Duct tape anyone?

This appeared in The South Asian Times on 26th September.

We've all lost it at some point or the other. At school, at work, in a social gathering, almost anywhere; for what might seem to be unfair treatment, uncalled for judgment or unacceptable actions. Sometimes we’ve lost it just because. But what do we do about it more often than not? We bite the bullet and wait till it's out of our system. Or at least until we're out of that situation.Not our girl Ms. Williams, Serena that is. She yelled at the poor little Asian woman sitting in the center with a white tennis cap, doing her job of judging the US open matches two weeks back in Flushing Meadows to the best of her ability. Serena went all out, used threatening language and gestures and pointed her racket at the judge and made the poor woman run on the court. "I swear to God, I'm (bleep) going to take this (bleep) ball and shove it down your (bleep) throat, you hear that? I swear to God," she said. It was nothing short of a shocker. Yes I’ve seen those John McEnroe videos but Serena is immensely popular, has spectacular ratings and happens to be a role model for countless aspirers. Could she get away with it? Sure she could. One because she won the US Open Doubles finals the next day. Two because at worst, she gets fined and a few controversies later, she’s back to doing what she does best: a little tennis and a lot of endorsements.

Serena isn't alone in the outrage game. Couple weeks back, a South Carolina Republican Joe Wilson heckled and yelled "You lie" during President Obama's health care speech as the country looked on. Of course he promptly furnished an apology and our president was gracious enough to accept it (He had to; it hasn’t been too long since the White House Beer Summit). But Wilson found himself to be the fodder for numerous late night comedy shows and voters of his state may not forget this for a long time. Political analysts called him ill-mannered and established his act as "making a fool of himself on national stage". Why Wilson chose to reveal his bad manners and his lack of self-control in a political set up is best left to his psychotherapist (I bet he has one), who I expect will make a fortune out of this.

If it could happen in Sports and Politics, why should Entertainment be left out? Kanye West obliged by rudely interrupting Taylor Swift's moment on MTV Music Video awards. Ms. Swift, one of my favorite country gals, was in the middle of her acceptance speech for the Best Female Video when Mr. West just couldn't hold it in any longer. So in one swift action he grabbed the microphone from the gobsmacked poor girl who was innocently giving her speech in an awesome silver one shoulder dress. What’s worse, Mr. West announced that Beyonce's video was the best ever. Yes yes Kanye apologized. He said he was truly sorry on Jay Leno but that doesn’t give the girl her moment back does it?

What’s the bad behavior bug going around ya all? I’m sure it shares some characteristics with the flesh eating bacteria or the swine flu virus. It can kill at some level if not literally.

Let's zip it up if we can, shall we?