how long this man would have survived had he done this to Saddam. More so, he would have been quickly done away with in the matter of minutes and his family imprisoned, tortured and executed days later.

The West should immediately withdraw and leave them to civil war. We have more important issues in the West, dealing with the very ideology of the people we liberated in Iraq, that is trying to Islamise us.

It's all really quite sad that great civilisations fall, not because they are bested from outside but destroyed from within.

Another good article Melanie.

Thank you.

Michael B

"But the critics of the “Shoe Jihad” were as fast as the petro-dollar machine in reacting. Indeed, and unlike what most Westerners were swift to conclude, pro-democracy voices were loud and clear: from Kuwait, Lebanon, Jordan, Morocco and across the Arab world, and particularly from Iraq, journalists, bloggers, talk show hosts, teachers and artists blasted the Jihadi comedy and rejected the “unholy shoeing.” For each email on al Jazeera supportive of the insult, another email landed on liberal web sites and editorial rooms. How the incident was reported in the Middle East depended on who stood behind which medium. Sadly, if the funders were petro-regimes, the “Shoe Jihad” won. The other side’s volume was too low to be broadcast throughout the world. International media, incorporating the West’s global apology syndrome, obviously showcased the “partisans of the shoe” rather than those who were embarrassed by it. ...

"... but they cannot see the men and women who wish to shoe bomb their own dictators and oppressors. Sometimes the public has a mere glimpse of the other side: when Saddam’s statue was toppled and beaten with shoes for few hours, and when a million people demanded the Assad regime to take their boots off of Lebanon’s soil."

Precisely so.

William

Shoe thrower was incensed as he normally collects donated shoes from Oxfam. With the western idealistic recession, he won't have new outfit for his hubris lifesyle.

An American

So what else is new?

The liberal US media loved this humiliation of Bush and showed the shoe-throwing incident over and over...never once mentioning the American soldiers who gave their lives to protect the US and free Iraq from that monster Saddam and his fellow terrorists.

This so-called reporter was a plant...I hope they throw away the jail key. In truth, he and most Iraqis are ingrates.

Frankly, I along with most Americans regret the sacrifice of our young men and billions of tax payer money on this worthless piece of s... country.

Freedom doesn't come free and without sacrifice...I don't think most Iraqi are even aware of what 'freedom' means.

What a waste.

Sami Abdallah

Guess where did "the ‘specialists’ on ‘how to understand the region’ appear from to lecture the world on how must the region feel? Well it is the BBC of course. The same BBC which ignores the tragedies of Darfur, women, students, and liberals in the region and dedicates its precious tax-funded airtime to honore the shoe thrower..

Darren

I didn't do an exact tally, but pretty sure the Shoe incident took up more print space in the NY Times last week than the Madoff Scandal.

phil melanie

whats your point?

Gary O

"A shoe is mightier than a bullet!".

Pinteresque

so let meget this straight you are equating a shoe throwing incident with jihad,

wow Mel I know standards are slipping but even this is a joke isn't it??

Matthew Blott

Only Melanie Phillips could link the innocuous Shoe Throwing Incident with terrorist appeasement.

nadeem

this just in

The Independent on Sunday Most Ludicrous Britons for 2009 are the rap-rapping, pose-striking, knife-wielding, gun-toting, homophobic urban yoof, who, with 403 votes, collected nearly one in 10 of all the 4,330 cast by the time our poll closed at 6pm last night. Second was Radio 5 Live football commentator Alan Green (pictured below) with 389, and third was Jonathan Ross with 351. Cherie Blair and the 'Daily Mail' columnist Melanie Phillips completed the top five. Here are the full results:

403 – Rap–rapping, pose–striking, knife–wielding, gun–toting, homophobic urban yoof

389 – Alan Green

351 – Jonathan Ross

270 – Cherie Blair

268 – Melanie Phillips

congratulations Melanie!!!

nadeem

wow Melanie in the top 5 ludicrous briton, well I never.

this is political correctness gone mad!! mad I tell ya

Anthony

'phil melanie', 'Pinteresque' and 'Matthew Blott' - all so illiterate they criticise Melanie Phillips for something written by Walid Phares.

