I hope the silent majority is gathering itself for action . . .

Remember:

• Memories Pizza in Indiana?  When its owner declined to cater gay weddings, and the store shut down under a monumental wave of hatred and backlash, a fundraiser collected over $800,000 for the owners.
• Sweet Cakes by Melissa in Oregon?  Forced by a hostile state agency to pay damages to a lesbian couple for whom the Christian owners refused to bake a wedding cake, the case is now before the Oregon Supreme Court - and likely to head to the Supreme Court in Washington if it doesn't achieve resolution in state courts.  Supporters have so far raised over half a million dollars for the owners' legal expenses.
• The Chick-Fil-A same-sex marriage controversy?  In a massive show of support, the company's sales reached a new record in the face of propaganda against it from the LGBT community.

Those are only the better-known examples of what happens when the left-wing, progressive community underestimated the strength of feeling among ordinary Americans - and the revulsion against their over-the-top attacks on anyone they regard as unsympathetic to their cause.  The same thing is visible in reaction to the neo-Nazi displays in Charlottesville last weekend.  Naked political propaganda is meeting rejection, and high time, too.

That phenomenon has just been on display again, this time in Santa Monica, California.

A left wing attempt to boycott a performance of the Santa Monica Symphony due to a guest appearance by conservative radio host Dennis Prager backfired on Wednesday night; the event was a sellout.

. . .

Liberals began to call for a boycott of the symphony due to Prager's presence, with the mayor of Santa Monica and a city councilman saying they wouldn't attend.

Musicians in the symphony even refused to perform, two of them penned an open letter saying "Dennis Prager is a right wing radio host who promotes horribly bigoted positions.

Prager is not a trained conductor and there is no musical rationale for his participation. Please urge your friends not to attend this concert, which helps normalize bigotry in our community."

But Prager's supporters showed up in big numbers, and the event was a sellout.

"I think it's a beautiful thing, it's the unintended consequence of stupidity," said Steve Kahn. "It may not have been sold out, but because the attention has now been given on a national platform, people who may have been less inclined to show up, who were either fans of classical al music or fans of freedom of speech, or fans of Dennis, have now decided to come support the concert and support Dennis."

"The people who ginned up the controversy show themselves in the foot," said Endre Balogh, a violinist. "When people mix politics and music for specious reasons, then they get what they get."

There's more at the link.

I'm sincerely hoping that the same effect will be visible in public reaction to the over-the-top displays of vitriol and violence by all sides in Charlottesville last weekend.  I have a feeling that the silent majority is rather larger than people might imagine, and angry enough right now to become a lot less silent.  I hope so, at any rate - because such nonsense must be challenged.  We cannot allow thugs - of either the left or the right wing of US politics - to rule our streets.  They have got to be stopped;  and if the law won't do it, we must.  How, precisely, that is to happen, remains to be seen . . . but I have a feeling that, if idiots carry on behaving like idiots, we may not have to wait very long.

Peter