Not all heroes wear capes.
A studious Washington man has become an unlikely internet hero by silencing a group of anti-Trump protesters with three simple words.
“This is library.”
A small group of protesters, their leader armed with a megaphone, took to the foyer of the University of Washington library last week, to voice their opposition to the inauguration of President Donald Trump.
In a video uploaded to YouTube on January 21, the protesters can be heard chanting in response to their leader’s question.
“Who’s got the power?”
“We’ve got the power!”
“What kind of power?”
“People power.”
But the chants fell instantly silent when the aggrieved student reminded them exactly who had the power.
“Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey,” he said, interrupting the protesters. “This is library.”
The student then returned to his studies, casting a withering look behind him at the anti-Trump group as he did.
One of the protesters can be heard yelling after him, “Go back to Beijing”.
The man has garnered a cult following among fellow library goers, with the video, which has been viewed more than 430,000 times, winning enthusiastic praise.
“This man is my hero,” a person posted under the handle Tiger Lily.
“This guy is my spirit animal,” said another.
“The hero the west needs,” came another comment.
While most fans did not object to the nature of the protests, like the man who stopped it in its tracks, they objected to it being held in a venue, which, across the world, are respected as sacred houses of silence.
“To be honest a library is not really a place to protest,” wrote Brandon Hudson.
“Protesting is fine and all, but who … protests in a library?” a poster named Sensanty said.
Others pointed out the irony of the protester demonstrating against the notoriously anti-immigration Trump telling the man to return to China.
“’Go back to Beijing’ … I mean … isn’t this just the opposite of what they believe?” İlker Yüceler said.
It did not take long for the internet to respond, with a number of parody videos and memes quickly springing up.
This article was originally published on news.com.au