There's a pattern to these posters: disengage brain, don't bother to read anything properly and just hurl abuse.

And nadeem wants us all to grovel at the feet of The Not So Independent, a newspaper so pathetic it has never made a profit. It has even had to go grovelling to the owners of the Daily Mail to use some of their office space!

Ah, poor old Independent, it might be an adult newspaper one day - in its dreams.

Dixon

Winston Smith:"The West should immediately withdraw and leave them to civil war. We have more important issues in the West, dealing with the very ideology of the people we liberated in Iraq, that is trying to Islamise us."

The problem is, we arent there to suit them, but our own security.

It may be many years before everyone gets it, but the Pentagon used the phrase "terroriust superbowl": Iraq was all along intended to be a showdown with the Jihadists. The "errors" that lead to the "quagmire" were all along intended to create a sponge to suck in jihadists from all over the world. That it did...to be slaughtered in their thousands.The US soldiers riding around in ludicrously vulnerable open-topped Humvees were actually being deployed as BAIT. The death toll of American soldiers was deemed a necessary evil in view of its effectiveness at drawing out the enemy.People may eventually understand that...whether one approves the strategy or not...it accomplished its intended aim. My feeling is, if you join the military, an act which I greatly admire but could never copy, you nonetheless sign up to a death lottery, so you cannot complain about it.

Now the US has utterly pasted the non-Iraqi jihad-tourists, to the extent that they even admit it on BBC Newsnight, it would be daft to throw away the victory.

Otherwise, we could have left immediately after Saddam was captured. In which case, Iraq would have become yet another Al Q' operating base, like Afghanistan.

Unfortunately, the British involvement turns out to have been a ludicrous black comedy, a sideshow for which our military leaders ought be utterly ashamed. Such was their failure that they needed to be bailed out by Americans and ...dagnabbit...IRAQIs!

RUTH

You're all just charming.

Remind me how many Iraqis died during and as a result of the war?

Simon

The Spectator which disgracefully allows her to use it as a platform to spout her vile prejudices, as well as the British and American governments which allow themselves to be manipulated into a devastating war (and in whose favour?) - these are real the 'useful idiots' and she know it.

Ben

To an American: everyone else regrets the sacrifice of young lives in this senseless and unnecessary war. Only one group is sniggering as this persists to its own advantage - and see the smile on her face.

Frank P

No Matthew Blott, you got that slightly wrong: what you surely meant was that only the admirable Melanie Phillips among the otherwise supine, dhimmi wankers of the MSM that bothered to point out the asinine and treasonous reportage of the Western press at large on this subject.

And nadeem, remember that over 8 million cretins paid to vote for a ludicrous TV dancing 'competition' scam but a few hours ago, what's a mere 268 nutters voting for Melanie in yet another exploitation of useful idiots; or indeed some other idiot called nadeem pointing it out; or Frank P bothering to comment on either of the comments of you two twats. It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world. Get used to it!

Thanks for the usual perceptive and lacerating analysis Melanie. Have a peaceful Hanukka and come back refreshed for what will undoubtedly be a very dodgy New Year requiring more of you coruscating wit; don't know where you find the energy, but thank God you do. The pink-footed geese are flying in perfect unison, all will be well - eventually.

john doe

I am struck by the fact that nobody has even bothered to mention the most significant aspect of this incident. President Bush's awesome reflexes and obvious readiness for a SSJS attack....Sudden Shoe Jihad Syndrome attack. His ducking skills here are formidable. They demand respect and are a sign of true greatness. Only true leaders have the ability to duck from oncoming projectiles with such speed.It is a shame that George is only now demonstrating his worthiness and masterful coolness in the face of evil. In the meantime, I would like to nominate and support that other great warrior and loyal American, Chuck Norris, for President in 2012.

Othari l

Shoe throwing happens here in Britian, you don't have to go to middle east to see that

Tom Cat

Oh, dear. What have they been saying at the HQ of The Initsownfundament?

‘Boo, hoo, hoo, hoo, we’ve got no readers, Daily Mail, apart from a few assorted
illiterates such as Nadeem. And now the people who subsidised all this rubbish we write are running out of cash in the credit crunch so we can’t even afford our own offices.

