A protester at Cambridge University interrupted a speech by Wen Jiabao to hurl both insults (calling him a dictator) and a shoe:
The shoe, or course, is reminiscent to the treatment former President (wow, it feels good to be able to say "former") Bush received during his final trip to Iraq:
The Cambridge shoe assault on Wen Jiabao just does not have the cultural or political impact of the Bush shoe fracas. First, the Cambridge incident is derivative; it is a pale imitation of the Baghdad incident, and there is nothing worse in political theater than a pale imitation. Second, the Cambridge shoe carries no special cultural significance. A thrown shoe in Iraq is a time-worn symbol of disrespect and disgust. In Britain a thrown shoe is, well, a thrown shoe, without any symbolic value-added. And, finally, the political context is not quite as charged. In Baghdad, the image of an Iraqi man throwing a shoe at Bush conjures a connotation of rejection of American occupation, a reminder of the political failure of Bush's policies there. In Cambridge, the intention of the protester, to call attention to Chinese authoritarianism, is diffused by the efforts by the UK government to strengthen relations with China; the shoe does not capture the moment.
It must also be said that the Cambridge man had a horrible aim. The shoe didn't come close to Wen; no Bush-like ducking and weaving was required.
Perhaps I am the only one who would think: what would Confucius do? But that thought has come to my mind. What would his reaction be to this kind of raucous disruption? Well, The Analects gives us an answer in passage 18.5, which records the famous encounter with the madman of Ch'u (a story that is also told by Chuang Tzu):
A madman of Ch'u named Convergence Crazy-Cart passed by Confucius singing:
"Phoenix! Hey, say phoenix, how's Integrity withered away so?
What's happened can't be changed, but the future's there to be made.
Give it up! Give it all up! High office – these days, that's the gravest of dangers."
Confucius stepped down from his carriage, wanting to speak with this man. But CrazyCart ignored him and hurried away, so Confucius never spoke with him.
Not quite a thrown shoe, but a disruption nonetheless. But look at how Confucius responds: he wants to talk to the man. These days, with all the security and political concerns, there is no way a Bush or a Wen, or I suspect an Obama, would try to seek out their disruptors. Maybe the point, however, is not to simply brush off the apparent madman, but to take the time and think about not only what he is saying, but how and why he is saying it. There might be something to learn.
The Useless Tree 
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