Kansas City Shuffle

[DISCLAIMER]

Photo credit (edited), property of Getty Images, fair use

I don’t fault anyone who’s unaware of a spectacle that recently occurred at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards on February 2, 2025. Admittedly, I didn’t watch the celebrity worship fest, though I heard quite a lot about it on the following day. According to one source:

Kanye West has hit back at backlash from fans who have continued to blast him over his wife Bianca Censori’s nude outfit stunt at Sunday’s Grammy Awards [2/2/2025].

The Australian designer, 30, sparked global outrage when she arrived on the red carpet in a completely see-through nude mesh dress worn without underwear.

The hitmaker, 47, has since made it clear that he was proud of the commotion his wife’s outfit caused, taking to Instagram to show Google search results revealing Bianca was the most-searched term for the evening.

Although this may surprise you, I’ve seen nude women before. I’ve even seen nude women in public. In fact, I’ve likely seen many of the female celebrities that attended the Grammys without their clothes on in regard to one medium or another. Chances are that you may have, as well.

While I can understand the various arguments being made about West having purportedly behaved in a disrespectful, controlling, or abusive manner – and how Censori is allegedly an infantilized victim of her husband – I’m not privy to any evidence in support of these claims.

More importantly, I’m not self-disturbed by the behavior of West or Censori, or what opinionated people have to say. After all, as I stated in a blogpost that addressed social media outrage, entitled Virtually Anything:

One thing that apparently has remained consistent throughout the years is the phenomenon of people self-disturbing in regard to virtually anything. I mean it; people upset themselves with irrational beliefs about any conceivable subject.

As well, and as a matter of full disclosure, I stated in a blog entry entitled Why You Mad? “Though West released additional albums beyond his 2010 submission, I stopped paying him any attention beyond that period. I prefer his earlier work.”

Ergo, I’m disinterested in dogpiling West when he told the world on his debut studio album, The College Dropout (2004), what he thought about the opinions of other people. On the track “We Don’t Care,” the entertainer plainly stated:

Drug dealin’ just to get by

Stack your money ‘til it get sky high

We wasn’t s’posed to make it past twenty-five

Joke’s on you, we still alive

Throw your hands up in the sky and say

“We don’t care what people say” (Yeah, yeah, yeah, uh)

Over two decades ago, West informed the public that he didn’t care what people said. Apparently, given the Censori event at the Grammys, not much has changed in this regard. Moreover, why should, must, or ought to Kayne West care about what you or I think?

Besides, rather than self-disturbing with unfavorable beliefs about T’n’A (tits n’ ass), why not instead use a little TnA (tolerance and acceptance)? Additionally, it may be worth considering your circles of control, influence, and concern, and area of no concern.

Within your circle of control is you and only you. Your circle of influence largely relates to people in your direct vicinity (i.e., family, friends, etc.) or with whom you may have indirect contact (e.g., I’ve posted this blog and you’ve indirectly stumbled across it).

Within your circle of concern is pretty much everything else imaginable. This includes the past, death, wars abroad, etc. The area of no concern relates to imaginable and even unimaginable elements (e.g., whether or not there’s a version of you eating beets in an alternate dimension).

In the interest of rational living, I practice TnA and tend to focus on my circles of control and influence. Matters within the circle of concern and area of no concern may enter my mind, yet I don’t needlessly upset myself with unaccommodating beliefs about these distractions.

Contemplating this matter further, I’m reminded of a scene from the 2006 film Lucky Number Slevin in which the following dialogue takes place between two characters:

Mr. Goodkat: The reason I’m in town, in case you’re wondering, is because of a Kansas City Shuffle.

Nick: What’s a Kansas City Shuffle?

Mr. Goodkat: A Kansas City Shuffle is when everybody looks right, you go left.

Nick: Never heard of it.

Mr. Goodkat: It’s not something people hear about – falls on deaf ears mostly. This particular one has been over twenty years in the making.

Nick: Twenty years, huh?

Mr. Goodkat: No small matter. Requires a lot of planning. Involves a lot of people. People connected only by the slightest of events, like whispers in the night, in that place that never forgets, even when those people do.

Over 20 years ago, Kanye West told people he didn’t care what they said about him. Recently, at the Grammys, West’s wife revealed her body in almost complete nude form and people self-disturbed quite a bit, voicing irrational beliefs about the event.

Essentially, West pulled a Kansas City Shuffle, because he apparently was able to receive the attention he presumably wanted and has thus remained relevant in so doing. Case in point, I’m writing a post about the matter while simultaneously recognizing how West finessed the world.

Still, I’m looking left, right, up, down, and all around. Therefore, I consider differing perspectives. How about you? While virtually everyone was looking right while West and Censori went left, did you unwittingly fall for the Kansas City Shuffle?

If so, there’s no shame in being finessed for a little attention. Alternatively, if you upset yourself with unhelpful beliefs about some T’n’A, then I invite you to instead indulge in copious amounts of TnA. Also, if you’d like to know more about REBT, I look forward to hearing from you.

If you’re looking for a provider who tries to work to help you understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.

As the world’s foremost hip hop-influenced REBT psychotherapist, I’m pleased to try to help people with an assortment of issues from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters.

At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply trying to help you to feel better, I want to try to help you get better!

Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW

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