I can't be the only one who's noticed that both in this board and the media in general that how "classy" people act in public seems to be the primary metric through which they're judged.
Let's look at James Harrison, the Steelers linebacker who's infamous for mouthing off about what he sees as injustices in the NFL. And, before that, he was well-known for illegally holding down and pushing around an opposing player trying to cover a punt return. His latest incident was an article in a magazine where he was quoted as saying his teammates Ben Roethlisberger and Rashard Mendenhall were partly to blame for losing the Superbowl due to under-performance.
The number one thing I heard people say about these comments was that they were classless. I don't see why this matters. The bigger issue is that he was publicly insulting his teammates and creating problems in the media that his coaches and team managers would have to deal with. What does that have to do with class? Don Draper is maybe the classiest character on TV, he also relentlessly cheats on his wife and deliberately fabricates his identity. Why does his classiness matter?
Why does it bother me? On a basic level, it makes discussing anything uninteresting. The most interesting part of Harrison's comments in Men's magazine was the potential effect it could have on his team. Instead of really discussing that, the narrative in the media was that Tomlin knew how to deal with this stuff well and would take care of it. Well, even if that's true, then that's interesting. Why is Tomlin such an effective leader? Is he a better coach now than Belichick? These things are more interesting to talk about then whether or not Harrison was classless or not, whatever that means.
Which is the other thing I don't get. Basically, measuring people by their classiness means we're assessing whether or not they act like an acceptable class of people. Aside from the elitistness of this thinking (traditionally, those most associated with class are the rich who don't want the under-dwellers of society tainting them), aren't we basically saying we want celebrities to act in a manner most acceptable to us because we feel they're supposed to live up to our standards instead of the other way around? Why?
Look at Michael Jordan. Greatest basketball player ever and inordinately rich from his ability to market himself. Why is he supposed to live up to what we want him to be? What have we done with our lives? Michael Jordan doesn't care what you thinking of his drinking, gambling, cigar smoking, and womanizing. The only reason he maintains such a marketable public image is because he wants to keep getting checks for Hanes advertisements. I'm not saying all public figures are in Michael Jordan's situation, or that public figures, even ones that have accomplished great things, are above right and wrong, just that our perception of who needs to conduct themselves according to who's standards is skewed. Instead of being outraged over Michael Jordan having a gambling problem, maybe you should try having even a tenth of a percent of his work ethic.
Finally, the whole notion of class gets away from the notion of character. Is Peyton Manning a good guy because he conducts himself well in interviews, is funny on SNL, and carries the good-old southern boy thing well? Or is he a good guy because he's humble, works his ass off to be a great quarterback, treats other people as he expects to be treated, and by all accounts intensely values having personal integrity not only as a football player but as a person? I'd say the second, but the first is all society seems to care about.
Topic: Why Does Being "Classy" Matter So Much? (Read 3513 times)