Uncivil Disobedience

I don't think Henry David Thoreau could ever have envisioned such spectacles when he spent a night in jail for not paying his taxes. Because of his timeless writings, Thoreau and the term "civil disobedience" go hand in hand. Civil disobedience is a public, non-violent and conscientious breach of law undertaken with the aim of bringing about a change in laws or government policies.

Rosa Parks did not obey the rules about where to sit on the bus. Some people still don't pay taxes because of their opposition to government policies. Some people go to the streets to protest wars. I remember a time several years ago when students and many teachers at our school refused to attend class as a means of protesting draconian rules imposed by the school principal.

Civil disobedience comes in many forms. Sometimes it's effective; sometimes not. Whatever its form, the concept serves as a means for its participants to get their message to someone with whom they vehemently disagree.

Well, civil disobedience will go on, as it well should.

I'm not so sure, however, about the new trend we seem to be witnessing on a daily basis, which I shall coin as "Uncivil Disobedience."

I'm sure others have probably used the phrase long before I, but it's not yet a household utterance. Given the frequency with which we've seen glaring examples lately, however, I think it should be.

In my own experience alone, I've watched or heard of several instances in the past two weeks, all on the tube, all involving people who should know better.

Let's start with the much touted Boise State-Oregon football game. Let's talk about the punch heard round the world at the end of that hard-fought contest.

An unhappy player on the losing Duck squad launched a blow to the face of a chatterbox Boise State Bronco. The Bronco went down; the Duck went even more ballistic before a group of tough guys finally moved him out of camera view and back to his locker room.

We all got to watch, and we got to hear about it for the next week.

Last week I watched the President's address to Congress----a dignified setting as it should be. Well, dignity went out the door when the now infamous "You lie!" brought forth shocked reactions from a chamber full of legislators who normally make their feelings known by boisterous applause or by sitting on their hands.

We all got to watch, and we're still hearing about it.

Another sporting event---which was, just a few days ago, the upbeat talk of the world because of a phenomenal victory by a rising young teen from Georgia---turned ugly later in the week when a player at the top, seeing her star falling, went after the line judge when she didn't like the call.

As I read in this morning's paper, most people won't remember the U.S. Open because of the level of play. Instead, they'll remember the behavior of one of the best players of all time.

I didn't watch the U.S. Open live, but I got to see the replay, and we'll be hearing about it for some time, I'm sure.

This morning while going to the barn, I could hear the guys on K102 talking about rapper Kanye West "dissing" country star Taylor Swift at the MTV Awards last night. At first, I thought they were probably making a big deal out of something fairly insignificant, just for talking sake.

I learned later that the whole scene was a pretty big deal when Taylor Swift won an award and was giving her acceptance speech only to have Kanye West jump on stage, grab the microphone and announce to Taylor, in so many words, that she did okay but really Beyonce deserved the award.

In the audience, Beyonce's mouth was hanging open. Taylor Swift stood there stunned and speechless. The crowd booed.

We have seen yet another example of rude behavior by people who should know better in a public setting, and we'll probably be hearing about this one for the next several days or until someone else comes along and "one-ups" all the most recent out-of-control Uncivil Disobedients.

The standard routine with these incidents involves the dramatic, shocking act followed by the apology. The culprits also get not only 15 minutes of fame; they usually are guaranteed 24 hours because of every single media outlet desperate for the next big story rushing to fill up the air waves by hashing and rehashing the outbursts from every imaginable angle.

Does the apology give these people license to perform so publicly, leaving a lasting impression with all who watched----especially easily influenced, formative young minds who have been traditionally trained to view people in these pinnacle positions as the good examples?

Does the apology make it all better and make us forget that we witnessed someone in a powerful position reverting to the Terrible Two's.

I don't know the answer, but I sure don't like the fast-growing trend toward such blatant Uncivil Disobedience. The only hope I derive from these incidents is that their very public nature could teach some good lessons if the people in charge of dealing with the aftermath have the courage to stick to their convictions, i.e.,

• If you smack someone in the face on national TV, you're going to pay the consequences and the final score for the game will not be reversed, no matter how mad you are.
• If you yell out loud in a dignified Congressional setting, you will pay the consequences, both politically and personally.
• If you scream at the referee, your penalty stands and you may not win your tennis match.
• If you make a fool out of yourself on stage, Taylor Swift will still win the award you thought belonged to Beyonce---and her reputation for being a big star and a nice person will only be enriched by your stupid behavior.

Let's hope this trend toward "Uncivil Disobedience" does not spread like the promised swine flu epidemic. If it does, we may have to get out our blinders and our ear plugs to avoid catching germs from the next disgusting outburst by someone who should know better in the national and world arenas.

I think Henry David Thoreau and Rosa Parks would feel the same way I do about this. In the long run, their means of protest was much more civil, more effective and long-lasting.