Paradoxically, maybe, that’s why I find myself almost cheered by Zaidi the Iraqi shoe thrower and the folk-hero stature that he is attaining.

Zaidi could have lobbed a grenade at a passing U.S. convoy or strapped on a suicide bomber’s vest and hurled himself toward the Green Zone. But he didn’t. He just threw his shoes, a gesture laden with symbolism but not truly dangerous to anyone but himself (he was lucky the Secret Service agents didn’t shoot him).

By willingly risking prison and death just to throw those shoes, he reminded the powerful and powerless alike that a single symbolic gesture can be more effective than a thousand grenades.