I just saw this earlier and thought it would make a good post. I'm glad you got to it before me. Good looking out, Sarah! This is a kind of up to the minute cultural production/social activity that really excites me. In the wake of the Joe Wilson outburst and the Kanye West VMA stunt, I've been reading some interesting chatter about how America has become a completely uncivil, completely devoid of manners, a notable shift in character. I'm curious what others of you think of this idea. Do you have any sense of this or other thoughts? Please write.
I don't know if I would go as far to say that America has become devoid of manners, but I think that modern media is now pinpointing those moments when people "loose it" because it's more entertaining. Youtube and reality TV both generally tend to focus on events that illicit intense emotions that may not occur all the time. Being in the spot light may in turn lend a celebrity (or whoever) to act severely. That is not to say that certain individuals (ahem, Kanye West) have an excuse to be rude. In fact, I personally think that West is and has been quite awful to people. What should also be noted, however, is the reaction of everyone to his outburst. As far as I can tell, celebrities at the VMA's were shocked by his declaration and many have blogged about how uncalled for it was. Check out TMZ.com to see these posts. The fact that so many people were shocked by his actions and are berating his behavior says something about Americans. At least we can still recognize that something is uncivil.
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I just saw this earlier and thought it would make a good post. I'm glad you got to it before me. Good looking out, Sarah! This is a kind of up to the minute cultural production/social activity that really excites me. In the wake of the Joe Wilson outburst and the Kanye West VMA stunt, I've been reading some interesting chatter about how America has become a completely uncivil, completely devoid of manners, a notable shift in character. I'm curious what others of you think of this idea. Do you have any sense of this or other thoughts? Please write.
I don't know if I would go as far to say that America has become devoid of manners, but I think that modern media is now pinpointing those moments when people "loose it" because it's more entertaining. Youtube and reality TV both generally tend to focus on events that illicit intense emotions that may not occur all the time. Being in the spot light may in turn lend a celebrity (or whoever) to act severely. That is not to say that certain individuals (ahem, Kanye West) have an excuse to be rude. In fact, I personally think that West is and has been quite awful to people. What should also be noted, however, is the reaction of everyone to his outburst. As far as I can tell, celebrities at the VMA's were shocked by his declaration and many have blogged about how uncalled for it was. Check out TMZ.com to see these posts. The fact that so many people were shocked by his actions and are berating his behavior says something about Americans. At least we can still recognize that something is uncivil.
The New York Times has an article about rudeness in our culture and the Swift-West spectacle.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/16/arts/television/16taylor.html?_r=1&hpw
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