Celebrities’ rants make it ‘all about me’

It’s been an epic week for bad behavior. Narcissism, it seems, knows no boundaries these days. In politics, music, sports - it was all about me.

On Wednesday, Rep. Joe Wilson, South Carolina Republican, shouted, “You lie,” during President Obama’s address to Congress. And over the weekend, the arena for bad manners shifted from politics to sports.

First, tennis player Serena Williams yelled threateningly and swore at a line judge during the U.S. Open semifinals. Then, Michael Jordan, at his basketball Hall of Fame induction, took ungracious potshots at those who might have stood in his way on his ascent to becoming the greatest basketball player.

The week of behaving badly culminated Sunday night, when rapper Kanye West, uninvited, strolled onto the stage at the MTV Video Music Awards, interrupting Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech for Best Female Video.

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“Taylor, I’m really happy for you, and I’m gonna let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time,” Mr. West said, to a chorus of boos.

Those with the belligerent voice may well be right on the merits - replays certainly left room for doubt that Williams had, as the line judge ruled, foot faulted. But that wasn’t the point. It was not what they were saying, it was how they were saying it that struck the sour chord.

“This is generally a sign of a lack of attunement to one’s environment and to other people,” said Drew Pinsky, popular television addiction specialist and co-author of “The Mirror Effect: How Celebrity Narcissism Is Seducing America.”

“It used to be that when children didn’t get their way, they would throw a temper tantrum,” said Mark DeMoss, an Atlanta public relations firm owner and co-founder of the Civility Project, an online resource that encourages respectful behavior in politics. “Now we are seeing adults behaving the same way. That seems to be a troubling trend: If we don’t get our way, we resort to crazy behavior.”

In the end, public bellowing doesn’t do that much to help the cause, Mr. DeMoss said.

“We’re not accomplishing anything by standing up and interrupting,” he said. “Take Joe Wilson, for instance. The lion’s share of debate and discussion the last week has been about his outburst, not about whether or not the health care bill does or does not include insurance for illegals.”

P.M. Forni, co-founder of the Johns Hopkins Civility Project and author of “The Civility Solution: What to Do When People Are Rude,” said what we are seeing is somewhat of a perfect storm in society. Take self-absorption, combine it with hyperinformality and stir it with a time crunch that gives people the perception there is no time to think of others, and we have displays like we have seen in the past week, Mr. Forni said.

“Industrialized societies are very much marked by stress and anonymity,” he said. “Those are two very powerful components of a culture that encourages uncivilized behavior. When we are stressed, we are less considerate and also more inclined to be angry and explode in a rude attack, such as road rage. When we feel we are anonymous, we don’t think we have to slow it down enough to be kind to others.

“The acts we have seen are impulsive,” Mr. Forni said. “We do not slow down enough to think before acting or speaking.”

In the age of social media and viral videos, the fallout is also quick, as are the apologies.

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