Kanye West's Criticism of Taylor Swift Should Be Respected

September 13, 2009 rapper Kanye West made headlines for his comments at the Video Music Awards. West, the musician behind such influential albums as 808s & Heartbreak and Graduation, interrupted the acceptance speech of pop singer Taylor Swift, who was receiving the award for Best Female Video.

West said into Swift's microphone that "Beyoncé (against whom Swift had been running) had one of the best videos of all time." The 19-year-old Swift, whose career had until then been relatively undistinguished, failed to complete her speech.

The fallout was swift and heavy, with musicians and fans alike boarding a bandwagon from which they excoriated West with a ferocity usually reserved for war criminals.

One might think that they believed that West was incorrect, that Swift's video was in fact superior to Beyoncé's, and that Swift had been shortchanged. However, it is revealing that most criticism so far has been leveled at West personally.

Thousands might have voiced opinions more extreme than Kanye West's in conversations, in interviews, or on their blogs and, of course, few to none of them would have garnered any attention. As comedian Russell Brand said, "Nobody died."

It was not what West said that so upset people, but how he said it. Since Kanye West chose to express his opinions in a manner unorthodox and unsanctioned by authorities, the reaction has been one of disturbance.

One cannot help but be reminded of Kanye West's previous statement that "George Bush doesn't care about black people." Then, as now, disapproval was swift and unanimous. However, almost all of it was directed toward the fact that West expressed himself in a way that disturbed the status quo, rather than that what he said was inaccurate or unfair.

The public, it seems, would prefer that Kanye West express himself in a forum that is bland, anonymous, and affects no one. But they should remember that, if they are to deplore his or, for that matter, anyone's statements, they should address the substance of the statements rather than getting needlessly hung up on the medium by which they were delivered.