Anecdote #4

I went to a room to hear a man speak. The room was over-full, overflowing, because the man was somewhat famous and the topic somewhat interesting. I hesitated to stay, since the room was very full, and I was only moderately interested in the somewhat interesting talk. In my mind, this talk justified a full room, but not a very full room, a room filled to capacity.

Before it began, an audience member addressed a remark to him. It was a slightly forward remark, and could have been read as rude. It could also have been seen as a vocal but pertinent concern. The speaker, who was evidently very engaging, responded to this remark with another, one that made the listener the butt of a joke. Everyone laughed for a long time; perhaps for longer than the joke warranted.

It was a moderately clever joke, but it disgusted me. The man was a good speaker, and a calculated one, and rather than be corrected by an over-earnest audience member, he turned her comment into a joke on her. She had no response, was probably not clever enough to have one, and was not given opportunity.

I left immediately after, because I was less and less interested in what this man, whom I now saw as arrogant, had to say, because I disapproved of what little I had seen of him, of his joke.

But maybe I should have stayed, to take up a place, so one less person could fit in the room, and one less person could laugh at his jokes.