# You're protesting people going to a PLAY? Idiots! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 30, 2004, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-protesting-people-going-to-a-play-idiots/262184 "2004-08-30T04:59:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-protesting-people-going-to-a-play-idiots/262184/21 "2004-08-31T10:25:24Z")
> [@buttonjockey308](#): > > Well, I’m not entirely sure where you’re getting your numbers, and I don’t have any to cite, but if that were true, it would seem like they’d not have elected 2 republican mayors, recently. Just sayin, is all. That figure comes from the number of registered voters in NYC. As fo Giuliani and Bloomberg, well, they don’t even qualify as Republicans on a national scale if you look at their POV on any issue. Indeed, Bloomberg only switched to the Republican party because he figured it would be easier to get a mayoral nomination. ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-protesting-people-going-to-a-play-idiots/262184/22 "2004-08-31T10:51:47Z")
> [@buttonjockey308](#): > > Why force people to see things they wouldn’t, if they choose not to? That’s just stupid, what’s more, it’s hurting the protestors cause, and by default, the dems. They are FORCING the delegates to see crap broadway? What is this world coming too? ---
**Author:** ![Elza\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Elza\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elza_B)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-protesting-people-going-to-a-play-idiots/262184/23 "2004-08-31T11:22:52Z")
> [@buttonjockey308](#): > > If Naked Boys Singing, RENT and Wicked were something that had mass appeal (i.e. disney crap) way more people would have seen them than have. > It’s just not something everyone can identify (or wants to identify) with. How is that wrong? > > Why force people to see things they wouldn’t, if they choose not to? That’s just stupid, what’s more, it’s hurting the protestors cause, and by default, the dems. Errr…both Wicked and RENT are very popular. I’ve been to RENT about eight times, and each time, all but a few seats were filled. And Wicked is sold out many nights. So yes, I think they’re both very popular and something that people can and want to identify with. And honestly, I wish the people who don’t identify with it would stay the hell out so I don’t have to listen to teenaged girls saying “ewww…gross!” every time the lesbians kiss. Wicked’s the ‘feel good’ family show of the season. I’m not sure how it didn’t pass the Republican muster, but I really think they’re reaching with the whole ‘anti-government’ crap. But it _does_ have mass appeal - otherwise, their ticket sales wouldn’t be so high. Ava ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-protesting-people-going-to-a-play-idiots/262184/24 "2004-08-31T13:07:29Z")
I wish some protestors would have stopped me before going in to see Cats. And as much as I loved Rent, I agree that it’s not for everyone. The convention folks are supporting the arts and that’s a good thing. To be indignant because they aren’t seeing cutting edge stuff is just stupid. And Naked Boys Singing? That would be hysterical for about 2 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-protesting-people-going-to-a-play-idiots/262184/25 "2004-08-31T13:46:18Z")
> [@avabeth](#): > > Errr…both Wicked and RENT are very popular. I’ve been to RENT about eight times, and each time, all but a few seats were filled. And Wicked is sold out many nights. So yes, I think they’re both very popular and something that people can and want to identify with. And honestly, I wish the people who don’t identify with it would stay the hell out so I don’t have to listen to teenaged girls saying “ewww…gross!” every time the lesbians kiss. > > Wicked’s the ‘feel good’ family show of the season. I’m not sure how it didn’t pass the Republican muster, but I really think they’re reaching with the whole ‘anti-government’ crap. But it _does_ have mass appeal - otherwise, their ticket sales wouldn’t be so high. > > Ava Wicked does feature witchcraft doesn’t it? You know some conservative Christians don’t like the Wizard of Oz for that reason. Personally I think the ‘protesters’ were just going where the delegates were to get their message heard.\* \*Like the Republicans would listen. ---
**Author:** ![NotWithoutRage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NotWithoutRage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotWithoutRage)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-protesting-people-going-to-a-play-idiots/262184/26 "2004-08-31T13:49:28Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > Wicked does feature witchcraft doesn’t it? You know some conservative Christians don’t like the Wizard of Oz for that reason. Um, no. It doesn’t feature witchcraft, in the sense that you are thinking about it. Also, WICKED has been sold out every night since it opened last October. So that “more people would see it” argument goes right out the window. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-protesting-people-going-to-a-play-idiots/262184/27 "2004-08-31T14:04:58Z")
“Forcing people to see shows they wouldn’t”? Are you kidding? Leaving the playing field level ain’t “forcing.” The issue is not that Republicans aren’t going to see “cutting-edge” shows, it’s that the Republican party leaders and convention planners are discouraging people from seeing shows that don’t pass political muster. In addition to the ticket-buying and the website shenanigans, they have also advised delegates and other attendees to avoid these shows – not because they’re benign critics who want to assure a good time for all, but because they don’t want certain messages polluting their convention. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-protesting-people-going-to-a-play-idiots/262184/28 "2004-08-31T14:07:15Z")
