Behave yourself!

Hi neighbors. The main thing on my mind this week is blatant disregard for social decorum. In other words, let us talk about rude, crude and belligerent celebrities. The first one that comes to mind this week is Kanye West.

Although I didn't watch the MTV Music Video Awards show, I have seen the replay of his actions many more times than he deserves the publicity over.

For those of you who don't watch entertainment news, Sweet Polly Purebred, aka Taylor Swift, had just won an award and was in the midst of giving her acceptance speech.

Kanye West jumped onto the stage, ripped the microphone from her hand and said something like, yeah, your video is OK but Beyonce's is the best in the world! The very best in the world!

He was referring to singer Beyonce Knowles, another hip-hop performer who began in a group called Destiny's Child before she started her solo career. OK, so he liked Beyonce's video better. To each their own.

Since his "act of stupidity" or "blunder" he has appeared on numerous TV talk shows to discuss how he was so sorry and if he had not been drinking, he may have had better sense.

Beyonce was also given an award that night, and when it was time for her acceptance speech, she called Taylor Swift back on stage to finish her speech within Beyonce's time slot. That was nice, that was classy and that was kind.

Here is my two cents worth. Any person, celebrity or not, rich or poor, smart or dumb, who shows up at a public (and in this case televised around the world) ceremony or function of any type and swills alcohol throughout the night, needs a sit down talk from his (or her) momma; or a woodshed visit from his (or her) daddy.

I was raised to think it highly inappropriate to get drunk, period. To get drunk in a crowd would be unthinkable.

In my opinion, taking something (a microphone or anything else) from another person's hand while they are using it is rude.

To interrupt another person while they are speaking is rude. To interrupt them while they are giving a public speech (members of Congress please listen up) is ruder still.

Publicly demeaning someone (particularly someone who was just given an award) is crude. To apologize for it later may seem to be "making nice;" but to do it on television just seems like getting paid for being inappropriate in the first place, not for apologizing for your behavior.

Saying you are sorry on your private blog is also an ego trip, in my humble opinion, because only those sympathetic to you in the first place are going to bother reading your blog any way.

He said it was the alcohol talking. Well, gee. Maybe he ought to put a cork in it (the bottle of alcohol I mean) and start speaking for himself.

If Taylor Swift wants to forgive and forget his actions, more power to her. She is correct in thinking she has given him more time and attention than his behavior merited.

As far as I'm concerned he blew any chance he may have ever had as a role model for teens or young adults. I know celebrities now proclaim that because they are rich and famous they should not be held accountable to be role models; but should instead be allowed to live their lives any way they choose.

I agree with that. What ever they do in private is their business.

But when they use their fame to flaunt rude and crude behavior in public, expecting it to be acceptable simply BECAUSE they are rich and famous, they are conducting themselves in socially unacceptable ways. Aren't there laws about being drunk in public? How about a law concerning being a public nuisance?

Perhaps it is time we unknown poor folk speak out against bad behavior in public, no matter who commits it. Why should the quiet spoken, well-mannered people continue to have our "delicate sensibilities" assaulted by others who apparently have no respect for society in general or any laws in particular?

I get tired of hearing people yell obscenities in stores and parking lots as though that was acceptable language. Are the language and the culture changing so much that rude, crude and belligerent behaviors are becoming the norms?

Until the next time friends remember that being too polite to complain about rudeness may not be the correct behavior. Speaking up might be more appropriate.