‘Can we come and live in the shed at the bottom of your house, Daily Mail? Please. We promise we won’t be a nuisance. It’s not as if anyone sane takes any notice of us anyway. Thanks.

‘It’s all right, Johann Smarmy & Co, we’re not going under. They’ve let us live in their shed so we can keep going. OK, so first on today’s editorial agenda, I want someone to write a piece to slag off the Daily Mail, but let’s not tell our readers we’ve become the Daily Mail’s tenants.’

Goodness me. The whole thing is so absurd it’s positively Fiskian. You’d need a heart of stone not to laugh!

Jim Carr

Never mind what would have happened to the shoe thrower had he thrown them at Saddam, let anyone try to throw a shoe at Ahmadinejad and see just what the real difference is between the Islamic states and the USA.

An American

Dixon,
You are of course, correct. I was too emotional in my first response.

I believe that Bush and the Pentagon had bigger ideas than were ever revealed.

The first was to bring the war to the jihadists there...not here.

The second was to plant and nourish a Democracy right in the middle of all these medieval Islamic countries.

The third was to keep the jihadists from taking over Iraq's large oil fields...revenues that they could use for their war against the west.

The fourth was to have a power base for any future wars in that area...like a future Israeli fly-over to Iran.

I do believe that there were some WMD in Iraq...although not in large amounts. And they were removed...most probably by the Russians to Syria.

Most Iraqis are ingrates and really who can blame them...citizens were killed, homes and businesses were destroyed, there was a semi-civil war going on there...it was bedlam...but things are definitely looking up for them now.

Most Americans resent the war. When you have people voting in an avowed socialist like Obama...what do you expect? An American public that has absolutely any idea of what this is all about?

And of course, it didn't help to have the socialist Democrats and far-left liberal traitors-press pounding away at the war for seven long years.

You have to give Bush credit...he didn't fold under the pressure.

Only history will tell us if Bush did the right thing on Iraq.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukka to all...I look forward to reading your comments in the New Year!

Dixon

RUTH
December 21st, 2008 12:04pm
" You're all just charming.
Remind me how many Iraqis died during and as a result of the war?"

Who gives a proverbial Monkeys . You should look to your own security and stop assuming that it can continue without SOMEONe dying. Either its them or its us. But you just dont geddit! Such is your sheltered existence, under the over-arching protection of US hegemony.

How many Germans had to die to defeat the NAZIs?

Or would you rather the Third Reich still ruled Europe.

Dixon

Simon
December 21st, 2008 12:15pm
" The Spectator which disgracefully allows her to use it as a platform to spout her vile prejudices, as well as the British and American governments which allow themselves to be manipulated into a devastating war (and in whose favour?) - these are real the 'useful idiots' and she know it."

Simon, meanwhile, is not even a useful idiot, just an idiot ( who cannot even construct an intelligible sentence ).

Dixon

Ben
December 21st, 2008 12:20pm
To an American: everyone else regrets the sacrifice of young lives in this senseless and unnecessary war. Only one group is sniggering as this persists to its own advantage - and see the smile on her face."

Another unintelligible comment. Just what is that gaggle of words supposed to mean?

Dixon

I should put my comments into context. As I mentioned in the thread about assisted suicide, I care not one whit about life, anyones, including my own. I only care about freedom. Which only fools take for granted. such as those fools who incessantly whine about the thankfully immense power of the USA.

john doe

I am struck by the fact that nobody has even bothered to mention the most significant aspect of this incident. President Bush's awesome reflexes and obvious readiness for a SSJS attack....Sudden Shoe Jihad Syndrome attack. His ducking skills here are formidable. They demand respect and are a sign of true greatness. Only true leaders have the ability to duck from oncoming projectiles with such speed.It is a shame that George is only now demonstrating his worthiness and masterful coolness in the face of evil.
In the meantime, allow me to nominate and support that other great warrior and loyal American, Chuck Norris, for President in 2012.

Verity

Ruth writes: "You're all just charming." Why, thank you!

"Remind me how many Iraqis died during and as a result of the war?"

You mean you don't know? If you have no facts at your disposal, how can you prove your point - whatever the hell it is?

However, remind me, how many Iraqis voted in a real, democratic election for the first time in their lives?

