Lane Hudson explains why he thought it was appropriate to interrupt Bill Clinton’s keynote address by yelling out a question about Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell and DOMA once he realized there wouldn’t be a Q&A after the talk:
So, to the folks in the audience at #NN09, I just wanted to make sure he talked about two issues that mean a great deal to me and many others. (I didn’t know it at the time, but Lt. Dan Choi was in the audience.) I wouldn’t have yelled from the audience and interrupted if we weren’t being held as a captive audience.
No, you spectacular dick, you were not being “held as a captive audience”; you were voluntarily attending a talk where the speaker had declined to allot time for questions. Believe it or not, there were probably one or two other people there with strong feelings about any number of other matters. Being what we call “grown ups,” however, they were not so convinced of their righteous specialness that they imagined themselves entitled to set the speaker’s agenda like some jackass fratboy screaming “Freebird” at the band. I realize it seems shocking that some of your fellow audience members were more concerned about norms of civility than your most-important-issue-evar, but the fact that everyone has one of those is why we have norms of civility. The only reason it was possible for you to be rewarded for your boorishness by getting your question addressed is that you had the good fortune to be surrounded by people who were housebroken.
7 responses so far ↓
1 Jon // Aug 14, 2009 at 11:19 am
That’s a fantastic take-down, Julian. Kudos.
2 Bill Clinton Interrupted at Netroots Nation | Outside the Beltway | Online Journal of Politics and Foreign Affairs // Aug 14, 2009 at 12:02 pm
[…] Julian Sanchez, also in attendance and quite sympathetic to Hudson’s views on both DADT and DOMA, demurs: No, you spectacular dick, you were not being “held as a captive audience”; you were voluntarily attending a talk where the speaker had declined to allot time for questions. Believe it or not, there were probably one or two other people there with strong feelings about any number of other matters. Being what we call “grown ups,” however, they were not so convinced of their righteous specialness that they imagined themselves entitled to set the speaker’s agenda like some jackass fratboy screaming “Freebird” at the band. I realize it seems shocking that some of your fellow audience members were more concerned about norms of civility than your most-important-issue-evar, but the fact that everyone has one of those is why we have norms of civility. The only reason it was possible for you to be rewarded for your boorishness by getting your question addressed is that you had the good fortune to be surrounded by people who were housebroken. […]
3 By The Time They Got To Pittsburgh, They Were Half A Million Liberal Bloggers Strong « Around The Sphere // Aug 14, 2009 at 12:12 pm
[…] Julian Sanchez […]
4 Elizabeth // Aug 14, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Hear, hear!
5 E.D. Kain // Aug 14, 2009 at 3:28 pm
Yes, very impressive take-down. I suppose anytime you can start a take-down with “No, you spectacular dick” you must be on the right track….
6 Sue Denim // Aug 14, 2009 at 5:39 pm
Interrupting speakers is all the rage these days since the first shouting town halls.
7 rock music // Aug 16, 2009 at 3:08 am
thanks. very very good.