Hecklers Have Been Doing an Awful Job of Heckling: Ibraheem S. Samirah, Trump Protestors, and the Hapless Joe Wilson. If You Want to Heckle, Do It Right!

Let’s talk about heckling: the fine art of cutting a speaker down to size with a couple well-chosen words. 

We have heard some awful heckling. American audiences that have pride need to step up their game.  Or, if they can't learn to heckle right, maybe they should stop trying. Whichever.

Bad Heckling Example #1: Virginia General Assembly Delegate Ibraheem S. Samirah interrupted President Donald Trump’s recent speech in Jamestown, Virginia (one of my favorite places in the whole world, ever) by standing up smirking while holding a folding sign that read: “Go Back to Your Corrupted Home – Deport Hate – Unite My Family.” He wore a nice suit with a silly bow tie. Officers escorted him away, still smirking. Republicans and members of the crowd promptly cheered, “Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump.”  Republican leaders cursed about him on Twitter and said that his behavior was “inconsistent with common decency.” Hmm, well, the pancake accuses the crepe of being flat, or whatever metaphor you like.

Now, Trump haters on social media thought that Samirah was great, and Trump lovers cursed at him. I don’t think we added much to public dialogue either way. The Republican responses were, if anything, worse than the original heckling.

Boring. Dull. Unimaginative. Crude. Not funny. And no one got cut down to size.

Bad Heckling Example #2:

Protesters interrupted Trump’s rally in Cincinnati last night. They shouted incomprehensible pro-immigrant slogans and waved signs saying things like “Immigrants Built America.” Well, I agree that immigrants built America, but that doesn’t mean that the protestors were competent hecklers. Drowning them out, Trump supporters shouted, “USA! USA! USA!” Punches were thrown in and outside the arena. I guess people enjoyed getting in one another’s faces. But both sides were unpolished and predictable. 

It didn't even look like fun. If you want to heckle, have a good time doing it. And although some people were humiliated, no one was cut down to size. Indeed, Trump beamed during the incident, so the protestors' purpose went down to defeat. Hecklers are supposed to make the speaker look worse, not better.

Bad Heckling Example #3

For the worst, crudest, stupidest, most embarrassing, most pathetic, and sadly, most effective example of heckling in recent American history, we need to remember Congressional Joe Wilson of South Carolina. President Barack Obama was speaking to Congress in 2009 about his proposed health care plan. Obama correctly mentioned that illegal immigrants would not be allowed to gain benefits. Full of paranoid conspiracy theories and bereft of knowledge, Wilson shouted “You Lie!” He later apologized. His heckle led to a surge in campaign contributions from all over the country. Apparently being wrong and stupid but rude was exactly what his supporters wanted. Or, at least, his many supporters thought it was OK for him to be wrong if he was also disgusting.

Even after the “You Lie” incident, there were people who failed to realize that Wilson was a fool. Years later, however, comedian Sacha Baron Cohen removed all doubt. He tricked* Wilson into advocating arming kindergarten students (i.e., specially trained toddlers called “kinderguardians”) with firearms so they could protect their classmates. 

However, note I that I lived happily in South Carolina for many years, and I assure the reader that, mindless though he may be, Wilson is not even close to being the dumbest member of Congress from that lovely state.

So—heckling can be an art. This blog post has told three stories of terrible heckling.

The moral is: if you want to heckle somebody, try to be witty, brief, and sharp. Otherwise, you’ll just sound stupid. You’ll never sound as stupid as Joe Wilson—that is too high a bar—but you’ll sound stupid enough.

Believe it or not, I had heckling lessons in college. Yes, you read that right. Heckling lessons. From two different professors at two different schools. No, the heckling lessons were not a pile of liberal propaganda. And, no, they were not a waste of time. I’ll write more about that when I feel like it. Stay tuned!

* Yes, Wilson got tricked by a master trickster. Still, how can a public official have such poor judgment? Good grief.