I have been invited to to give many talks to various organizations. Since I am not famous, it is not clear how many will turn up for the talk. It all depends on how much effort the hosts put into generating interest. Sometimes the audience has been as few as about five people and this can be a little disconcerting if you have traveled a long way to give the talk, especially if the venue is a large auditorium and you are looking out at a sea of empty seats. But the show must go on and I still give it my best shot. The few people who have taken the trouble to come and listen to me, even if it were just a single person, deserve nothing less.
But I have never, ever spoken to a completely empty venue where not even the people who invited me were in the audience. If that were the case, I would have suspected that there was something seriously wrong. So I am mystified as to why a former president of the National Rifle Association went ahead and gave his talk to 3,044 empty chairs.
A YouTube video shows David Keene, two-time president of the National Rifle Association, donning a cap and gown to speak to thousands of students from James Madison Academy on their graduation day.
Keene asks the students to uphold the second amendment that their school’s namesake James Madison took part in drafting.
But when the camera pans, there is a haunting scene of thousands of empty white chairs – 3,044 to be exact – with no students to fill them. These represent the seniors from this year’s graduating class who died from gun violence. The school is not a real one.
The gun safety organization Change the Ref released a series of videos on Wednesday in which advocates tricked pro-gun figures into addressing empty chairs representing high school youths shot and killed before they could graduate.
…When NBC News called Keene’s home, a woman answered and declined to comment on the videos.
Surely he had to realize that he had been pranked?
I’d guess they said something like “The students will be here in 30 minutes, but we’re doing a quick mic check. Mind doing a run-through of your speech while we adjust the audio?”
First time commenter, long time lurker here. I wonder if he was under the impression that it was being livecast to a large number of people online. Ironically, this video has close to 200,00 views on youtube already, albeit mostly from people laughing at him.
So I am mystified as to why a former president of the National Rifle Association went ahead and gave his talk to 3,044 empty chairs.
Must have had a contract, with money involved.
I think Marcus probably has it right. I know I wouldn’t want to give the money back if I had been made to travel to give a speech (which I have done, many times). Give the speech to empty seats & no matter what happens they can’t take the money back.
Now, if I were wealthier, and was getting paid simultaneously by my day job’s salary AND by the organizers via speaking fees, I think I probably would not share my speech with an empty room, but I’m not wealthier, and I was never in a position where my travel engagements allowed me to get paid by my day job without using vacation days. So this is all hypothetical to me, and a contract is a contract. It’s possible I would give the speech anyway.
Am I parsing this correctly? It seems that the article is saying: of USA’s school students whose final year was the 2020-2021 academic year, and thus would be graduating about now, 3,044 have died specifically from firearms?
Yes, sort of. But it’s about all kids, not only those who “would be graduating about now” (i.e., high school seniors this last semester), because of course many were much younger and had more years left to go before they would’ve been graduating.
Toward the bottom of the article, there’s a link (here) with more info. It looks like the data for that specific statistic only goes up to 2019 so far, but I’m sure the 2020 figures will be ready to report fairly soon.
From my link above:
Sorry, that needs some clarification….
The article is definitely saying “the seniors from this year’s graduating class.” That can be consistent with what I just said, because it’s not saying they all died this year, but at some point prior to now… Thus, they’re not in this year’s graduating class to fill those seats. The CDC site they’re linking to has reports going back which cover all deaths/injuries over the relevant period, for anyone who would’ve graduated high school this year.
A little confusing, because the most recent number is so close to the average that they’re also reporting. That’s because we just don’t do shit about it, so nothing ever changes here.
MYSTERY SOLVED!
They didn’t realize that they had been pranked b/c they were told they were doing a dress rehearsal.
Crip Dyke @#9,
Thanks for the clarification. But it still suggests that the speaker is not that astute. I have never heard of anyone giving a dress rehearsal for a speech. Sound check, yes. Rehearsal in private, yes. Full dress rehearsal in public, no.
Completely agree.
Source for the “dress rehearsal” tidbit, btw, was Rachel Maddow, who talked to the organizers.
Here’s how I’d do it:
“Mr Keane, we just need to rehearse your mic levels for the opening 15 seconds… Thankyou. And now the drone camera team needs about 20 seconds from your middle section, they say it’s your best bit about the second amendment, sir. They want to get the timing right as we swoop over your adoring crowd…. And now your final 10 seconds, so that we can set up our pull back to the vict…er, students standing in applause. Excellent, that’s a wrap.”
“Son, don’t you say ‘it’s a wrap’ only when we’re finished?”
“Yes. We’re done. Here’s your cheque.”
Turns out there are three videos: two pro-gun speakers, and finally the two parents who organised the event.
See the YouTube channel for parts 1 (Keane), 2 (John Lott), and 3 (Patrician and Manuel). Sorry, got some dust in my eye.
A large percentage of those students who lost their lives to gun violence probably killed themselves. About 60% of gun deaths in American are due to suicide. Guns are much more often successfully lethal than most other means of attempted suicide.
Instead of protecting its owner, a gun is more likely to endanger the owner and the family of the owner. Getting rid of guns is a safety measure I wish our families and country would embrace,