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Heckling politicians is as old as the hills, but when a young man standing behind President Obama began shouting at him during an event Monday, that seemed especially noteworthy.

After all, the man 鈥� a 24-year-old undocumented immigrant from South Korea named Ju Hong 鈥� had been invited by the White House to stand there as part of the 鈥渉uman wallpaper鈥� often seen at presidential events.

And yet even, or maybe especially, in that privileged spot, Mr. Hong felt compelled to interrupt Mr. Obama鈥檚 scripted remarks on immigration and call on the president to stop deportations. Obama waved off the Secret Service, which was moving to escort Hong from the room, and addressed his complaint 鈥� denying he could use his executive power to halt deportations.

To many observers, instances of the president being heckled are on the rise 鈥� particularly, in the case of Obama, by those to his left 鈥� though numbers are scarce. Even Mark Knoller of CBS Radio, keeper of myriad presidential statistics, begs off: 鈥淪orry, haven鈥檛 kept a heckle count.鈥� 聽

Gregg Lindskog, a presidential scholar at Millersville University who has researched sociopolitical disruption, feels certain that Obama has been heckled more than his two predecessors. 鈥淚t would be hard to debate that,鈥� he says.

The question, then, is why? Theories center on a general rise in public incivility, Obama鈥檚 race, growth of partisan media, and the rise of political polarization and political 鈥渃ocooning鈥� 鈥� people choosing to live and associate with people of like-minded views. 聽

鈥淲e鈥檙e increasingly living in this dichotomous American society,鈥� says Mr. Lindskog. 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e in those echo chambers, there鈥檚 an incentive to be the most liberal or the most conservative.鈥�

When Rep. Joe Wilson (R) of South Carolina shouted, 鈥淵ou lie!鈥� to Obama in 2009 during an address to a joint session of Congress on health-care reform, members of both parties condemned his action. Congressman Wilson was formally rebuked by the House, but his stock rose among conservatives.

Obama鈥檚 legitimacy as president has long been a source of debate on the right, and that doubt may be empowering some on the right to challenge the president to his face. Wilson himself in a radio interview not long after he accused the president of lying. 聽

As eyebrow-raising as the Wilson outburst was, it is the heckling of Obama from the left that requires more explanation. In his five years as president, his speeches have been interrupted numerous times by pleas to reject the Keystone XL pipeline, close Guant脿namo, end drone strikes, free Army whistle-blower Bradley (now Chelsea) Manning, and do more via executive action for gays and illegal immigrants.

There鈥檚 a pattern to how the disruptions unfold. Activists gain access to a presidential event, wait until the president is well into his remarks, and then start shouting, sometimes unfurling banners to give the TV some visuals to go with the audio. The president then responds respectfully, even if disagreeing with their point. Only then, if the yelling still doesn鈥檛 end, does security remove the disrupters. The hecklers are rewarded with news coverage.

After interrupting a presidential speech in Syracuse, N.Y., last August, Ursula Rozum explained her actions .

鈥淧resident Obama was not going to see or hear our message from the corner of Robinson Street and Teall Avenue, three blocks away,鈥� wrote Ms. Rozum.

To Jarret Lovell, a political scientist at California State University, Fullerton there鈥檚 a central reason why activists need to engage in activities that some might see as rude or disrespectful: the fact that everything in politics is 鈥渟cripted,鈥� from public speeches, to political conventions, to congressional hearings.

鈥淲hat we鈥檝e been seeing with heckling, dating before Obama, but especially with Obama, is this ability of activists to break the script,鈥� says Mr. Lovell, himself a progressive activist. 鈥淗eckling puts these political leaders on their toes.鈥�

Obama himself is partly to blame, Lovell says, because he has failed in his promise to be more transparent and accountable. Lovell sees short-term benefit in knocking the president off his teleprompter, and forcing him to speak from the heart. But he worries that in the long run, these episodes end up leaving the hecklers in a negative light. Part of it is, yes, the script that presidents follow when they鈥檙e heckled. 聽

鈥淧oliticians have their standard response: 鈥業n America, we allow for freedom of speech,鈥� 鈥� Lovell says. 鈥淭hey come across as generous. Doing the right thing is somehow generous.鈥�

Martha Joynt Kumar, an expert on White House communications at Towson University in Maryland, suggests that Obama might be opening himself up to more disruptions because of how the White House allocates tickets to events. 聽

鈥淲hen Bush was president, they were very careful about who they gave tickets to when he had an event. It was not an open kind of thing,鈥� Ms. Kumar says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 more open with Obama, and therefore you鈥檙e going to have more heckling.鈥�

And when the president replies respectfully to hecklers, that may only encourage more. When first lady Michelle Obama was heckled at a private Democratic Party fundraiser last June by a gay activist calling for the president to address employment discrimination, she threatened to leave. 聽

鈥淥ne of the things I don鈥檛 do well is this,鈥� she said. The protester was escorted out.

There haven't been reports of Mrs. Obama being heckled since. For activists, sticking with the president is probably a better bet.