Thoughts on Heckling

Earlier this week the First Lady was heckled at a private fundraiser, and the way she handled the heckler drew both praise and criticism. I’ve seen the incident reported a couple of ways, but my impression is that the FLOTUS gave the audience (who had paid to be there) a choice between who they wanted to speak, her or Ms. Heckler. And if the heckler took over the program, the FLOTUS said, she would leave.

This NPR story suggests that lots of liberal commenters thought the FLOTUS was out of line, and not the heckler, who interrupted the First Lady’s speech about providing a better future for our children with the demand that the President sign an executive order banning discrimination against gays working for federal contractors.

Heckling is very much justified when it’s about some issue Power isn’t addressing, or is addressing stupidly. But there is a bill the President supports making its way through the legislative process that addresses the issue, and there’s a solid argument to be made that, in the long run, it’s much better to settle this matter through law than through an executive order that would be weaker and that a future POTUS could rescind. It seems to me this week’s heckler was serving no real purpose other than to hear herself heckle.

I also think interrupting a speaker should be a last resort thing. Was there going to be Q&A time after the prepared remarks? Was the First Lady planning to shake hands and schmooze a bit with the participants? In other words, would there have been another point in the program at which the heckler could have spoken her mind without interrupting the speech? If so, what was the purpose of interrupting the speech, especially at a private event?

The thing with heckling is that there’s a soft, fuzzy line between bravely speaking truth to power and just being an asshole. And, yes, perception is in the eye of the beholder. But there’s skillful and fearless heckling and asshole heckling, and to me, the heckler in question was mostly the latter.

I’ve been at events and also taken classes that were hijacked by an audience member/class participant, and sometimes the only purpose actually served is that whatever everyone else was there to see didn’t happen. And sometimes that’s a righteous thing, and sometimes it’s just rude. And well-meaning people will disagree with each other about which is what.

However, seems to me there are vocational hecklers who believe heckling is always righteous, under all circumstances, and I’m saying it isn’t. Nor should it always be condoned and encouraged. Sometimes people need to be told to stuff a sock in it and sit down.

It’s also the case that some people looking at this week’s incident see a privileged white twit disrespecting a black First Lady, and there may be something to that.

See also Michelle Obama is Awesome. Hecklers, not so much.

11 thoughts on “Thoughts on Heckling

  1. I thought the heckler was rude. FLOTUS doesn’t make the laws and can only influence her husband in small ways. It was the wrong place, wrong time. In case the heckler hasn’t noticed, any thing POTUS does is met with the absolute most obstruction ever in our history. She seemed to forget that her problems will not even be talked about if the person in the White House was Republican.

  2. There’s a solid argument to be made that, in the long run, it’s much better to settle this matter through law than through an executive order that would be weaker and that a future POTUS could rescind.

    If only the heckler had gone to see the movie Lincoln instead, she would have received a much-needed education, and spared the world her personal issues. From everything I’ve read about the incident, she just wanted to make noise that isn’t justified by anything in the real world.

  3. Oh, for the days when disrupting the class earned you a stint in the corner wearing a pointy hat. I hope Ms. Heckler has learned some manners from this.
    No doubt the First Lady’s supply of respect was just increased.

  4. Meanwhile, from the shores of Wingnuttia, Glenn Beck played the First Lady’s comments over and over this morning on the radio in an attempt to portray her as angry and imperious. He called her a “monster” and repeatedly referred to her as “Lady MacBeth.” Then he marvelled at her sky-high approval rates.

  5. Heckling those in power who oppose the agenda of your cause, and are speaking on that subject, is one thing, and is sometimes tolerable.
    And even then it’s rude.

    Leave heckling to drunken jerks at comedy shows.
    And even then, you’re being an @$$hole, while someone is trying to make a living making people laugh – reminder: if you were funny, and quick-witted, you’d be the one on that stage being heckled. But I gotta admit, I do love it when the comedian can make those heckler seem like the little squealing insects that they are.

    In short, speak truth to power – not just to hear your own voice. And, last I looked, the FLOTUS is married to the one with SOME power, but not all.

    This is why I have a love-hate relationship with the women of Code Pink. When they pick the right target, they are funny, and spot on. But too many times, they just love the sound of their own voices.

  6. Bravo to Michelle Obama.. I respect a woman who sets her boundaries and won’t tolerate anybody to encroach beyond them. Michelle did a masterful job of identifying the situation and shutting it down. It was no wonder that the heckler was dumbfounded. She didn’t anticipate the response that Michelle wouldn’t engage her.. but dump her aggressive tactic back in her own lap…Michelle should have ended her response with a Damon Wayans retort….Clownie don’t play that game.

    I think the next heckler will be a little more reluctant to heckle because they’re going to know what to expect…

  7. MO lost her cool, but it happens.

    The heckler, however, was a jerk to harangue the 1st family that did the MOST to date to help her cause. In a nation that can barely attend to its basic needs under the crush of the sequester, phony scandals, and filibustered committee appointments.

  8. The all-purpose criticism of the Obamas for daring to breathe has grown tiresome. The fact that this criticism is a meal ticket for some insures its continuance. I do not know how they stand it.

  9. Oh Swami! , the “Homie the clown” reference was perfect! “Homie DON’T play that” How perfect would it have been if she had had Homies big ass sock to swing!? LOL..

    Being silly aside, I was glad to see how she handled herself because it seemed she was blindsided by the heckler. She was a GUEST at a private fundraiser, not a “public event”. The people who were there to hear HER speak didn’t pay to hear from the heckler about her groups issue. I feel the heckler was not only RUDE to Mrs.O, but rude to everyone there who wanted to hear what Michelle had to say, not some lady no one knows.

    That said I wish Mrs.O would have told her “I believe the issue you raise is important, however I am a guest here and I don’t think it is fair to those who invited me discuss this today”. I think when someone heckles at a political level their goal is to feel heard and to have their issue validated. Her issue IS valid and it should be our goal..I think SOMETIMES a little understanding would go a long way.

  10. Well, maybe it’s not heckling more like hijacking,, but one of the tactics I get a kick out of is when some patriotic teabagger manipulates an audience by way of peer pressure into reciting the pledge of allegiance or calling for a moment of silence to capitalize on a self serving reverence card. Romney used the moment of silence ploy when he did his presidential usurpation press conference regarding Benghazi…. long after Elvis had left the building. It’s just such a cheap stunt at self aggrandizement.

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