The woman in red is obsessed with the idea that Obama is not an American citizen, which is a little crazy. Though I think the wacky, conspiracy-intoned rant she spews is completely off the wall, it's not what I found to be the most interesting part of the video.
Watch it first.
Now, consider the fact that this obviously angry woman was able to completely disrupt this meeting, taking it off-track to question Obama's citizenship, and feed into the crowd's emotions. That, in and of itself, happens now and then in public forums, so it's a little crazy, but is part of the nature of the beast.
What I find most amazing is the complete lack of control that the leaders show in handling the situation, and the power of a lone voice, crazy though it may be, in pressuring an entire room to listen to it.
This woman was able to completely derail things and get the whole crowd, leaders included, to stop everything in order to say the pledge of allegiance.
Wow.
I watched in shock as I saw all of the people at the front of the room give up any sense of control, turning to face the flag, hand over heart, reciting the pledge.
Were they too afraid to ignore the crackpot? Were they afraid they might seem unpatriotic if they refused to be pressured into dropping everything and bending to this person's wishes?
What were the people in the crowd thinking? Did any of them stay in their seats, preferring to not be used by someone with an agenda, to make a point?
Fascinating...in a creepy way.
I can imagine this woman marching through France in 1789, pelting the aristocracy with tomatoes and epithets on their way to the guillotine.
1 comment:
In some ways, this is different than France, in that these people at the front are supposed to be servants of the people in the audience.
The comment that the Congressman makes at the end is most telling. I believe this town hall was supposed to be about health care, and Congress is having a hard time defending itself on this issue. My guess is that the Congressman would much rather entertain this lady than talk health care.
And what are you going to do when the whole group decides that they want to say the pledge? Refuse? That'd be seen as unpatriotic.
Truly a weird event at that. Not sure what to make of it, or the whole birth certificate thing. I'm totally agnostic on the whole thing. I wish he or Congress would just clear the whole thing up.
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