Ok, so John Sweeney shouldn’t have blamed school theatre for his apoplectic moment, but it’s interesting to see the reactions of disinterested viewers to the saga. Emil Steiner‘s Offbeat blog at the Washington Post takes this line:

During the 30 odd minutes of footage, the host is shown being mercilessly goaded, stalked and harassed by Church members, in particular Davis, whose sudden vitriol upon hearing the word “cult” is eerily reminiscent of Sgt. 1st Class Raymond Shaw seeing the queen of hearts in Manchurian Candidate. They interrupt interviews with former members (dubbed heretics) in an attempt to discredit them, often before they even have a chance to speak negatively about the Church.

Throughout these sometimes comical interactions, the dialogue between Sweeney and Davis grows frustratingly one-sided and increasingly contentious until it no longer resembles human conversation, but rather two ducks quacking beak-to-beak. Any attempts at decorum or humor by the Brit are ignored by Davis, who appears to be operating under the child-like calculation that “if I can talk over you, then I am right.”

Finally, after a 90-minute tour of an exhibit called Psychiatry: Industry of Death, which blames psychiatrists for the Holocaust, Sweeney appears fed up. As if on cue, Davis appears to attack his journalistic integrity, and the BBC reporter “lose[s] it, big time.” But does that outburst make him a bad journalist? Certainly not. A reporter’s job is to report the story. Davis pulled him into that story, and in a moment of frustration Sweeney reacted. Was it professional? Again, certainly not, but it was human, and it spoke volumes about the situation.