"can we get much higher?..."

words.

for your consideration...

"...A theme has intensified, however, one that has been there since the beginning: bold declarations.

The boldest might have been “George Bush doesn’t like black people.” And Kanye’s mother was right, he did get flak for saying it. But he also became a heroic figure, the first of many times where Kanye’s more brazen actions were justified on the grounds of “Well, he’s not wrong.” Of course, there have been a lot of times when he was wrong. When Kanye tweets “BILL COSBY INNOCENT,” as he did a few weeks ago, you feel let down. And when he rationalizes referring to women as “bitches” as a term of endearment, you begin to question all the years of hanging on to this man’s every word. But there’s another side of Kanye happening right now — on Twitter and in real life. It’s not new, exactly, but it’s certainly revealing. “My number one enemy has been my ego,” he tweeted a few days ago. Amazing — he’s beginning to try to explain himself. The most interesting Kanye has never been boastful, blanket-statement Kanye. It’s Kanye on Kimmel, giving a lengthy monologue on creativity. It’s Kanye in an interview with Sway, attempting to explain the degree to which he’s studied fashion (and the frustration he felt when it closed its European doors in his face).

When Kanye is like this, the response to him changes. Overnight, it goes from “He’s a dick” to “He’s crazy,” or even “He’s not well.” As a public, we love to diagnose — it’s a convenient way to distract from our own problems. And, as Trump shows, we can be seduced by those pretending they have no problems at all. When someone complicated comes around, it makes us uncomfortable. Because there are few things more human — and messier — than not having it all figured out and saying that out loud..."

VULTURE: What Kanye Has in Common With Trump. And Martin Luther King.