Life is hard. It's harder if you're stupid. Burn a US flag at LSU? Really?

He wanted to burn the flag in the name of “due process for students and suspected terrorists alike,” but either he thought better of it or, per the second clip below, he couldn’t get a safety permit from the school. So he came out to make a statement instead — and a huge crowd came out to shout him down. At first it’s simply chants of “USA,” but then it turns more aggressive; before long this guy’s being hit with water balloons, to laughs and cheers from the crowd, and by 2:42 the cops are sufficiently worried about the vibe that they have to pull him out of there for his own safety. You can see the fear in his face, too. It’s really unpleasant to watch. Why this is considered a free-speech triumph by some of the people who sent us the link, I have no idea. It’s the heckler’s veto in action. Had the shoe been on the other foot politically — and it has been, as the boss emeritus can attest from attempts to intimidate her during her public speaking engagements — it would be the blogospheric scandal du jour.


Allahpundit over at Hotair isn't really happy with the crowd's behavior, because as he points out, it's the heckler's veto--but it seems to me that people are only doing what they've seen others do elsewhere--It's easy enough to find instances where a left wing college crowd has shut up somebody they don't want to hear, as Allah also points out.

Kinda funny how that works.

But it's also comparing apples and oranges, as Michelle Malkin (and others) have been heckled at venues where they've been invited to speak, as opposed to this sorry, miserable attempt at political agitprop, the purpose of which was to outrage patriotic citizens. Which I guess it did.

So, no, it's not a free speech triumph. It's more like some clown being put in his place for trying to do something unnecessary, pointless, meaningless and stupid.

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