When the Iraqi journalist threw a shoe at President Bush last week, was that a special Muslim, or Arab insult? Or was it simply the nearest weapon at hand? Dan Gilgoff explores that question in this piece.

Money quote: “It’s one of those cases where we’re trying to make it a lot more alien and bizarre than it actually is,” says Jamal Elias, a University of Pennsylvania religious studies professor who specializes in Islam. “The journalist was disgusted with something Bush was saying, and he acted out. I can’t imagine if you go to a press conference with George W. Bush they let you carry too much with you, so he took off the one thing he could hurl-his shoe.”