….along with an ethically inert “X” approval of it.
But then, assholes tend to admire assholes. Theater types are such weenies. That jerk who decided to betray his duty to the performance, the work of art, the paying audience and the other performers who cared about doing their jobs should have been tackled and dragged off stage, either by back stage staff or the actor next to him. This clip caused flashbacks to the unconscionable stunt by the “Hamilton” cast in 2017, using the stage to corner Mike Pence and lecture him on some woke agenda item or another; I neither recall nor care which. (Pence, of course, himself being a weenie, didn’t have the guts to tell the performers “Bite me!” and walk out.)
I confess: that disgraceful incident is why I haven’t seen “Hamilton” yet as my own little protest against ignorant actors pretending that what they think about pubic policy is any more intrinsically valuable than the opinions of the average drunk in a bar.
The flag display flunks the tests in the Ethics Alarms 12 Step Protest Ethics Checklist. See…
1. Is this protest just and necessary? Disrupting an Italian opera performance to wave the flag of terrorist culture? I think not…
2. Is the primary motive for the protest unclear, personal, selfish, too broad, or narrow? “Look at me, I support killing Jews!”
3. Is the means of protest appropriate to the objective? See #1 above.
4. Is there a significant chance that it will achieve an ethical objective or contribute to doing so? None whatsoever. On the plus side, it wasn’t as expensive or large as the stupid “No Kings” protests.
5. What will this protest cost, and who will have to pay the bill? Okay, this was a cheap unethical protest. Yay.
6. Will the individuals or organizations that are the targets of the protest also be the ones who will most powerfully feel its effects? Uh, that would be a no.
7. Will innocent people be adversely affected by this action? (If so, how many?) Innocent people were the only ones affected by the stunt. How many? It’s like the question of how many citizens are harmed by illegal immigrant killers and rapists. One is “too many.”
8. Is there a significant possibility that anyone will be hurt or harmed? (if so, how seriously? How many people?) I call having a theatrical experience ruined by assholes being “harmed.” Every member of that audience should demand that their tickets be refunded, and the theater should do it.
9. Are the protesters prepared to take full responsibility for the consequences of the protest? That we can’t be sure of: I assume the flag-holding fool assumes he will never be allowed on state again. If I were the director of that production, he’d be nervous about starting his car for the rest of his days…
10. Would an objective person feel that the protest is fair, reasonable, and proportional to its goal? No.
11. What is the likelihood that the protest will be remembered as important, coherent, useful, effective and influential? Zero.
12. Could the same resources, energy and time be more productively used toward achieving the same goals, or better ones? I can’t imagine a worse goal, so the answer here is, again, no.
Now a word about the idiotic commentary from “Amin Hashwami” (an anagram of “Ham Mash? Aw, in I!”). The fact that some idiots applauded validates a moronic, destructive act in his warped view. Brilliant. But I really am impressed with the non-logic displayed by the suggestion that a company being “disturbed” that its product has been sabotaged is assumed to be applying comparisons to something that has nothing to do with said product, and that the disruption couldn’t possibly ameliorate.
Ethics Alarms 
The tweet 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.
Bravo! I dislike the False Equivalency Tactic. It depends on the audience being surprised and unable to come up with a quick rebuttal.
I assume this is Covent Garden in London. Most of Europe is pretty substantially pro-Palestinian. I doubt this singer will face any adverse consequences whatsoever.
[From your host: the ghost commenter who haunts EA weighs in here to excuse the “Hamilton” actors because their hijacking the production to corner the VP was “mild.” A “mild” political statement that has no business in a theatrical production is still a political statement that has no business in a theatrical production, and there are no degrees of wrongness: it’s wrong, not to be tolerated and not to be excused.]
well, wouldn’t you expected that an unauthorized comment in a specific forum would attempt to rationalize another unauthorized comment in a different forum.
Perhaps A Friend was compelled to comment here out of an appreciation of the ironic.
-Jut
Nah. Irony is not the right word.
A Friend was actively doing the sort of thing he sought to defend.
-Jut
[Your host: “Ramalama ding-dong.” Ghost commenter “just wants to help.” “Help” on EA begins with respecting the house rules…]
He’s a smart guy, and his commentary would be valued here…if were willing to follow the rules.
Only a dumbass troll would try to attribute different levels wrongness, essentially using the 22. The Comparative Virtue Excuse: “There are worse things.” rationalization on Ethics Alarms. No dumbass; wrong is wrong.
Honestly; it seems like the only time the EA troll “A Friend” opens his/her mouth is to change socks.
Saw an update to this story. Apparently, he was told he would never work for the house again. Also, it says that someone did attempt to take the flag out of his hands.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14933611/Queer-dance-artist-Palestine-flag-Royal-Opera-House.html