Applause! Applause!
Have you noticed the “obligation to applaud” that’s enveloped our lives? (To this day, and from the beginnings of TV, there are audience “applause” signs that cue the crowd to applause whether they’re having a good time or not!)
In the theater, every performance receives a standing ovation, from Broadway to amateur. And enthusiastic applause isn’t enough, you usually must stand. Professional speakers have come to expect standing ovations as if they are part of their pay. (I once walked into the back of a room as a speaker was concluding his lunch oratory, and two women were asleep, heads down on the table. When the speaker finished and everyone jumped up they were awakened, and stood to applaud. “How was he?” I asked. “Oh, great!” they said, applauding like trained seals.)
This obligation has entered church. When the cantor finishes a hymn, a few people will applaud and then others feel obligated to support them, as if they’re not there to pray but to enjoy a performance. This is absurd. I’m a lector and a professional speaker, but if people stood to applaud after I’ve finished reading St. Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians, I’d tell them all to sit down and quietly contemplate what they just heard.
I saw Hamilton before the Tonys (I know the producer) and widespread adoration. It’s a great musical, but probably not in my top ten all-time. However, people showed up to love it, screaming and yelling before it began. What used to be a matter of critical taste has become a matter of trying to prove that you’re “hip” and justifying the enormous amount of money you spent to get a ticket. We say Tina Fey and Amy Poehler at a performance in New York, and they were awful—they’re not stand-up comedians. When the final (rather tepid) standing ovation occurred, we were able to duck out and get an Uber before the rest of the crowd.
When we applaud mediocrity we simply perpetuate mediocrity, and when we applaud lackluster performances we’re simply trying to boost our own egos to justify and rationalize spending the time and money to be there.
In other words, we’re applauding ourselves.
