A Nation On Edge? Nuts Is More Like It

By: Charles Cooper
Topics: In The News

(AP)

They didn't make them any more calm or collected than the immortal Bogey. Major Strasser never got him to lose his cool. Neither did the likes of Johnny Rocco, Captain Renard or Kaspar Gutman, (aka, the infamous "Fat Man,") or, for that matter, any other unlucky celluloid nogoodnik who crossed his path.

A hangdog scowl, a slug of bourbon and a deep drag on a Marlboro suffice during normal times. Too bad for us that we're living through a period that's anything but normal. It could be that Jupiter is out of line with Mars or that some mad scientist has been tampering with the water supply. But whatever the proper explanation, this much seems clear: the republic is increasingly on edge with folks flying off the handle at the slightest offense, real or imagined - and I'm not just talking about the town hall furies. Consider the following:

Exhibit A: The Strange Case of Some Strange Execs

Over the summer, Tony Bernazard, the vice president of player development for the New York Mets went on a postgame tirade in which he personally challenged the players on the club's Double-A team to a fist fight. Outside of the environs of the World Wrestling Federation, that's not something you see very often. In fact, I covered baseball earlier in my career and I've never heard of anything like this. Who knows what really set him off and who cares? Bernazard wasn't put on the payroll to do second-rate impersonations of Bruno Sammartino. As expected, Mets' management eventually sent Bernazard packing but not before this turned into opera buffa. In announcing the firing, the team's general manager Oscar Minaya launched an oddball soliloquy aimed at a Daily News sportswriter because he written critically about Bernazard's behavior. Naturally, this being the major leagues, the club's owners quietly interceded to extract a scripted apology from Minaya in order to let the team concentrate on turning out yet another season of exquisitely underachieving baseball.

Exhibit B: Serena Williams Channels John McEnroe

After a lineswoman called her for a foot fault during a match against Kim Clijsters at the U.S. Open, Serena Williams went temporarily berserk. (Here's a video which shows Williams threatening to "shove this (expleted) ball" down the judge's "(expleted) throat." She obviously blew her cork and would take back her words if that were possible. But you can't. I've always admired Serena. She's had to deal with a lot of grief over the years from the media simply because her father rubs reporters the wrong way. For that alone, I'd love to cut her a break. Still, boorish behavior is boorish behavior. Williams could have avoided this unncessary hassle by thinking before speaking. Now this episode will find its place along with the 1981 infamous outburst by John ("You Cannot Be Serious") McEnroe at Wimbledon. Bad form all around.

Exhibit C: Kanye West: Knucklehead Of The Year?

Then there's Kanye West. Poor guy was so distraught after Beyonce lost out to Taylor Swift for Best Female Video at the MTV awards Sunday night that he couldn't restrain himself. So what does this gallant do? He jumped on stage, grabbed the microphone from Swift and said, "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." Charm beyond description. If MTV ever considers a "Knucklehead of the Year" competition, the smart money will be on West. Don't forget that in 2006 West was so miffed at failing to win Best Video at the MTV Europe Music awards that he crashed the stage when the award was being presented to Justice and Simian for "We Are Your Friends."

Exhibit D: Joe Wilson: The Pavarotti of D.C.

Hand it to Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC) to make James ("Beam me up, Scotty") Trafficant come off as positively restrained by comparison. The right wing blogs have been in a state of high dudgeon since this formerly little-known politician turned into a punching bag for the mainstream media. But it's hard to spin this as a witch hunt, not after Wilson embarrassed himself in front of the nation by interrupting President Obama's joint address to Congress last week. When the president said illegal aliens would not be covered under his health reform proposals, Wilson lost it. Instead of doing what most politicians do - wait until later to issue the usual self-serving partisan criticism - Wilson, acting as if he had Tourette syndrome, shouted out "You lie." Wilson committed such an extraordinary breach of protocol that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's face muscles actually twitched. In the end, Wilson's getting more attention for his bad behavior than for anything he's ever done in Congress. But like Bernazard, Serena, and West, he had an excuse: He was provoked - right?

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Charles Cooper is an executive editor at CNET News. He has covered technology and business for more than 25 years, working at CBSNews.com, the Associated Press, Computer & Software News, Computer Shopper, PC Week, and ZDNet. E-mail Charlie.

