All right, I think the week merits this conversation: Who should be the most embarrassed by his or her conduct in public this past week?
Was it Serena Williams, whose tirade and threats cost her a tennis match she was about to lose anyway?
Was it Representative Joe Wilson (R, South Carolina), who broke protocol in the congressional chamber by shouting "You lie!" at President Obama during his health care address?
Was it disgraced former governor Rod Blagojevich, who reacted to the apparent suicide of his close friend, codefendant and possible witness for the prosecution, Chris Kelly, by suggesting that prosecutorial pressure on him to "lie" about the governor's actions led to his suicide?
Was it Michael Jordan, who used his induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame as an opportunity to publicly ridicule people with whom he's had decade(s)-long grudges?
Was it Kanye West, who grabbed the microphone from award-winner Taylor Swift to berate the voters for not selecting Beyonce instead?
Was it someone I'm overlooking? Was it me? Was it you? Let's try to learn together from the most uncivil week in recent memory.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Both Inspiration and Cautionary Tale: Excerpts from Middling
What follows is an excerpt from the Winter 2021 edition of Middling, my quarterly newsletter on music, books, work, and getting older. I'...
-
I've recently begun reading the collected novels and short stories of Sherlock Holmes as written by Arthur Conan Doyle. I'm a trend-... -
I've been moving slowly through How Music Works, the colossal tome by Talking Heads frontman David Byrne, over the past few months. My ...
3 comments:
Kanye West. He took an opportunity for celebration and communal praise, and twisted it into a self-aggrandizing episode, all to criticize the public for not sharing in HIS opinion. Can anyone say Ego Run Amok?
My vote goes to Michael Jordan for apparently showing his true colors. I mean, come on. Calling out his high school coach for cutting him from the team? Lame and petty and sad.
Well, Kanye apologized, in that awkward way charismatic people apologize when they're off their game, and then he hopped up to rap with JayZ and Rihanna. Joe Wilson apologized, but he's signing pictures of himself saying it for his supporters. Jordan and Williams and Blagojevich don't seem to be embarrassed by their conduct--or else they express their embarrassment by avoiding the camera, or in Blagojevich's case, making the rounds of the national media.
Post a Comment