Back in 2018 I saw Ann Coulter speak at Berkeley and the protest drumline outside was so loud I couldn't hear a single word she said for the first 20 minutes

Honestly, that whole day was a mess between the barricades, the police in riot gear, and a guy next to me livestreaming the whole thing on his phone, has anyone else had a speaker event just totally derailed by the noise outside?

3 comments

3 Comments

harperwright17h ago

Man that brings back memories. I had a similar thing happen at a local town hall meeting back in 2019, people were blowing air horns outside every time the council member tried to talk. What worked for me was just moving to the back of the room near the door, the sound was a little muffled there and I could catch about half of what was said. Also if the venue has any side rooms or overflow spaces with speakers, that can help filter out the street noise a bit. Sometimes the organizers will hand out earbuds with the audio feed too, I've seen that work at bigger events. Your mileage may vary but worst case just grab the transcript later if they post one online.

blake_smith18h ago

Man that drumline thing is legendary at this point, I swear Berkeley brings out the full band just to troll speakers they don't like. 2018 was peak chaos culture wars, I remember seeing clips where the drummers were literally following her from one building to another like a marching band of doom. Honestly if I paid to see someone speak and couldn't hear a word for 20 minutes I'd just start vibing to the beat and call it a weird concert instead.

elizabeth43817h ago

It reminds me of how people handle disagreements at work or in families now. Instead of having a quiet conversation, they just go louder and more dramatic until the other side gives up. I've seen neighbors do it over property lines and committees do it over meeting agendas. At some point it stops being about the actual issue and becomes a contest of who can make the most noise. Nobody ends up convinced of anything, they just get tired and go home.