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!

Uh… help me with this!!!

A Barnes & Noble spokesperson claims a customer placed a book about monkeys in a window where Barack Obama books were on display. So…anybody can just come into Barnes and Noble and rearrange or add to their displays? Sounds like Monkey Business to me!

Here is an article that accompanied this picture and what Barnes and Noble had to say to resolve this matter.

Barnes & Noble would like to publicly apologize for what happened in our Coral Gables, Florida store. We believe that a customer played a cruel joke and placed an inappropriate title in the front window of our store, where we were featuring books written by or about President Obama. We want to assure our customers that the book placed by someone other than our booksellers was never intended to be included in our display and was removed as soon as we became aware of the situation. We are looking into it and are taking the steps necessary so that it does not happen again. From time to time customers will move titles from one area of the store to another. In this particular case, we do not condone whatever message may have been intended with the placement of this title in our Presidential display. It certainly was not part of our merchandising and we regret that we didn’t see the placement of this title immediately.

Unfortunately, when I first received the email with this picture in it, an apology/explanation did not come with the picture. How many people will see this and never hear what B & N has to say? I wonder if it will impact business at all. Why are people so cruel?

Holla back and tell me if you have seen this picture, how you would take it if you walked by and saw it, what you perceive the implications to be and how long it will take society to change.