Remind me, how many Iraqis, including women, proudly held up their purple forefinger to show they'd voted?

Remind me, how many Iraqi women have drivers' licenses now? How does this compare with, say, Saudi Arabia?

Elnia Volenovova

I agree An American, God Bless,

Sholam Eleynu, Solaam,

Happy Holidays to everyone

London Calling

A Shoe Jihad?...A shoe war? bring on the clowns, collect all Dr Martins, grab your grandmas slippers
and let the fighting commence...

Lighten up people, this is a war we can win, the smellier the shoe the better, trainers are the best and better still extend the laces so you can bounce them back and re launch them.

Love and Peace and a happy new year to all in our global community...:)

Ben Zalman

I understand the shoe thrower's frustration...Thank God it wasn't worse than a shoe. Pres. Bush was a good ducker..I think we fought Iraq all wrong. We could have made Saddam miserable without sending in troops like a "shooting gallery"! But its done and we should (as Poster Winston says). get the heck out...it'll be a mess anyway. Our wonderful youthful soldiers are in harms way everyday. Pakistan and Iran are the dange here. Melanie Phillips and Carolyn Glick (Jerusalem Post) should run the world. we men sure have screwed it up!

W.B. Harris

An American – the comments of the U.S. press is only the continuation of the hate that the left had for George Bush since day one. Their hate has gone a long way to ruin the U.S. Yes the left at your Mr. Bush, because pride to be an American has left the spirit of the U.S.A.

One question to you An American – how would the U.S. of A. liberals react if that shoe was thrown at Mr. Obama? I’m sure more venom from many angles would have come from the snake like Liberals and Democrats like racism to who knows what.

And finally - Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas to everyone who value their religious freedoms.

FGFM

"You have to give Bush credit...he didn't fold under the pressure."

Well done. Now the executive and both houses of the legislature are controlled by the Democrats!

andy c

Hello - An American - you seem completely to have forgotten the Israeli angle! Was that a special oversight?

Neoconservatives? Likudniks? Mean anything to you?

Yoohoo....

logdon

Not only the Fourth Estate but our so called EU rulers also.

'EU parliament prevents screening of Wilders' Fitna
The EU parliament prevented the showing on Wednesday of an anti-Islamic film made by far-right Dutch MP Geert Wilders, bringing cries of censorship from the British eurodeputy who organised the screening.

"The banning of this film is a direct attack on free speech," said British MEP Gerard Batten, who had organised the event, though officials pointed out that parliamentary leaders had banned the film from being shown in their Strasbourg building back in March.

"A parliament that constantly talks of freedom, democracy and tolerance has shown once again that these are empty words when it does not agree with what is being said," added Batten, a member of the eurosceptic UK Independence Party (UKIP).

Wilders, who was in the parliament building hoping to see the film in a screening room, said he intended to present it during European parliamentary elections next June. "We are in discussion with other parties," he said, without giving details.

AFP, 17 December 2008'

Augustus

If ever there were a clear example of the futility of expecting gratitude it is the recent shoe-throwing incident.

As Rudyard Kipling wrote in his famous poem The White Man's Burden:-

Take up the White Man's burden-
And reap his old reward:
The blame of those ye better,
The hate of those ye guard-
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light-
"Why brought he us from bondage,
Our loved Egyptian night?"

Verity

Ben Zalman - I don't want journalists of any religion running the world, so I'll pass.

Byron in Wahroonga

***a shoe in the Arab culture is the worst epithet one can use, it expresses so deep an anger***

Really?

I would have thought standard jihadi behaviour would have expressed deeper anger.

Blowing yourself up in the middle of a public place, throwing acid in schoolgirls' faces, that kind of thing.

Byron in Wahroonga

***so let meget this straight you are equating a shoe throwing incident with jihad***

Let me get this straight.

You didn't read the article?

Sasha Tsikhatatrishvili

Hello I am from Karakosa, in old days shoe throwing was traditionally associated with women, it was very feminine thing to do, I guess now it is treandy thing to do in the Middle East!

Byron in Wahroonga

***wow Melanie in the top 5 ludicrous briton, well I never***

Posting to yourself, Nadeem? He he he.

