The Shakespeare in the Park production of Julius Caesar was interrupted on Friday night when Laura Loomer, who writes for Rebel Media, rushed the stage screaming “Stop leftist violence.” The show depicts Donald Trump as Caesar being assassinated by Roman senators in the Forum. The show was stopped as security hustled Loomer off the stage. She was arrested for disorderly conduct and trespassing.
Loomer’s protest was streamed live on social media and recorded by Loomer’s fellow Rebel Media blogger Jack Posobiec. As Loomer was being led away, Posobiec shouted “Goebbels would be proud!! You’re a Nazi crowd!” He too was escorted out by security.
https://twitter.com/CharlotteAlter/status/875890586053726209
The transgression of depicting the assassination of a sitting president easily warrants as many loud and vociferous protests at the venue as possible. I hope the play is interrupted every night. The violation of the ordinary rules of a civil society and the slap in the face to common decency require an extreme response.
The New York Post report of the protest left out one monumental detail:
As she interrupted the play, fellow blogger and conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec filmed the disturbance while screaming “Goebbels would be proud” at the audience.
Police said the woman was charged with disorderly conduct and trespassing.
The duo apparently staged a protest because they were upset that the classic Shakespeare play depicts a US president similar to Donald Trump as Julius Caesar.
I doubt that Loomer and Posobiec cared very much that Trump was being parodied in the play. What they, and the rest of civilized America, object to is using the play’s pivotal assassination scene depicting (encouraging?) the death of President Trump. No mention by the Post of the real reason for the protest. They are either totally oblivious to this violation of any standard of accepted behavior or deliberately omitted the assassination porn so that the casual reader who may not be familiar with the issue would remain in the dark.
This is not a question of someone’s First Amendment right to say what they will about a president. You can’t shout “fire” in a crowded theater nor can you encourage the assassination of a president. Those who argue that the scene does not promote the assassination of a president are kidding themselves. A cursory examination of what motivated James Hodkinson, the man who gunned down Rep. Steve Scalise, to go on his rampage would reveal the fallacy of that argument.
As long as protesters at this play remain peaceful and are willing to accept the consequences of their protest — arrest and possible jail time — their actions fall well within the boundaries of civil disobedience. That legitimizes them more than any demonstration recently by paid leftist stooges who constantly threaten violence to intimidate their opponents. It would be glorious if the scenes above could be repeated every night of the play’s run. Someone has to stand up for civil society and tell the left they’ve gone too far. Might as well be us.
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