Wilson versus Williams

When South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson shouted, “You Lie!” during President Obama’s healthcare speech, the whole of the American viewing public must have thought, “Wow, what a magnificently eloquent rebuttal of the president’s proposals!” The people of South Carolina can rest easily in their beds with a political representative of that caliber. Although Wilson later apologized for his outburst, it was clear from his later remarks that he was not in the least repentant

If that wasn’t bad enough, the talented tennis player, Serena Williams, about to lose a match, launched a vitriolic and foul-mouthed diatribe toward a line-judge over a foot-fault call. In the following press conference, Williams, in a rambling and incoherent statement, blamed the outburst on her competitive spirit.

Both outbursts significantly demean the two individuals involved. Personally, I had never heard of Joe Wilson, so this might just be his 15 minutes of fame. I was very disappointed in Serena Williams’s behavior, she is an experienced professional sportswoman but she let herself down very badly.

More interesting and more importantly, the reaction of the president to the unfortunate congressman was poised and dignified – in short, everything that Wilson was not. The tennis officials that had to deal with Williams’s tirade also reacted with poise and dignity that again was in sharp contrast to the athlete who should have known better.

Sadly both the speech and the tennis tournament will now probably be remembered for the wrong reasons. I'm not even going to mention Kanye West, Taylor Swift or Beyoncé - who really places that amount of importance on music video competitions?