Yesterday a secular crowd gathered in Taksim to bid farewell to Bush. Turkish Communist Party among them. They had pictures of Bush and they were throwing their shoes at his likeness.
Now this makes me think of a recent debate on Turkish television. You have to know that Turks are religion obsessed. Some spend their life fearing it. Some spend their life defending it. But most spend their life asking incredibly creative questions like "So if I chew gum with no flavour when I fast, do I have to re-fast one day after Ramadan?". The latest debate revolved around the question of whether the ritual of 'throwing stones' at the 'likeness of the devil' (which happens to be a stone wall) was an essential part of the Hajj. The reformists were saying No, the traditionalists were saying Yes.
I think last night's scene provides argument for the Yea-sayers, secular or religious, throwing things at something you don't like seems to be a genetic tendency in human kind, and its therapeutic effects cannot be underestimated.
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