We Are All Offended. Please Apologize!
Is freedom of speech alive and well or are we becoming a sensitive country always demanding an apology?
Serena Williams: “If I could, I’d take this ******* ball and shove it down your ******* throat.”
Joe Wilson: “You lie!”
Kanye West: “Taylor, I’m really happy for you. I’ll let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time!”
On this Thoughtful Thursday all I want to know is: if someone speaks out/shows off publicly, and it is directed at one specific person, should we the public expect an apology, or is the apology only due the person the violent/unkind words were directed at?
Should Joe Wilson have been expected to apologize to the nation or just President Obama? And he did and when Obama accepted his apology, should that have been the end of it? Should Serena Williams have only been expected to apologize to the line judge or were all tennis watching fans due an apology? (as I shake my head) Should Kanye West have only been expected to apologize to Taylor Swift or the MTV viewing audience at large?
While I think the most disrespectful of the three was Joe Wilson, I do slightly understand his knee jerk reactive words (although they probably were somewhat premeditated). I am not agreeing with Serena, but I do get her overwhelming surprise when a call of this nature, at this point in the match was called (rarely, if never, is this type of call made at this point of a match). But for the record, I have no understanding whatsoever for that stupid, idiotic, foolish, childish, overbearing, rude, over-the-top stunt Kanye West pulled! Ridiculous! Maybe after some of your comments, I will be more explicit about how I really feel about his shenanigans!
But what do you think? Should public figures be held to the standard we demand or should they be allowed to make human mistakes and rectify those public mistakes in their own way? And… do you think these public displays will have a permanent negative impact on their careers? Personally I think Serena and (unfortunately) Kanye will bounce back from this with little to no repercussions, Joe on the other hand…not so sure. What do you think?
Holla back!
I can understand Serena. Everyone gets upset and says things they shouldnt. It was the last of the game, and from my understanding it was a bad call. Even though it lost her the game, (and i think got her fined) it just shows that she is human and we all make mistakes. As far as Kanye…..*ssssiiiiiggggghhh* He is crazy! I think the death of his mother realy messed his head up. I know Kanye has always been very outspoken and do some outlandish things. But what he did at the awards was just dumb. I do agree with the point he was making, Beyonce should have won. The way he went about it was just WRONG! And the poor girl on the stage was humiliated. Think if it was your first award of your life,your dream, and it is barged in on by some one appearing to be drunk or high. And in all honesty Kanye made himself look stupid. Although some would agree….Good or bad, any publicity is good. i think Kanye just needs some one to talk to and work through those feelings. I heard Jay-Z was mad at Beyonce for not having Kanye’s back….
@Kourtney – Really? I thought I read a story of just the opposite, that Jay-Z was mad at him for doing it. I may not have been paying attention to that story but none the less, even before his mother died, Kanye was off!
Kanye was wrong, he admitted it, he apologized, not once, not twice, but three times. Taylor has accepted his apology. As long as she has accepted it, seeing as how she was the one who was wronged, it really doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks he should do – in my opinion.
Serena apologized. End of story. If the line judge accepted her apology, again it doesn’t matter……..
Joe Wilson – WOW! I agree with you Kathy that his was the ultimate disrespect. But, he did apologize to President Obama and President Obama accepted, so….
If you notice, my answer to your question is, I think, the apology is due to the person the words were spoken to.
.-= Kim Sawyer´s last blog ..I Believe……. =-.
@Kim Sawyer – Yes Kim. To the person the words were spoken to!
I think that each situation should be dealt with on a case by case basis, especially since they were all so different.
Joe Wilson was disrespectful to the President and caused a disruption when other people were listening to his speech. Therefore, he should apologize to the President and to the American people that were listening before he rudely interrupted.
Kanye West…now I think his situation is different because he has already stated that he thinks MTV is racist and by saying that he sorta made black people look bad altogether. So, I think that some people may think that they things he says is representative of our race. Therefore I think he owed more than just Taylor Swift an apology, especially since there are black people like me who think that Single Ladies was not the best video of all time (or Beyonce’s best video at that).
Serena seemed like she was just going off out of anger and I think that as long as she apologized to the judge she doesn’t owe anyone else an apology. That was messed up though.