Our nation needs its mouth washed out with soap, and certain individuals should be made to stand in the corner. Insolent, childish behavior has put us in the spotlight showcasing our lack of civility toward one another.
Recently, the worst breach of civil conduct came from James Wilson, the Senator from South Carolina. By shouting the words, "You lie!" at our President during his address, Senator Wilson disgraced his constituents, his family, his party, and his country. Anyone who is not ashamed, does not realize the magnitude of what he did. It was the mockery heard round the world. Even though a few people interviewed in South Carolina's capitol city, Columbia were supportive of his actions, Wilson's behavior has been seen as deplorable to every other country on the globe. The reaction of citizens of other nations are overwhelmingly against his behavior, and consider his outburst beyond disrespectful. Only children and those who suffer from turrets are excused from not being able to contain their explosive vocalizations. From what I can tell, Senator Wilson is neither.
Days later, at the MTV video awards show, Kanye West jumped on stage, took the microphone out of Taylor Swift's hands as she was making her acceptance speech for winning best female video. He completely ruined her moment in the spotlight as she was saying that she was a country singer, so she was grateful to win. Kanye practically said that she didn't deserve the award by saying that Beyonce's video was one of the best of all time. Taylor was frozen, microphone and Moonman award in hand, her chance to shine tarnished. The next night, Kanye went silent when Jay Leno asked what West's late mother would have thought of his behavior toward Swift. He never really did answer the question. Surely, Kanye knows where ever his mother is, she's frowning in disappointment, shaking her head, "this is not how I raised my boy."
Once again, our President was disrespected when his trust in journalists was broken as an off the record comment made its way to Twitter. Terry Moran of ABC posted President Obama's opinion of Kanye West's behavior, even though Mr. Obama specifically asked those within earshot to "cut the President some slack." In other words, keep the remark out of the public stream. Instead, Terry Moran childishly passed along a secret to make himself look like the big man on campus. Or was he being a tattle-tail? Regardless of whether or not the moment was one of, "look at me!" or, "ooh, I'm telling!", his actions were far below the standard of what a respected news organization, such as ABC, should hold its reporters up to.
Then, Serena Williams, who lost the U.S. Open semifinal threatened a line judge with bodily harm after the judge made a foot fault call on Williams. Now, Williams didn't say just one little, flippant threat; she described in colorful detail how she would use a tennis ball to kill the line judge. Serena acted like a typical playground bully, who wasn't getting her way. She took what used to be one of the most civilized, "gentlemen's games" and turned it into back alley brawl.
What we need is a good old fashioned dose of Ozzy and Harriett, Ward and June Cleaver, and Father Knows Best. Manners were taught at home because they were exhibited at home. Parents said, "good morning" to one another and their children. The word, "please" always accompanied the request of a favor, "thank you" was the immediate response when the favor was granted, and "you're welcome" was replied in return.
Yes, these were idyllic lives on TV, but when you watch these old shows, don't they seem to express a sense of good will toward one another that we are lacking today? These were the post-war years, our nation was prospering, and perhaps like in the days following 9/11, we were more aware of how fragile life truly is. Maybe after all of the death and destruction that World War II had caused, hurting someone's feelings was just as damaging as physically hurting them. It still is, yet somehow we've forgotten that.
We have so many tools for Social Media and ways of keeping each other connected, but we're standing further apart than ever before. Kanye West was right beside Taylor Swift the other night when he took the microphone from her hands, yet he was miles away – in his own world, where only he matters and he is King. However, it's got to be a very lonely place. His mother can't join him there, he is booed as he walks the streets, and still he doesn't understand the power of the words, "I'm sorry." He won't energize them and make them real…he says the words, then backs up his original actions as if he were right to do what he did. Tim McGraw used the Kanye West moment as a lesson for his daughters to learn how not to behave. How many other parents did that?
Senator Wilson says the President has accepted his "I'm sorry" over the phone, but refuses to publicly verbalize an apology to the House. There are more than just the President he insulted. How about apologizing to the American people? He has embarrassed us across the world and now, by his refusal to apologize publicly, he's only showing his lack of remorse. He is a petulant, stubborn child with his fingers tied behind his back as he makes an apology over the phone to a voice on the other end. Wilson says it's time to move on, yet he's still wasting our time by making us all wait for sincerity I sincerely doubt he has. Former President Carter is probably right, Senator Wilson thinks the matter is beneath him.
Then we have Serena Williams saying she won't change the way she is. She assures her fans that she will remain "passionate" and still plans to argue as she plays her game. Why can't she set a better example instead by saying she plans to act like a lady and give the word Diva a more refined nuance?
From what I can tell, Terry Moran is business as usual since ABC deleted, or had him delete his tweet about President Obama's Kanye West comment. I suppose ABC didn't see reason to reprimand the reporter too harshly for the breach of journalistic integrity. One almost might see that as an oxymoron in today's society. Are there any rules of journalistic integrity anymore? Do true ethics and integrity exist anywhere? If so, name the field. I'm curious.
How do we find our way back to civility and better will toward one another? Is there a way to return the shock value to words like, "bitch" and "whore"? Can purity and chastity back pedal to our teens and cover their midriffs and make them pull up their pants? Will it ever be cool for teens to destroy CDs that don't stand up to proper values? (Think back to when the Beatles' records were burned.) If we can't create a false idyllic time like the days of the post WWII TV shows, where is our civility headed?
Parents are the only ones who can truly impress upon their children the difference between good behavior and bad. As adults, we have to monitor one another. Letting Kanye West know we won't tolerate his infraction against Taylor Swift can take place simply by not buying his CDs, downloading his music, or attending his shows. Congress has already passed a resolution rebuking Joe Wilson's behavior and Serena Williams was fined a large amount of money. You can tell Terry Moran directly that you don't approve of what he did by reaching him on Twitter (@TerryMoran). In fact, speak out against all of these examples of bad behavior on blogs, twitter, etc. and state that you're against what they did.
We have to be the ones acting like adults with the bar of soap in hand and one finger pointing to a corner. Otherwise, we are losing our battle against bad manners. Our civility is being lost to rudeness, ill will toward one another, and an overwhelming sense of nihilism.
