Fair warning here: I don't pay that much attention to most current music, but I'm well aware of the incident that took place with Chris Brown beating up Rihanna a couple of years ago. I didn't watch the Grammy's due to total lack of interest, but I was fairly shocked to learn that not only has Chris Brown's career continued since said incident, it's actually thrived to the point he performed twice during the awards and received a standing ovation. I know pop music is filled with incidents of abuse and while some seem to have been forgiven, such as Glen Campbell, others were not, like Ike Turner.
Anyway, Chris Brown went from someone who's music I had no interest in to someone I actively disliked, not only for his act of violence against Rihanna, but because of the unapologetic way he handled himself afterwards, shifting blame and the like. Then today I read she was recording a new single with him.
I'm not writing this to jump on her for making that decision. I understand that people who are victims of abuse often have key underlying psychological issues which cause them to make excuses for their abusers and to continue to place themselves in harm's way. What I don't understand is how her managers, agents, friends, family, etc have not acted to prevent this. Obviously, if she wants to be in a damaging relationship, particularly someone with her means, she'll find a way. But ethically, how could a producer, business manager, label executive, agent, etc think this is a good idea? Thoughts?
Unless this jackass seriously got help for his issues, endorsement from fans and Rihanna recording with him will only fuel his denial and give credence to his excuses.
PURE IDIOCY!
If he HAS gotten help and is reformed, then good for him. I, for one, am skeptical.
I have not followed the story, and did not follow it when the news broke, but from what I've heard (Heard, mind you, I have not researched this or examined the evidence) Chris Brown has not made even token gestures of rehabilitation, and his "I'm sorry" songs after the news broke included at least one whose message was "Women are to blame, they're the cause of all my problems."
I have no idea if he's a good musician or a bad musician (And yes, you can be a skilled artist while being a despicable person), but from what I've heard he is a bad person all by himself.
Life is like a roller coaster. It has its ups and downs, but if you sit back and relax you get a heck of a ride.
From personal experience, I watched my dad hit my mom a lot. So I have no love for CB or any other person that thinks it's fine hitting anyone - for any reason.
What makes the whole situation even sadder is that CB is also a child of domestic abuse. His mom was hit by, I think, by his dad/mom's boyfriend when he was a kid - which he witnessed on numerous occasions. To hear him sing about how women are the source of his problems – that is a whole new low for victims/survivors of abuse.
Also, from what I’ve recently read, he laughs it off with his friends. Apparently his new pick up line is asking for a girl’s number then adding something like, ‘I promise I won’t beat you’. Really? According to one girl, she almost threw up when he used that line on her.
He hasn’t really learned anything from all this. Or from his mother’s experience. I keep wondering, where his mother is? Why hasn’t she stepped up and slapped him silly for all of this? I know that if I were in his position, my mom would be the first one in line to give me a good beat down.
"Treat everyone the same until you find out they're an idiot." Lucy Lawless
According to Rolling Stone, it's probably safe to assume he's not feeling too repentant.Originally Posted by JBK405
NPR also has an interesting story noting the support Brown has received from some of his female fans. The most horrifying example of this is from twitter where a fan said "I don't know why Rihanna complained. Chris Brown could beat me anytime he wanted to."
It's a pretty sad state of affairs in society in general. How many people continued watching Charlie Sheen and jokinlgy quoted the dumbass "Winning!!!!" meme even after he beat up his ex-wife and threatened her with a knife? And the list goes on.
I'm happy that people are taking a stand against Chris Brown but I also wish that in general we stopped giving these shitheads free passes regardless of how "funny" and "talented" they supposedly are.
I think that it's society's fault for that. The TV shows, movies, magazines, etc. - all we do is bombard images into our daughters heads of how the should look, act, think, talk, dress, etc. that we are essentially brainwashing them into these mindless things. Society says that girls can't be smarter then the boys, because that wouldn't be right (or whatever the case is). It frustrates and angers me that we aren't doing more to teach our daughters how great they are. I was raised by strong women in my family. I just don't understand how these girls think it's ever ok to get smacked around.
"Treat everyone the same until you find out they're an idiot." Lucy Lawless
The thread here on the Grammy's a few days ago included a link to a page of twenty-five twitter comments in the same vein; I couldn't even get through it, I read three and had to close the window, it sickened me. They all seemed to have this confusion that equated abuse with rough-but-pleasant sex, and that thought was just obscene.
Life is like a roller coaster. It has its ups and downs, but if you sit back and relax you get a heck of a ride.
Ummm...was this meant to be ironic?
And maybe she was having tea with Tiger Woods' mom. After all, Tiger's dad cheated on his mom....
I haven't yet been able to read Scandal's mind (...yet), but I assume she meant "Why hasn't his mother spoken up?" as opposed to asking why his mother hadn't actually physically beaten him to keep him quiet.
Life is like a roller coaster. It has its ups and downs, but if you sit back and relax you get a heck of a ride.
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