Civility costs Nothing

HEY YOU GUYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYS! (ripped from sloth in "the goonies"... if you haven't seen it, then what is wrong with you?)

so, what's been going on? first off, i have to say, fantasy football is the greatest invention ever. screw the wheel, electricity, and Oxiclean (RIP Billy Mays), fantasy football takes the cake. it's amazing how sunday, i literally become a couch potato. i veg out (go ahead, laugh at the bad joke), watch football all day, check stats, and that's it.

anyways, onto my blog. so, apparently, there is a thought out there that america is becoming "less civilized." the proponents of this notion have been events such as the "you lie" comment made towards President Obama, the Michael Jordan acceptance speech and his berating of his opponents, the US open comments made by tennis greats Serena Williams and Roger Federer, and most recently, the infamous Kanye West "incident" at the MTV VMAs.

let me start anti-chronologically. yes, the kanye west comments were mean and in bad taste. but let's face it, he, in addition to MTV, has been controversial. putting the two together just creates some sort of super controversy monster. however, the fact of the matter? it was staged. kanye was scheduled on jay leno's opening night of his new show the monday night after the sunday night VMAs to perform with jay-z and rihanna, and that's it. but what happens? he has an interview with jay leno about what? surprise surprise, about the "incident" the night before. way to boost your own ratings, leno. and plus, it's not like he hasn't done this before... oh wait, he has. just google jay leno and hugh grant. and another thing, nobody else found it weird that literally a SECOND after kanye west says what he says, there's a shot of beyonce? as if that camera was ready to catch her reaction? hmm, yeah, i guess that cameraman just happened to be at the right place at the right time, right? come on. ok, done with this. on a side note, lady gaga is crazy, but amazing. i can almost guarantee that besides the michael jackson tribute, her performance is the most memorable. my hats off to you, lady gaga.

the sports events such as the US Open and the Michael Jordan acceptance speech. what can i say? about the US Open... look, who hasn't flipped s**t over a game before? be it friendly or in a competition... be it a board game, video game, or any kind of game... people can get angry over anything. now transfer that to some of the greatest athletes who are ultra competitive and what do you get? the US Open. the only difference is that they got caught in their moment of weakness and dare i say, humanity. who are we to judge that what they did was "uncivilized"? and onto michael jordan's speech, well, i will just say that it was a great speech given by the greatest competitor.

finally, the president should never be called out like that. he is the president for a reason. i'm glad for the apology and the bottom line is that the US is not becoming more uncivilized. the thought of that is absolutely ridiculous since we are basing that idea on events concerning a few individuals.

open doors for people, say "thank you" and "you're welcome," and be polite. civility costs nothing, so let's act like that.

thanks for reading!

-jdv