I attended a public hearing at a local high school last night. It started at 7 and I left about 9:10 .. people were still commenting, 3 minutes at a time. I sat next to a woman who came full of venom, and had to offer her comments of disagreement to anyone seated within 2-3 chairs.
Maybe I don't attend enough public hearings (ha!) but this one -- concerning a proposed commuter rail line stretching from DFW Airport to Plano -- brought out the worst in the crowd. Any speaker who was in favor was subject to immediate disdain by Mrs. Venom, and a few others who appear to know each other. They continued to mutter that this was a waste of time, and that the rail line will go through no matter what the public had to say. Only one of "her crowd" spoke (apparently a lawyer), and the moderator attempted to silence his excessive comments after about 4 minutes, while Mrs. Venom started yelling "LET HIM SPEAK!" as if it were okay to extend the comments if you were on her side, but unacceptable if you were for the new rail service.
Personally, I feel that the ushers (?) should have been provided Duct Tape to apply to the mouths of anyone who couldn't sit and listen. Since when did it become acceptable to bully people around by shouting them down? I guess that's been going on for centuries, but it's still sad to think that crowds lower themselves to this with little afterthought.
This morning, I felt suddenly queasy and briefly vomited (very unusual). Could this be Cause and Effect from sitting next to Mrs. Venom last night?
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