This excellent comment on “Unethical Protest of the Week…,” about the British choruster on stage a professional opera production who decided it was a good place to cheer on terrorist, need no introduction from me. Here is John Paul with one of his best Comment of the Day…

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The tweet (above) reminds me of an incident in college. I attended a Christian University. Every day we had to attend chapel that featured a variety of speakers. One day, we had a speaker who was grand standing. It wasn’t uncommon, but I remember him being particularly annoying. He was making some point about what we treat as important and swore in the middle of chapel. Unexpectedly, the crowd gasped. Then he went on to say, you care more about the fact I swore than starving children in Africa.

He wasn’t even talking about starving children in Africa. Apparently, the man didn’t know what a non-sequitur was.

I should have walked out right then. At the very least, I let the dean know.

It shouldn’t be hard to see what was wrong with the man’s argument, but I’ll dissect it anyway. First, one has nothing to do with the other. This is not some kind of mic-drop moral checkmate. We’re capable of caring about more than one thing at a time. And frankly, chapel wasn’t the place for shock tactics disguised as wisdom.

Second, he wasn’t challenging hypocrisy; he was grandstanding his own. If his point was that we should care more about justice, then model that. Don’t hijack a moment of worship (or opera performance) to make people feel small for reacting to your antics. That’s not conviction. That’s manipulation.

Finally, he used a false dilemma to excuse his own bad behavior. As if noticing his arrogance somehow meant we were blind to global suffering. It’s a cheap move, but it works sometimes because people don’t want to look self-righteous.

The Opera House should be appalled. Their first responsibility is to the integrity of their craft. They can’t afford to have rogue actors breaking script and derailing performances. That kind of stunt undermines the entire production and risks alienating their audience. Frankly, I don’t know what that actor was thinking. There are hundreds of other performers waiting in the wings, all capable and willing to respect the work. If the Opera House doesn’t act, they’re sending a message that the show and the audience don’t really matter.

Just for fun, I’m curious to see how many unethical rationalizations might fit Haswani’s tweet.

I’m on the right side of history.
They had it coming.
It’s for a good cause.
Self-validating Virtue (on the fence on this one)
I’ve earned this (on the actor’s part)
There are worse things
Giving the people what they want
It’s my right
Free Speech
I care so much
The victims distortion
These are not ordinary Times
Too stupid to know what’s good for them
It’s a bad rule

Gonna quit here. These are already excessive. I think we can say both the tweet and the actor are jerks and do not respect other people.