# Let's Ban All Theater and Drama! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 20, 2007, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-ban-all-theater-and-drama/400984 "2007-04-20T19:36:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2007, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-ban-all-theater-and-drama/400984/1 "2007-04-20T19:36:35Z")
Continual idiot–and everyone’s favorite (or maybe second-favorite, now with Nifong) almost-disbarred lawyer–Jack Thompson is once again trying to use current events to blame video games, in this particular case, [Counterstrike](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18220228/). The idiotic Phil McGraw has tried to blame video games as well. Besides the irony of Counterstrike being a team game, and not even being a light-gun game at that, the man wrote really bad plays. Obviously, there is only one reasonable response: Ban all drama. Down with Andrew Lloyd Webber and Stephen Sondheim! Down with Tennessee Williams! Enough with that bloodthirsty bastard Shakespeare! No more Thornton Wilder! We can no longer abide the religion and violence (and incest!) from Sophocles and Euripides! Come, my fellow Americans! We must ban all drama before another massacre can occur! ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2007, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-ban-all-theater-and-drama/400984/2 "2007-04-20T19:40:40Z")
If we ban all drama, then this thread is doomed. Doomed I tell you. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2007, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-ban-all-theater-and-drama/400984/3 "2007-04-20T19:42:43Z")
[QUOTE=asterion] We can no longer abide the religion and violence (and incest!) from Sophocles and Euripides! [/QUOTE] Why can’t I stop thinking “Is this the end of zombie Shakespeare?” ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2007, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-ban-all-theater-and-drama/400984/4 "2007-04-20T19:43:16Z")
Maybe we should just all Jews and homosexuals out of the theatre? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2007, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-ban-all-theater-and-drama/400984/5 "2007-04-20T19:45:00Z")
Who would write the jokes and design the sets? 😕 It’s hopeless! Hopeless! ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2007, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-ban-all-theater-and-drama/400984/6 "2007-04-20T20:18:31Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] Maybe we should just all Jews and homosexuals out of the theatre? [/QUOTE] Without Jews and homosexuals, there IS no theatre! ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-ban-all-theater-and-drama/400984/7 "2007-04-20T20:33:36Z")
[_Larry Sanders Show_] Artie: Don’t you know who runs this town? Phil: The Jews? Artie: The _gay_ Jews! [/ _Larry Sanders Show_] ---
**Author:** ![rayh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@rayh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayh)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2007, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-ban-all-theater-and-drama/400984/8 "2007-04-20T21:01:46Z")
How about we just ban Andrew Lloyd Webber? ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2007, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-ban-all-theater-and-drama/400984/9 "2007-04-20T21:15:08Z")
If it weren’t for drama, I wouldn’t have gotten laid for a looooong time. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2007, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-ban-all-theater-and-drama/400984/10 "2007-04-20T21:17:48Z")
The article mentions that when the police searched Cho’s room they didn’t find a single videogame. And Cho’s roommate said in an interview on Hardball that he never saw Cho playing a videogame. Yet, even with overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Thompson still blames videogames. He’s a nutcase. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2007, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-ban-all-theater-and-drama/400984/11 "2007-04-20T21:25:28Z")
[QUOTE=Pochacco] … Thompson still blames videogames. He’s a nutcase. [/QUOTE] Nah, just a Drama Queen. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2007, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-ban-all-theater-and-drama/400984/12 "2007-04-20T21:29:17Z")
[QUOTE=rayh] How about we just ban Andrew Lloyd Webber? [/QUOTE] Can’t we just hit him with a stick? ---
**Author:** ![ForumBot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ee59a6/32.png) [@ForumBot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ForumBot)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2007, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-ban-all-theater-and-drama/400984/13 "2007-04-20T22:22:48Z")
Here I was, enjoying my lazy day, successfully avoiding any sort of conversation about the shootings, and you snuck one up on me. Damn you. ---
**Author:** ![rayh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@rayh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayh)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2007, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-ban-all-theater-and-drama/400984/14 "2007-04-20T22:56:05Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] Can’t we just hit him with a stick? [/QUOTE] Works for me. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-ban-all-theater-and-drama/400984/15 "2007-04-21T02:33:29Z")
When I read the thread title, I thought for sure we were going to [talk about this.](http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/20843) > [@](#): > > In the wake of Monday’s massacre at Virginia Tech in which a student killed 32 people, [Yale] Dean of Student Affairs Betty Trachtenberg has limited the use of stage weapons in theatrical productions. > > Students involved in this weekend’s production of “Red Noses” said they first learned of the new rules on Thursday morning, the same day the show was slated to open. They were subsequently forced to alter many of the scenes by swapping more realistic-looking stage swords for wooden ones, a change that many students said was neither a necessary nor a useful response to the tragedy at Virginia Tech. > > According to students involved in the production, Trachtenberg has banned the use of some stage weapons in all of the University’s theatrical productions. While shows will be permitted to use obviously fake plastic weapons, students said, those that hoped to stage more realistic scenes of stage violence have had to make changes to their props. Apparantly, Yale does not really want to ban Andrew Lloyd Webber. They just want to hit him with an obviously fake sword. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-ban-all-theater-and-drama/400984/16 "2007-04-21T04:26:36Z")
Ffffft. > [@Clinically Paranoid Pundit](#): > > “He might have killed somebody but he wouldn’t have killed 32 if he hadn’t rehearsed it and trained himself like a warrior on virtual reality. It can’t be done. It just doesn’t happen.” Uhh… I have clocked some serious time on Quake, Quake II, Rainbow Six, Unreal, Sin, Half-life, etc… and I’ve got some pretty impressive frag-counts. Consistently smoked my flatmates and friends. …then I went target shooting. Fat lot of good all that “training” did me. :rolleyes: A first-person shooter is a gun simulator in the same way that Atari 2600 “Bi-Planes” is a flight simulator. What an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-ban-all-theater-and-drama/400984/17 "2007-04-21T08:17:41Z")
That article makes me giggle. Not because of the shooting. It goes without saying that it was a terrible tragedy. But it is to laugh, because good ole Jack isn’t going to let pesky things like FACTS get in the way of his blame apportioning… > [@](#): > > And in a letter sent to Bill Gates Wednesday, he wrote: “Mr. Gates, your company is potentially legally liable (for) the harm done at Virginia Tech. Your game\*(counterstrike)\*, a killing simulator, according to the news that used to be in the Post, trained him to enjoy killing and how to kill.” ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-ban-all-theater-and-drama/400984/18 "2007-04-21T09:48:38Z")
"Dear Jack: You are a loony. Regards, Bill" I would give a lot of money to see that happen. ---
**Author:** ![rayh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@rayh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayh)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-ban-all-theater-and-drama/400984/19 "2007-04-21T14:10:09Z")
I’d just like to say, I play Counter Strike. BE AFRAID. BE VERY AFRAID!!! Bwah bwah bwah. ---
**Author:** ![Elenfair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cc9497/32.png) [@Elenfair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elenfair)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-ban-all-theater-and-drama/400984/20 "2007-04-21T14:28:02Z")
Ok - I mean, Andrew Lloyd Webber can go. Seriously. But Sondheim? LEAVE STEPHEN ALONE. If were going to take the murdering, the blood guts and gore, revenge killings, incest, slaughter of innocents, plagues, all that… can we take the bible out too? I mean, shit, have you read that thing? Yikes! 😉 Elly, Musical theatre and theatre geek. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-ban-all-theater-and-drama/400984.md?page=2)