The "Twitter-spark" igniting the flames of revolution has wrongly emerged in recent days as the dominant lead-in to stories on the recent social upheval in Iran. It seems so odd that the credit has gone, as Mike Madden so rightly points out, to this technology, almost to the exclusion of actual issues and events and the individuals who have participated in them. Why is it that the only way we as Americans can identify with the struggles and aspirations of others is by co-opting their "moment" with inane observations about our possible contributions to it, through a communication platform that has thus far been used for delivering to the world the often inarticulate banalities of self-promoting C-level celebrities and future-hungry politicians?

First we had Congressman Wilson, then Serena, then Kanye. Joan Walsh contextualized the unruly legislator's outburst as part of a larger racist strategy being employed by a vitriolic republican leadership, Kate Harding considers Serena's transgression and lack of remorse 'admirable', and there will be those who feel that Kanye is justified in his outrage against an industry that fails to recognize the contributions of minority artists. What strikes me about all of this flimflammery, is that the silent issues of institutional racism have at last entered public discourse, which is a good thing. Having said that, isn't bad behavior just bad behavior anymore, or are all 'real time' social interactions part of some larger theoretical struggle? If you compare Serena's behavior the other night (and let's be honest, she has not, historically, been a graceful loser)to those of her professional tennis peers (men and women, of all races) all of whom compete just as ferociously, it was an outrageous outburst directed at a judge who's job it is to enforce the rules. Sports is in many ways about the rules. Sometimes bad behavior is simply that, and we should reserve the commentary for appropriate situations.