Reading about the recent scandal with Kanye West, I can't help but think of Marshall McLuhan's famous quote, "The medium is the message." And today's message is clear: multimedia and social networking platforms condemned West's disrespectful attitude at the MTV Video Music Awards.
The rapper grabbed the mic from country singer Taylor Swift while she was accepting her Best Female Video award. He then said that Beyonce's video was one of the greatest videos ever created, implying that Beyonce, not Swift, was the one who deserved the award. As a result, Swift stood on stage confused and unable to thank her fans.
Within seconds of this incident, however, the community reacted. Users uploaded YouTube videos of themselves voicing their anger from West's inappropriate behavior. They posted updates on their Facebook pages and tweeted about it. They even created polls to measure people's condemning or supportive views. The social response was tremendous and immediate.
Photo credit: Matt Hamm