A shame you weren't at the President's press conference. Trying to take off your shoe to throw, tipping over a row of chairs, face down on the floor and all broadcast live, around the world.

That way everybody could laugh at your stupidity, not just those who read Melanie's forum.

Pete Hoskin

Ben: we've taken down the comment you made at 11:18pm on 21 December - it shouldn't have gone up in the first place.

Dixon: we haven't put up your corresponding comment, for obvious reasons. Apologies.

phil

"phil melanie"-are you trying to include me in your childish post -please dont I am well capable of speaking for myself without ignorant little twits impersonating me -ok sonny

Sam Armstrong

Ben Zalman says that "we men have sure screwed up (the world)"...

Have we?

Firstly, if Melanie Phillips were best person to lead our country, it would be due to her intellect and not because she is a woman. That said, if you read her book Londonistan, you'd know that the original influx of radicals into the UK occurred under the watch of Baroness Thatcher, who ignored warnings from MI5 and preferred instead to appease the Saudis for economic reasons.

The niggling hatred of men, and self-hatred of men such as you display, is a contributing factor to the threat against the Free World. If the men give up, we are really screwed. Some women will fight in trenches but proportionately fewer than would men.

So one day you should toss aside the papousse, bin the man bag and try being a man. Your civilisation needs you.

JW

Melanie and Mr Phares seem to have missed that the "shoe-thrower" was subsequently tortured in the brave new Iraq. I realise that Melanie isn't really opposed to torture
see: http://www.israelshamir.net/Contributors/Moral_Squeamishness.htm

but perhaps a mention of this outrage wouldn't be amiss. Peter Hitchens was rather more sensible on this topic (and he managed, unlike Mr Phares (whom Melanie appears to think so highly of) to avoid writing a disgusting and unsubstantiated smear about the shoe-thrower). Still, I suppose those who aren't bothered about calumniating others, grave occasions of sin etc. etc. won't be too bothered.

Dixon

December 23rd, 2008 4:30pm
Melanie and Mr Phares seem to have missed that the "shoe-thrower" was subsequently tortured .."

What utter rubbish. Hes in jail, so how the hell would anyone know whether he had been tortured, even if he had. Which of course, hes going to claim, at the first opportunity.

If you tried throwing a shoe at Brown you would probably be shot dead on the spot.

davod

"Peter Hitchens was rather more sensible on this topic (and he managed, unlike Mr Phares (whom Melanie appears to think so highly of) to avoid writing a disgusting and unsubstantiated smear about the shoe-thrower)"

Just maybe Hitchins wrote his article before news of the "Jouitnalist's" background surfaced.

Alexandrovich

JW: thanks for that link. A good example of a persuasive and thoroughly well researched article.

anglicus

Ditto Dixon. If you had thrown a shoe at st.obama you definitely would have been shot, several times. Then we would have had the "great shoe conspiracy", was it the CIA, the Mafia or the work of a lone shoeman.

JW

Well, my defence of my original post, explicating just why my claims were fully justified was "disallowed" for some reason. It would be nice if readers realised just how fair/unbiased this blog is (please publish this).

Dixon

JW, just try re-phrasing it. I would like to see what the defence of your original post is.

I dont think the site is biased, we probably all find certain comments dont appear in their original form. Loads of mine havent. You have to realise that the Spectator does have to be careful what goes on its site to potentially be mis-quoted by third-parties elsewhere. Sometimes its easy to write something without realising how it might be read out of context.

Ronnie

If you take off your shoes and throw them at someone, you've still got to walk home.

Jihad is doomed and its adherents can be easily spotted, either bare-footed or limping.

An American

Sam Armstrong,
Great name..by the way.

I agree...part of the planned demise of our culture by far-left liberals is to destroy men's standing in our society.

It is steadily undermining marriages and careers.

You see it everywhere... TV ads constantly belittle white men...black men are the exception and are portrayed as the only smart man in the room.
Anyone notice how all the black actors now look like Obama?

This constant attack on men is taking its toll...more young women are graduating college now than men. More young women are getting the plum jobs than young men.

We have disfranchised our young men and will pay for it in the future.

Our western society has been throughly screwed over...socially and politcally.

The libs can be proud of themselves.