Don’t Disrupt a Play; It Only Makes You Look Ridiculous

By now you’ve heard about the two incidents in which a rendition of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar in New York was disrupted by Donald Trump supporters who objected to the assassination scene with a Trump-like Caesar.

The protesters who stormed the stage screamed that liberal hate promotes violence.

The whole thing is cringe-inducing.

It should embarrass someone to act like a leftist.

The alt-right — or, perhaps more precisely, alt-lite — protesters will come back with: “We’ve played Mr. Nice Guy long enough, Woods! It’s time to fight back!”

Sure. And the result, among the general public, will now be: “Huh, so I guess there are crazies on both sides. I thought the left were the ones who pulled low-IQ stunts like this, but I guess it’s everyone.”

Nice job.

Then, people who know nothing about me say: “Woods, you think writing policy papers is going to stop the left!”

Precisely which episode of my podcast supports such a view?

The correct response to leftist thuggery is exposure and ridicule. We have unprecedented platforms and resources to accomplish this.

But disrupting a play and screaming like a leftist? What fence-sitter is going to say, “You know, I couldn’t tell which side was right, but now that those people disrupted that play, everything is clear to me now”?

And frankly, whose I-look-like-an-imbecile meter isn’t going off during that?

I’m even being told, “Woods, never criticize the right! Only criticize the left!”

Well, I criticize the left plenty — almost to a fault, according to some of my listeners. But if people on the so-called right start acting like people on the left, you’re darn right I’ll say something.

“It works for the left, so it’s our turn to try it!” they say.

But what works for the left generally works for the left only: they have a sympathetic media and academic establishment behind them, for one thing.

Should we start calling people “racists,” too? The left does that all the time. And when the right tries it — “hey, you’re an anti-Christian bigot!” — it’s laughably ineffective.

Or how about smashing windows?

Screw that.

To say we’re faced with a choice between George Will, or screaming like idiots, is a false choice.

Potpourri:

(1) At my entrepreneurship site: how Columbia University tried raising money from me by telling me about its new research on hip-hop culture.

(2) Join me for my 1000th episode at an exciting live event in Orlando on September 9, featuring special guests Michael Malice and Tom DiLorenzo, and emcee Eric July. It’s free, but I do need you to register: http://www.tomwoods.com/orlando