Photo by Miguel Henriques on Unsplash

Last week, I went to a local political event for a candidate running for Senate. It’s a hot race in our state, and I was curious to learn more about this guy. He was a few minutes into his speech, telling us about his reasons for running and track record, when a woman standing in the back suddenly yelled: “HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE GENOCIDE IN PALESTINE! CEASEFIRE NOW! CEASEFIRE NOW!”

The candidate waited for fifteen seconds and when she didn’t shut up, he walked to the back of the room to talk to her. “DEAD CHILDREN! GENOCIDE!” 

While I was curious about the candidate’s positions on Gaza and other issues, I had zero interest in this rude random woman with her face obscured about a mask. I hadn’t left my autistic kid at home on a Thursday night to listen to her. So I started to heckle her, “OH COME ON! BOO! BE QUIET!” Steve hushed me, because he wanted to see how the candidate handled it. 

Hecklers has become an expected presence at all political events these days. They stand up as a group and turn their backs to the speaker to block the views of other audience members. They shouts slogans to drown out and derail speakers. Some will walk to the front of the room to grab the microphone from the speaker. Heckling is effective, social media savvy, and, at the same time, totally toxic — a zit on the face of democracy.

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