After recentevents, many people are wondering where society is headed. Are we becoming asociety that is rude and disrespectful? Is this country going through a declineof manners?

            Ona school day not too long ago, President Obama addressed students in schoolsthroughout the United States to encourage them to study, stay in school, andlearn to better themselves. Believe it or not, the speech causedcontroversy--even before it aired on TV--because the President was made out tobe the enemy with an evil agenda for the nation’s school children. According torumors circulating in the media, the speech was the President’s way toindoctrinate students with socialism and pitch his ideas for health carereform. Some parents vowed to take their children out of the classroom duringthe speech to ‘save’ them. Isn’t the President of the United States, elected bythe people, considered a leader, a role model? Despite the positive educationalmessage delivered by the President, many students did not watch. PresidentObama is not Osama bin Laden…so why was he made out to be the enemy? How did itget so crazy that people would fear their own President?

            Thenthere was the Congressman who unexpectedly shouted, “You lie!” during thePresident’s speech to Congress regarding health care. An elected officialduring a formal speech in front of the nation shouts out to the Presidentaccusing him of lying?  Is thisacceptable, correct, wrong?

This does not endwith the President, however.

At the same time,Serena Williams foully threatened a judge during a tennis match—and ran it overand over again on national TV news shows. And Kanye West stole the spotlightaway from Taylor Swift, who was in the middle of accepting her MTV Video MusicAward, to point out how great Beyonce’s video was—and implying that Beyonceshould have won.

Even before theseincidents, a Gallup survey displayed that Americans are convinced that publiccivility is fading. CBS news aired “America the Rude-iful”. Something haschanged in the United States, and it hasn’t been a good change. Yet theCongressman’s shout is being printed on t-shirts, and he is receiving donationsfrom Obama-opponents.

Still, not allbehavior in America is bad. For example, after Kanye West stole Taylor Swift’smoment to shine, Beyonce stole it back and invited Taylor Swift to the stage toshine the light back on the deserving singer. It’s also important to note thateveryone—the shouting Congressman, the out of control tennis player, and theoutspoken singer who hopped onto the sage and grabbed the mike—all apologizedfor their actions.