Pardon the egomaniac

Much has been made of the interruptions of our President and of Taylor Swift by Rep. Joe Wilson and Kanye West respectively. But there is one thing missing from all of this commentary--their actions are merely an example of a larger problem in our society, a problem that has been festering for a long long time.

Way way way back in the day psychology birthed the idea of "autonomy" and the idea that human beings needed to reach this level of actualization to be anything. Built on this idea of autonomy (as well as old school Greek politics) came the idea of "individual freedoms" promoted by John Locke. Locke essentially ushered in the "me first" mentality, which became the basis of all "Western" ideology. Every individual is free unto themselves, can make their own decisions, own their own land, etc. etc. (Except Negros and Indians because they're savages. But I digress). After centuries of inward focus, our society has "evolved" (if you believe in that sort of thing) and has given birth to fellas like Wilson and West--egomaniacs that really need you to see and hear them in order to feel actualized.

Sure Wilson was merely fired up over the subject matter of Obama's speech and West was drunk of yac. But West is consistently trying to "pull some shit" for us to notice him. Whether it be by making his music different, wearing a ridiculous outfit on TV or saying something stupid the point is to put the attention on him. Since this is Wilson's first offense (that we know of) I'll let him slide only a little. After all he was in a crowded room and not until much analysis of film did we even find out it was him. But you don't interrupt the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES while he's talking and accuse him of being a liar on NATIONAL TELEVISION unless you're looking for attention.

Our society is full of these people and thanks to myspace, youtube, countless other sites on the World Wide Web and reality TV they have a place to get noticed. Why else would a ridiculously hot woman allow some loser to film her fellating him or performing any other sex act for that matter? How many famous people do we have now that are simply famous for...being famous? They haven't done anything and they have no real talent--but US Weekly follows them around to take pictures. These people are shoved down our throats like we care about their lives. To make matters worse we actually give them attention, which only feeds their egos.

In order to keep our attention and to stay relevant these egomaniacs do outrageous things. And even then those things must be topped. They MUST be the center of attention at parties or any other gathering. Everything they do from crazy stunts to talking out of turn to saying whatever they want screams "WHY AREN'T YOU PAYING ATTENTION TO ME!?!" Why can't we ignore these people? Mostly because they won't let us. They interject themselves into our lives. Take Mr. West for example. You were sitting there watching the VMAs not even thinking about Kanye. Once he realized this he jumped on stage, said some dumb shit, got escorted out and suddenly he's seemingly the only thing being talked about for two straight days. Sure he apologized--but he's not sorry for his actions. He got what he wanted in the end.

So the next time you recognize someone being a douche bag recognize it for what it is--an attempt at attention. And then realize you are partially at fault for making them that way.