You’ve heard the tale and seen the replay more than once – Kanye West was rude to Taylor Swift. It was a big story on the local news, the national news, and even on BBC news. I don’t know which pet peeve to start with….
Lack of perspective: Chris Brown brutally assaulted Rhianna. His fans vowed support, and other celebrities offered their prayers and hopes that he would get counseling.
Kanye West was rude. His fans are deserting in droves, celebrities are bad-mouthing him on their blogs, and insiders are predicting that his career is over.
Brown commited a violent crime, folks. West failed etiquette class. Where’s the logic?
Lack of Al Sharpton: I haven’t heard anyone mention racism yet, so I’ll start it. Does the gap between the two incidents mentioned above suggest that we’ll accept a black man beating a black woman, but not a black man interrupting a white woman? Sure, it’s a huge stretch, but the question must be asked.
Lack of journalistic integrity: I know what’s being said about West’s behavior because the ‘news journalists’ are sharing comments from Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace. It’s just too darned much trouble to research a story and present the facts, so let’s fill an hour or two with opinions from random people who (judging by their messages) haven’t yet mastered the spelling of simple words. While ‘news programs’ in the West covered this huge story, Al Jazeera brought us up to date on tragic events that have significant impact on the world.
Lack of venue recognition: It’s the VMA awards. Isn’t there a requirement that at least one celebrity must engage in an outlandish, attention-getting act?
The bright spot: All this silliness and poor behavior allowed Beyoncé and Taylor Swift to show just how classy they are. Maybe, just maybe, impressionable fans of these two ladies will decide to emulate their mature, well-mannered actions. Then maybe some of them will become journalists. Real ones. Who cover important stories. With class.
Posted by Christina - shop volunteer on November 5, 2009 at 1:26 am
Did you hear that Rihanna is doong her first interviews about her experience this week?
Posted by deborahadams on November 5, 2009 at 3:33 pm
I heard that. If you watch the interview, will you post something about it here, please?