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by noloyalisti September 16, 2009 4:09 PM EDT: I hate to blame this nutty situation on the American sheeple bu they did allow War Criminals to occupy the White House for 8 years. And were talked into invading two countries for oil and did nothing to stop it (now we are bombing 4 countries). They allowed Congress to appoint two white wing wackos to the Supreme Court, pass and re-approve the Patriot Act and give TRILLIONS in corporate welfare to the banks.; Reply to this comment


by ludvig1-2009 September 15, 2009 7:14 PM EDT: I neglected to mention that the fact that we have phones has made the situation worse where people can bother you even if you are on the "Do not call list" and I still got robot calls after they were banned. In the old days as my Grandma told me, before they had phones, a Red Cross Volunteer came to her house in a flood in a rowboat to ask her for a donation. So the madness was just as much back then, only they didn't have the methodology they do now to bother you.; Reply to this comment

by ludvig1-2009 September 15, 2009 7:03 PM EDT

Why do people blow up? Simple. Too many people harassing you, many of whom won't take "No, thank you for an answer". Two weeks ago, I got a call from Wells Fargo Bank with their life insurance policy pitch. I told them "No thank you." The next day it was No. The third day it was a phone hangup. The fourth day it was GDFNo. They finally got it. This week it was a charity whom I told No thank you the first day and the fourth day GDFNo which hopefully they understand. I'll find out if they don't call me for a fifth time today. Before that it was the damn cops who seem to think I'm a criminal (I'm not - I'm a retired federal nuclear engineer) taking my pic for riding a bike down the street, putting a decoy car in my walking path, spying on me when I walked laps around a park and finally dropping a bag labeled "Medical" perfectly centered on my driveway and hiding a block down the street. Why do people go Nutzoid. Even the Atty Gen. said he was upset that his car was searched. My car was searched twice in 4 days because I had Cal. plates when I went home to visit my parents in Mo. The world is going Nutzoid, the only way to survive is to do the same.

Reply to this comment


by noloyalisti September 16, 2009 4:06 PM EDT: Wells Fargo is like the evil empire trying (along with the other big American corporations) to take over the planet. I called them to refinance my loan and they said it would RAISE my payment(Strike 1). I then refinanced my house to pay their loan off except for $55,000. When I asked them to re-amortize the loan, they wanted to charge me $3,000 to refinance (Strike 2). Then I borrowed from three more places to pay off the rest of the $55,000, they wanted to charge me a $5,000 pre-paymment penalty (Strike 3).

I have since closed all my accounts and moved approximately $40,000 to Bank of the West. I also threatened legal action if they tried to collect the pre-payment penalty. This is after paying them over $125,000 in interest since 2003.


by noloyalisti September 15, 2009 3:04 PM EDT: We are in a class war in America and very few people want to admit it. The tea bag fools want to blame the gov't but all of them are bought and paid for by the real criminals: big corporations. A great example are the health insurance corporations.

This madness and anger is only the culmination of policies that have let big corporations take over the media, the military and the Congress.

We need to unite to stop them NOW.; Reply to this comment


by pubsrtoast September 15, 2009 9:57 AM EDT: Speaking of Bogart, the Republicans are acting as nutty as captain queeg from The Caine Mutiny.; Reply to this comment


by spiritwalk September 15, 2009 9:53 AM EDT: It is not so surprising to see someone go nuts at the MTV awards. For the past 20 years they have promoted the gangsta image and people who revel in being psychotic and glorifying the life of drive by shootings and violence against women. So grabbing the microphone from a woman and going off on a tirade is par for the course.

And what do you expect from politicians? Russ Limbaugh has become a major political influence by going off on tirades. Ann Coulter and Glen Beck have made a fortune calling for politicians to be assassinated. The public has embraced that behavior as can be witnessed by any blog discussion of the Joe Wilson tirade when you see posts going off on even more insane tirades than his.

People are always attracted by appeals to the common denominator and the common denominator in human behavior is mindless and savage violence. When Limbaugh starts going nuts his ratings go up. By Kanye West going nuts and Sunday night it boosted the rating for Leno?s debut the next night.

Celebrity and politics like any other commodities work on the principles of giving people what they want. You have shown a willingness to buy crazy so why would anyone act sane?; Reply to this comment


by formrusmcsgt September 15, 2009 6:45 AM EDT: The world is full of individuals who never mature to the point of being able to maintain their composure in adverse conditions.; Reply to this comment


by cs4466 September 14, 2009 9:42 PM EDT: Wilson, acting as if he had Tourette syndrome, shouted out "You lie."

...actually this is the first viable explationation I've seen of his outburst. Perhaps it is true after all?; Reply to this comment


by rightbehind September 14, 2009 9:03 PM EDT: There are some that have the impression that if they yell it makes their numbers appear larger. The weak may fall for it. Highly doubtful though. If anything when they're in that voting booth they will express their opinion. The right might as well get over it. It's been tried their way twice with the same results. Freedom is, "not" having to line a health care ceo pocket. Freedom is "not" having to bail out wallstreet or the banks.; Reply to this comment