Coco Chanel once said "the most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud." Coco Chanel, however, never had to live in the 21st century.
These days, thinking aloud has become a social blight on the level of ugly billboards or tiger cockroaches. Whether it's U.S. congressman Joe Wilson breaking generations of protocol and yelling "You lie!" at U.S. President Barack Obama, or Kanye West grabbing a mike during a televised awards ceremony to let us all know how much he liked Beyonce's music video, we live in the age of the blurt.
What would Coco — who was born in the 19th century, after all, and died in 1971 — have made of Twitter, where it seems no thought is too pointless to leave unexpressed? Or the countless "comments" sections of blogs, YouTube, and social-media sites, where people are absolutely fearless in expressing the most obnoxious opinions? (Though rather unsurprisingly, these people lack the courage to attach their real names to their flames.)