I'm home sick with bronchitis today, and was poking around the web for fun. A friend of mine recently started up a blog, and I was reminded of the one I started earlier this year (how can that be? Where does the time go?). Being in the midst of the preparing-for-candidacy phase of my dissertation, I thought... why not?
So here I am.
My plan was to start another blog on my journey toward becoming a feminist, which didn't happen. That's not to say that I don't think becoming a feminist is important, I just tend to lack time. The recent events of "rude America" (aka Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift at the Grammys, Joe Wilson yelling "You lie" at President Obama, Serena Williams going off on the line judge) have inspired me to get back into this. I tend to have very strong opinions on this kind of thing; some may call me a liberal, but to me, it is just what's right. Since my dissertation also encompasses the social issues of ethnicity, race, and gender, picking up my social science blog seemed to be a good place to start.
In the three examples above, who received the harshest treatment from the media and America? Let's review:
Kanye West
In some ways, what he did was wrong, and in other ways, maybe he had a point. Remember during Katrina when he famously declared, "George Bush doesn't care about Black people"? I thought he had a very good point then. Maybe he was just trying to stand up for Beyonce when she wouldn't/couldn't stand up for herself. Maybe at the time it seemed like the right thing to do. But there stood Taylor Swift, all of her 19 years old, helplessly looking on and not knowing what to do. She ended up getting her moment thanks to the very classy Ms. Knowles, but still, it was almost like Kanye was picking on a kid.
And for that, he got replays on YouTube and all the morning news shows, an interview on Jay Leno, and became the punchline to jokes about interrupting (see: last night's Emmy host, Neil Patrick Harris, stating that his job was to ensure that things run smoothly... and hoping that Kanye likes 30 Rock). Even on College Game Day this weekend, several fans held up Kanye West inspired signs.
Joe Wilson
Well, Rep. Wilson was just making his point, wasn't he? Could you imagine if any normal American citizen pulled that stunt? We would be out of a job faster than the end of that speech. However, now his job "may be in trouble" thanks to his outburst, and he's using his 15 minutes of fame to campaign for additional dollars to run for re-election. He's not even getting reprimanded by Congress. What is the primary bill he's sponsored? To maintain the integrity of the Confederate flag. That says it all.
The Tea Party Movement sort of falls in line with Joe Wilson. Suddenly, it is very patriotic to be the voice of dissent. Remember that guy John Kerry? The one who said in his 2004 Democratic nomination acceptance speech, "We are here to affirm that when Americans say we can do better, that is not a challenge to patriotism, but the heart and soul of patriotism"? What did he get for that? Swiftboated. But now that the tide has turned, being the dissenting opinion is patriotic.
I am all for dissent, if it is done properly and with decorum. But the ugly, racist signs and the yelling "you lie!" at the PRESIDENT goes way beyond those boundaries. And Joe Wilson is now being held up as some sort of hero. Is THIS what we want to teach our children?
Serena Williams
Serena is a world tennis champion. She's probably one of the greatest of all time. She knows her stuff, and she's not going to cheat to win. And in the end, she. was. right. There was no foot foul. Granted, the way she went about it was inappropriate (see: Joe Wilson, Kanye West, above), but she had a point and wasn't listened to. What did she get for all that? She lost a point, which ended up making her lose the match. She was fined a ridiculous amount of money. And in the court of public opinion, she was scorned for not being "a lady."
Did John McEnroe have to deal with any of that? Nope, he falls more into the Kanye-as-punchline camp.
So what is the difference in these three stories and how these three individuals were treated? All were rude. All maybe had a point, but went about making it in all the wrong ways. In my opinion, Serena was judged the harshest -- or maybe it's that Kanye and Joe were not judged harsh enough.
Lots of people will tell you that these are not about race or gender. But who emerged the least tarnished? Yep, that would be Rep. Joe Wilson, who is currently running for re-election with a campaign slogan of, "Stand for Truth. Stand with Joe." On his website, he asks people to donate to his campaign to not back down from the fight. In a sense, he is almost being rewarded for extremely rude behavior.
Now think for a minute if Kanye or Serena had been the one sitting in his seat and yelling "you lie" at the President... would they have been treated or judged differently? Same behavior, different arenas (Grammys, Arthur Ashe Stadium) and far more outrage.
The result of pop culture or a society still full of -isms?
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