My Take on Kanye and Michael

So there has been a lot of episodes lately concerning 'celebrities' and their civility in the eye of the public. Serena yelled profanities at a ballgirl, Congressman Joe Wilson called Obama's comment a 'lie' (what an idiot), Kanye rudely prances on stage and ruins Swift's moment, and Michael Jordan gave probably the most 'unclassy' speech of the 5 inducted. Let me go ahead and take a moment to consider 2 of these episodes.

Jordan is arguably the best basketball player to step on the court and Kanye is arguably the best hip hop artist currently on the scene (although Jay-Z's re-return may negate this). Let's take Jordan's speech first. The other 4 Hall-of-Fame inductees (Robinson, Sloan, Stockton, and Stringer) gave the most classiest, graceful, 'we're undeserving of this honor', 'so many people are responsible for getting me here', speeches I've heard. Hoping for much of the same from Jordan, he got to the podium (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/15/michael-jordan-hall-of-fa_n_287875.html) and explained why he became the best player in the world... his internal competitive drive. He then made references to several players/instances which 'fueled his fire' for being better than everyone. There was a certain arrogance present in his speech that may have turned people off, but for those who knew him, that is Jordan.... Pause

As for Kanye, you have seen his rants and raves. He is the self-acclaimed best in the business at what he does. He has wrote "When someone is strong enough to believe in something only they believe in, people are going to call them crazy... sometimes crazy is a label that the average put on the exceptional." He is never embarrased at proclaiming his greatness.... Pause

My point in discussing this, is that it seems like to be the 'best,' one has to be arrogant. For how can you be the best, when you don't think (or possibly conceive) you are the best.... and compete against all others who are in your way. Both Kanye and Jordan's (and most likely Serena's, which is obvious in her dominance over the more endearing, loving Venus) actions are rooted in this thought pattern.... when I was in Jr High and High School, I often thought (but didn't yell it from the mountain) I was the best student in the school, and it seemed to work out for me. But is the arrogance, and the potential 'fall-out' (in terms of people subjugated, loneliness, etc), worth the excellence attained? Instead of competitive, self-interest, can we move to a world where cooperation leads to excellence? The importance of this question resonates in our endeavor towards sustainable cities/communities (that's right, I just tied in sustainability to this discussion).