Rude behavior is overwhelming us. By “us,” I don’t mean some type of colloquial umbrella term for Western society. I also don’t mean musical artists, politicians, athletes, or even recently released shoe throwers. I mean the media — newspapers, cable news, blogs, and all other information-dissemination resources.
Sitting in the Adler Journalism Building the day after Kanye West’s now-infamous interjection in Taylor Swift’s Video Music Awards acceptance speech (lovingly dubbed by entertainment journalists as “Kanyegate”), I watched CNN present its examination of rude behavior and how the recent surge of outbursts marked the death of intelligent discourse. Thinking that view to be a little too pessimistic, I glanced down at the USA Today in my lap, proclaiming that celebrities’ rude behavior would corrupt children.
The Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times followed suit. Entertainment websites had a field day. Parodies of West, as well as Joe Wilson and Serena Williams, flooded the web. And now, well after the fact, here I am writing about it. Yo, mainstream media. I’m really happy for you, but I prefer that you not finish.
Allow me to put the latest episodes of so-called “rudeness” in perspective. Consider these great achievements in rude history:
• In 2000, Mike Tyson called out Lennox Lewis by saying, “I want to rip out his heart and feed it to him. I want to kill people. I want to rip their stomachs out and eat their children.” Even for Tyson, a convicted rapist and notorious biter, these were some strong (and strange) words. Williams, in her most recent tirade, did not once mention disembowelment or cannibalism and didn’t even have the gall to get off topic by discussing the line judge’s children. It’s hard to believe that wanting to “shove a ball down your throat” after a blatant foot fault passes for rudeness these days.
• As for Rep. Wilson (R-S.C., though the R apparently doesn’t stand for “rude”), barking an accusation from the cheap seats during a presidential address hardly trips the political rudeometer given some of the outrageously rude acts by government officials. For example, George H.W. Bush raised the bar in presidential rudeness when he vomited into the lap of Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa while visiting the country in 1992. Whether he was expressing the frustration of American car companies or just had too many sake bombs, the president sent a message of rudeness that broke more than just the language barrier. Read my lips: That was rude.
• Kanye West’s Video Music Awards upstaging might have shocked some, but it was really just a drop in an ocean of rudeness. The rudest moment in music occurred in 2007 when Bon Jovi released a country album (Lost Highway), simultaneously spurning rock fans and country fans. After that pinnacle of rudeness, Kanye’s interjection is downright tame.
So please, mainstream media, abandon your dogged pursuit of all the rude that’s fit to print. I don’t think chewing out a sports official, interrupting a speech, or jumping onstage to hype your friends are acceptable behavior, but ruder things have happened and we have been sufficiently numbed.
Plus, if you don’t stop talking about rudeness, I’ll shove a ball down your lying throats right after I write one of the greatest columns of all time.