> [@NotWithoutRage](#): > > Um, no. It doesn’t feature witchcraft, in the sense that you are thinking about it. Also, WICKED has been sold out every night since it opened last October. So that “more people would see it” argument goes right out the window. Well, I have not seen the show, or read the book, but knowing the source of the source material of the b’way show, I just assumed that witchcraft would be a part of it. ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-protesting-people-going-to-a-play-idiots/262184/29 "2004-08-31T14:24:52Z")
> [@Nametag](#): > > My sunday paper described the measures that the RNC has taken with respect to theater. Apparently, they have bought blocks of tickets to the big, bland, baby-safe broadway shows, and pressured NYC into removing a gay revue (“Naked Boys Singing”) from their tourism website. Given this, I’m not so sure that it doesn’t make sense for lovers of the theater to pickets shows attended by Republican conventioneers. [Naked boys _are_ singing](http://www.nycvisit.com/memberSearch/searchCategory.cfm?startrow=21&SelectPrimary=Broadway&SelectSecondary=5&pagePkey=12) at the NYC tourism website. As for purchasing blocks of tickets to ‘bland’ shows, ‘bland’ is in the eye of the beholder. 2 minutes on google could have confirmed this, you know. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-protesting-people-going-to-a-play-idiots/262184/30 "2004-08-31T14:42:36Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Well, it’s not official or anything, [but](http://nyudemocrats.blogspot.com/2004/08/rnc-protests.html)… Dear God, when do they go to class? :grumble: spent 40+ hrs/wk in lab @ Clemson :grumble: ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-protesting-people-going-to-a-play-idiots/262184/31 "2004-08-31T14:52:28Z")
> [@Barbarian](#): > > That figure comes from the number of registered voters in NYC. As fo Giuliani and Bloomberg, well, they don’t even qualify as Republicans on a national scale if you look at their POV on any issue. Indeed, Bloomberg only switched to the Republican party because he figured it would be easier to get a mayoral nomination. Bullshit. Giuliani is a featured speaker at the RNC, they don’t give that to some Democrat in Pubbie garb, y’know. What I think most knee jerk liberals fail to recognize is that there is a large segment of Republicans out there (people like Giuliani) who do not march in lockstep with the Neo-Con faction that currently holds power in the party , yet they still think that corrupted Republican ideals are better than the extreme liberal ones that Kerry espouses. I understand them because while I don’t agree with them, it’s a near thing. If only we had someone who was truly conservative running… ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-protesting-people-going-to-a-play-idiots/262184/32 "2004-08-31T15:14:35Z")
> [@Brutus](#): > > [Naked boys _are_ singing](http://www.nycvisit.com/memberSearch/searchCategory.cfm?startrow=21&SelectPrimary=Broadway&SelectSecondary=5&pagePkey=12) at the NYC tourism website. > > 2 minutes on google could have confirmed this, you know. **Brutus** , think harder – that paper bag will give way eventually… Those 2 minutes would have been better spent confirming [this](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/08/27/politics1352EDT0606.DTL): > [@](#): > > And a discounted offering for “Naked Boys Singing,” a popular gay-themed off-Broadway show, was removed from the city tourism bureau’s Web site when the Republican National Committee complained it was unsuitable. Oh, and this made me laugh: > [@Weirddave](#): > > What I think most knee jerk liberals fail to recognize is that there is a large segment of Republicans out there (people like Giuliani) who do not march in lockstep with the Neo-Con faction that currently holds power in the party , yet they still think that corrupted Republican ideals are better than the extreme liberal ones that Kerry espouses. Kerry, an extreme liberal? :snork: Look, as an extreme liberal myself, I can assure you that Kerry is firmly on the conservative side of liberal politics. Al Sharpton and Dennis Kucinich are extreme liberals; John Kerry is merely a Democrat. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-protesting-people-going-to-a-play-idiots/262184/33 "2004-08-31T15:49:49Z")
> [@Nametag](#): > > Oh, and this made me laugh:Kerry, an extreme liberal? :snork: Look, as an extreme liberal myself, I can assure you that Kerry is firmly on the conservative side of liberal politics. Al Sharpton and Dennis Kucinich are extreme liberals; John Kerry is merely a Democrat. You keep telling yourself that, and when November rolls around, and when in spite of moderate voters like myself who went for Kerry Bush wins a second term, feel free to be baffled. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-protesting-people-going-to-a-play-idiots/262184/34 "2004-08-31T15:57:30Z")
