Rudeness Reigns

Forget the swine flu; bad manners seems to be quite infectious. Rep. Jim Wilson called President Obama a liar during a joint session of Congress; Serena Williams cursed a linesman with the foulest language I've ever heard on court; and Kanye West decided that his limited intelligence and lack of articulation gave him the right to not only interrupt the speaker at the VMA Awards but to dispute the choice of winner.

The discourse in American society grew mean and nasty during the '08 presidential campaign. Most pundits said that the GOP would have to moderate and become centrist in order to become a viable party again. Thus far, it hasn't happened. It seems as if the shouting at campaign rallies and, more recently, town hall meetings, has become the template for public behavior.

From a wider perspective, however, such rudeness indicates a far more dangerous and pervasive trend: the mindset that it's all about "me." There are no verbal rules of engagement. Anyone can be interrupted or shouted down--and for any reason. There is a sense of entitlement that has infected our very souls. According to West, Beyonce was entitled to win the award. According to Williams, she was entitled to win the U. S. Open. According to Rep. Jim Wilson, the nation is entitled to scream at the president as the GOP, bad loser that it is, sulks because Karl Rove led everyone to believe that one-party rule was okay ... as long as it was the Republican Party.

Things are getting out of hand. As Bob Dylan said long ago, "a hard rain's gonna fall." You heard it from Cat.

Serena Williams: Take Time Out with the Other First Graders

Serena Williams displayed what the nefarious Captain Hook might labeled bad form. After being called for a foot-fault last night in the Women's semi-final match of the U.S. Open, Ms. Williams screamed at the linesman for a full minute in the foulest of language. Bad form indeed.

There's an old adage in tennis called "play the call." Move on. Bjorn Borg and Rod Laver did it, as did many other greats of the game. Connors and McEnroe didn't, although they stopped short of outright and prolonged profanity and came to be regarded as comic relief more than anything else when it came to their on-court histrionics.

Ms. Williams lost the match after being penalized for her unsportsmanlike behavior. Good. Sports figures in the highest tiers of their sports are no longer role models for kids. They're endorsement machines who use steroids to cheat. There's no excuse for what Serena Williams did last night. She could have kept it together and moved on to the next point. Is it any wonder that children see such behavior and then throw tantrums at home or become schoolyard bullies?

And here's' the down-low part of the story. Ms. Williams: you reap what you sow. It will come back to you in some way, shape, or form. The universe keeps its karma ledger with the precision of a bachelor accountant. You heard it from Cat.