How could you be so tactless?

Knock Knock.

Who’s there?

Interrupting Kanye West.

Interrupting Kan—

I’M SORRY. I’MMA LET YOU FINISH. BUT THE BANANA KNOCK KNOCK JOKE IS ONE OF THE BEST KNOCK KNOCK JOKES OF ALL TIME.

 Now that I’ve trotted out the Kanye knock knock joke, literally no stone has been left unturned regarding his VMA outburst. Kanye at congressional hearings. Kanye at Patrick Swayze’s funeral. They’ve all been done.

 I wonder what was running through Kanye’s mind when he went through the decision calculus that ended with him onstage, wrenching the microphone from Ms. Swift’s hands. Maybe he thought it was some dirty dealing on behalf of the squeaky clean 19-year-old. Maybe he thought, as he often does, it was racism. Maybe the sheer confusion of the announcement shattered his already fragile impulse control.

I mean, this is the guy who participated in a live Hurricane Katrina relief drive and had the following exchange you just couldn’t make up if you tried:

I think there are two possibilities that need to be considered as appropriate interpretations of the voice of our generation.

1. He has a severe case of Asperger’s, and his Hennessey habit doesn’t help.

2. He’s right, and as any voice of a generation should, he speaks the Gospel truth whenever possible.

Think about it. Beyoncé Knowles did create one of the best videos of all time. Beyoncé claims as her inspiration Bob Fosse’s “Mexican Breakfast”— a dance in which three chicken-esque women prance around to a mutated mix between Bert Bacharach and muzak and the “Hawaii Five-O” theme song, clad in strange disco matador costumes. And she turned it into a sexy choreographic tour de force. Something our grandkids will hear about.

To put it in a digestible analogy, what Beyoncé did with “Single Ladies” is the functional equivalent of deciding to direct “Dude, Where’s My Car 2,” and morphing it into the greatest film of the decade.

“Single Ladies” is a watershed moment for choreography and music videos. Taylor Swift is a flash-in-the-pan pop singer who can only call herself country because she’s twangy and doesn’t sing very well.

The video that beat out “Single Ladies” was Swift’s somewhat catchy “You Belong With Me,” in which some visionary director decided to put big glasses on the statuesque platinum blonde and pretend she’s the ever-clichéd dork-turned-prom-queen. Glasses on Taylor Swift? Really? If Charlize Theron can look ugly for “Monster,” Taylor Swift can do it for a little music video, especially if it’s going to be named the Best Female Video of the year. Put some effort into the damn thing.

But no, she didn’t look ugly. The production value of her video was pretty low. There was nothing innovative about it and any reasonable person wouldn’t use the word best to describe it under any circumstances. It wasn’t even the best music video made by Taylor Swift this year. And she still beat Beyoncé for the prize. And Beyoncé won the Video of the Year award, making “Single Ladies” paradoxically the best video created by either gender, but not the best among females.

I’m starting to sympathize with Kanye, jackass or no. In fact, I’m starting to generalize from this situation. How should we deal with a good point that’s packaged in a giftwrap of ineptitude? Do I have to stop believing that “Single Ladies” is a better video than “You Belong With Me” because the herald angel of that view is crazy off his rocker? No.

So take the time to see Kanye’s ideas without Kanye’s antics. Maybe Beyoncé really is more talented than Taylor Swift. Maybe South Park didn’t take into account how hard he’s been working to curtail his ego. Maybe George Bush really doesn’t care about black people.

 … Okay, no, it’s Asperger’s.

Charlotte Simmons wears short skirts, you wear T-shirts. She’s cheer captain and you’re on the bleachers.