> [@Weirddave](#): > > Bullshit. Giuliani is a featured speaker at the RNC, they don’t give that to some Democrat in Pubbie garb, y’know. Hahahaha…you _are_ joking, right? You think the Republicans wouldn’t put up almost anyone they could if it served their “big tent moderate” pretense? ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-protesting-people-going-to-a-play-idiots/262184/35 "2004-08-31T16:13:01Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Hahahaha…you _are_ joking, right? You think the Republicans wouldn’t put up almost anyone they could if it served their “big tent moderate” pretense? So, are you claiming that moderate Republicans are somehow not “real” Republicans? ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-protesting-people-going-to-a-play-idiots/262184/36 "2004-08-31T16:41:51Z")
> [@Weirddave](#): > > You keep telling yourself that, and when November rolls around, and when in spite of moderate voters like myself who went for Kerry Bush wins a second term, feel free to be baffled. Pffft. Baffled, my left eye. I am well aware that American politics are skewed hugely to the right, and that most American voters have their heads shoved too firmly into the sand to see the true differences between themselves and others. They see “us,” they hear about “them” on TV, and comfort themselves that there can’t be too many of “them” because they “don’t know anybody like that.” Kerry is a rich man who accepts the basic American precepts of broad property rights, individual liberties, and civic duty. He’s opposed to gay marriage and gun control. He won’t withdraw from Iraq if it means humiliating the U.S. Where, exactly, is the liberalism? He’d rather raise taxes than see huge budget deficits? That’s fiscal _conservatism_. OK, he’d rather raise taxes than cut services – but he’d rather get elected than do either. Undiluted leftist politics would make your head swim. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-protesting-people-going-to-a-play-idiots/262184/37 "2004-08-31T17:38:55Z")
> [@Weirddave](#): > > So, are you claiming that moderate Republicans are somehow not “real” Republicans? Why yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying, in the sense that “exactly what I’m saying” means “180 degrees, diametrically opposed, couldn’t bear less resemblance to what I’m saying.” No, what I’m saying is if the organizers of the convention could find themselves a half-black Latina lesbian with a gammy leg they’d put her on the podium in the service of their “big tent” lie. The Republicans have been talking up the lie of the big tent for over a decade and it’s as much a load of crap now as it was then. If anyone thinks moderate Republicans aren’t “real” Republicans, it’s right wing Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-protesting-people-going-to-a-play-idiots/262184/38 "2004-08-31T19:29:57Z")
So, who gets to determine who is allowed to be a Republican? I know black Republicans, I know gay Republicans. Are they now to be told “Sorry, you have to chose another party because we don’t think you’re smart enough to know what you’re doing since you think you’re Republican”? You can stand on the outside and claim that the “big tent” is a falicy all you want, and for your it may seem to be, but others may think differently, especially if they see themselves as inside the “big tent”. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-protesting-people-going-to-a-play-idiots/262184/39 "2004-08-31T20:41:54Z")
I’ve been sitting here for several minutes trying to formulate a response to your latest post, Dave, and frankly I’m stumped. Your post has so little to do with what I’ve been saying that I am unable to correlate it back to what I’ve been talking about. The point still stands, the Republican “big tent” is a lie and people who buy into it are suckers. Bleating away about how some people think it isn’t (no shit some people think it isn’t, Captain Obvious) does nothing to refute the politics of exclusion, and the politics of appeasement of the radical right, that the Republicans feel they have to play to win and have in fact played over and over again. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-protesting-people-going-to-a-play-idiots/262184/40 "2004-08-31T21:02:44Z")
> [@Weirddave](#): > > What I think most knee jerk liberals fail to recognize is that there is a large segment of Republicans out there (people like Giuliani) who do not march in lockstep with the Neo-Con faction that currently holds power in the party , yet they still think that corrupted Republican ideals are better than the **extreme liberal** ones that Kerry espouses. “Extreme liberal”? Pull the other one, it’s got bells on. Coming up on the **Weirddave** political hour: Moderate Conservative Noam Chomsky debates Radical Marxist William F. Buckley. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-protesting-people-going-to-a-play-idiots/262184.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-protesting-people-going-to-a-play-idiots/262184.md?page=3)