Audiences were polarized and disoriented by the flag-burning performance.

Evidence

Although the event was clumsily performed, reaction to it was vociferous. People screamed, “Throw him out!” Others applauded wildly. Still others were dumbfounded and puzzled as to how they should react to this extraordinary anti-American theatre piece. — J. Hoberman, Everything Is Now, 858

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Even provocation-spectacle loses appeal once audiences can see through its staging — W. David Marx, Blank Space: A Cultural History of the…, 829
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Even provocation-spectacle loses appeal once audiences can see through its staging — W. David Marx, Blank Space: A Cultural History of the…, 829