So, I read a story about it on Rolling Stone and I couldn’t believe it.

Before I passed judgment, I wanted to see it for myself. So, after several Google and YouTube searches involving people’s personal responses, I finally found the clip, posted below.

So, I watched the clip and it was surreal that anyone, I don’t care how famous you are, would go on stage and do that. It was almost as bad and as when Faith Hill had a tantrum when she lost to Carrie Underwood at the CMAs in 2006.

That maybe wasn’t quite as bad because she was at least off stage, but she had to know the camera was on.

In any event, I am starting to see a disturbing trend of public figures acting out in ways that are clearly inappropriate. Kanye couldn’t have thought that what he did was appropriate. Especially, and maybe this shouldn’t matter, considering that this is a 19 year old girl who has done nothing but be a shining role model in the media. Kanye apparently proceeded to flip the bird to the crowd while Taylor was crying backstage.

This is the same week that Congressmen Joe Wilson of South Carolina decides he should shout, “You Liar”, during the president’s address to Congress. Again, I fail to see how anyone could think that was appropriate, even if the president was lying! And in the same summer that the governor of that same state, Mark Sanford, went off with his Argentinian girlfriend and abandoned the state.

Then we have Chris Brown who decided that he could beat his girlfriend Rihana to within an inch of her life.

What these people all have in common is that the apologized about what they did after the fact and that was supposed to make it all better. And it seems like we in a America are all to willing to forgive. Now, this may seem contradictory on my part because I have posted that I think Michael Vick should be allowed to play football again, but that is different. The biggest difference is that Vick not only apologized, but he also spent 18 months in custody. Additionally, I don’t have to forgive Vick for him to keep playing football, no one does.

Here is a picture of Kanye leaving the show. Look at his right hand, maybe we will see what the really cause of the outburst was:

I would almost guarantee that tomorrow Kanye West will apologize to Taylor Swift. I would encourage her not to accept it. It can not be sincere. How can a person walk all the way on to the stage, take the microphone from someone, make that statement, and then walk away and flip off the crowd and actually be sorry. President Obama accepted Congressman Wilson’s, I know that, but that is the problem. We live in a society now where public people can do or say what they want and then apologize and it’s okay.

I am not saying we should never forgive people and I am not saying that we shouldn’t move on when conflict occurs, but we also need to hold people accountable when they act irresponsibly when they should know better. The governor of a state should be allowed to just disappear for a week and then just be embraced back into the fold by his state or by his wife.

So, I say, do not just forgive Mr. West. I say boycott his music and his antics until he can behave like an adult. I was thinking about Jay Leno’s return to TV tomorrow, but I will not watch if Kanye is still going to perform. I have occasionally thought of listening to his music because my good friend Jenny likes his music, but that will never happen now. This act stupid and apologize culture needs to end!

Anyway, while waiting at red light on the corner of Washington & Lake (pointing south) street another van, an electrical company, turned south onto Lake Street. Well the driver of the Van from Brad’s Heating and Cooling attempted to flick off the driver of the other van. I found this to be wholly inappropriate and made his company look very bad. I don’t know if maybe it was his friend and he was just being a guy and that was his way of saying, “Hi, how are you,” or if it was a bitter rival, in any event I took issue with his action for two reasons.

The first was the reason stated above and the second was the he didn’t give an actual flipping of the bird. As an example of what I mean, here is a photoshopped picture of President George W. Bush with the fake bird.

You see how the thumb is extended on the side. I get annoyed when people do this. If you feel the need to go through with this obscene gesture,

actually flip the bird. If you feel that the situation calls for that gesture or for obscene words to be used, people should just go all the way. I don’t like the act of flipping the bird and I try not to swear too often, but when I do, I let it rip and make sure there is no doubt of my intention.

In the movie My Fellow Americans, Jack Lemmon’s wife has a good quote regarding this.

The end of the quote is cut off and the basic gist is, If you’re gonna say the f-word, go for the gold.

The question still remains is swearing okay? Well, the blog The Art of Manliness posed the question, “Is it Manly to Swear?” The general opinion seemed to be it was manly to swear in certain situations but that less was more. One user named Ben posted my favorite comment:

With that being said, users also agreed that euphemisms for swear words should be used, which is in line with the theme of this post.

In conclusion, I say don’t swear. Expand your vocabulary. If you have to swear, go all the way!