Last night's ill-mannered interruption of Taylor Swift's VMA acceptance speech was eerily reminiscent of last week's similarly unwelcome outburst from Wilson during President Obama's health care address to a joint session of Congress. So what does that say about us?
West hasn't let a VMA broadcast slip by for the past few years without somehow forcing a Kanye moment. And Sunday's full-scale invasion of Taylor Swift's acceptance speech had the ring of a premeditated -- and pathetic -- play for publicity (and ratings) on a network that has expanded its stable of jackasses to include Sasha Baron Cohen, whose Bruno character was crudely lowered onto Eminem's face to much fanfare in June. (An incident the network later admitted was staged.)
While West's storming of the stage may not have been scripted so much as allowed to happen, the moment joins Wilson's now infamous "You lie" as what The Post's Dana Milbank described as another low for the "nation's rapidly deteriorating discourse." And while the humiliation of a 19-year-old country star is hardly as momentous as blatant disregard for the office of the president, both incidents are the result of a society in which shouting down those with whom we disagree. Call it the Glenn Beck-ization of America or an erosion of civility. Either way, it stinks.
09-14-2009, 03:45 PM
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