OK, seriously, I am all for people having a healthy level of self confidence. And honestly, if that self-confidence has one tending to the side of cocky it’s all good with me. Quite frankly, I was a child who was raised with a Mother who would respond to comments like “Oh, your daughter is SO beautiful” with some version of
 “of course, because she takes after her Mother”. Not in jest either. She’s dead serious. So of course I have a very healthy self-confidence (borderline cocky).

I wanted to start this post off by saying that. So that way when I start laying in to Kanye and his ridiculous delusions of grandeur that you don’t start thinking it’s because I believe people should be inherently humble and self-deprecating. I want you to understand at first that I happened to love Kanye West and his I’m-so-awesome attitude. Sure, he was a little extreme with it, but because he did have a lot of talent to back up that super-huge ego I figured he deserved a little pig-headedness.

Of course, as we have all witnessed, his head has been unstoppable, ballooning to such an extreme that we are surprised his neck has enough muscle to keep it upright. Statements like those that appear on the following list can clearly show this culmination, which erupted into clear ignorance and stupidity at the 2009 VMA’s.

• To a PETA VIP: “They need more fur in this show!”
• “I will go down as the voice of this generation, of this decade, I will be the loudest voice … It’s one thing to say you want to do it, and it’s another thing to really end up being like Michael Jordan.”
• “Steppin’ outside of the game … If I was just a fan of music, I would think that I was the number one artist in the world.”
• “I am God’s vessel. But my greatest pain in life is that I will never be able to see myself perform live.”…sorry, but what??? Your GREATEST pain? Ok, seriously, either he lived a ridiculously sheltered life, he’s a sociopath so he doesn’t actually feel pain, or he’s just one of those people who clearly doesn’t think before they speak.

To see the complete list, click here

Now, these, and many, MANY more of the things that Kanye has said have bordered on ignorant or inane. However, his disgraceful little act at the VMA’s has shown that clearly the man has gone too far. It’s one thing to be an ignorant prick in interviews, in private, even whenever anyone gives you five seconds of limelight. It is completely another to disrupt an Award Show, disrupt a poor 19-year-old girls crowning moment, just because you don’t agree with the outcome.

If you give this kid the candy that he wanted after he creates this fiasco, what will that be teaching him?

What is most irritating, and saddening, about this is that rather than having people seriously penalize him by perhaps not following his music for a while, let his ‘I am God, I can do anything I please without consequence” attitude get an adjustment, his popularity rises. So what society is saying is that the more outrageous and ignorant somebody is, the more positive attention they get. In Psychology, we study behaviour all the time. And the only thing I can compare this to is a little trick in parenting. You’ve probably actually seen this in action either with children around you, or on something like Nanny 911.

When a child misbehaves you give them a time out, do not reward the negative behaviour or acting out with attention. When they are behaving you give them all the praise and attention they can handle. You condition them, much like you condition a puppy, to display good behaviours, because they have good consequences. How will an ego-maniac like Kanye ever stop the madness if we keep giving him all the attention and popularity he craves, when all that attention and popularity actually rises every time he does something ignorant and outlandish? We, as a society, need to be very careful of this, because not only is that the message we’re sending to Kanye, this is the message we are sending to the younger generations as well. And if we can’t save Kanye, please, lets try and save the up and coming generations.

From the list of Kanye quotes: “I GOT A LONG ROAD AHEAD OF ME TO MAKE PEOPLE BELIEVE I’M NOT ACTUALLY A HUGE DOUCHE.”. Well maybe if he started travelling down that road, making an effort, we could begin the process of Kanye-de-douche-ification. As of now, let me be the first to say his douche-iness is gigantic. And that’s an understatement.

Am I alone in this??

Cheers