Monday, February 9, 2009

We're Going Backwards

By now you may have heard all about the Chris Brown/Rihanna fiasco. They've been dating for a while, showed up at the Grammy awards, sat together, but canceled their performance together. A few hours later, police were called to a domestic dispute. They found "an unidentified woman" covered in welts and bruises who said that Mr. Brown had beaten her. Chris Brown was later brought to a police (or turned himself in) station and charged with assault.
Now "sources" are saying that it was, in fact, Rihanna who was the victim.
OK. Celebrity gossip is not usually my thing. But when it concerns a man beating a woman to a pulp, it's not just the usual trashy celeb talk anymore. And when infotainment websites are filled with comments from both men AND women saying that Rihanna "must have done something to provoke him," then I get worried.
And REALLY pissed off!
Because we've learned nothing .
NOTHING!!!!!!!!
WHY do we continue to blame the victims for crimes?!?!?! WHY do young men and women think it's OK to beat someone into a bloody pulp if they say something that makes you mad?
Well, YouTube, for one.
I love YouTube. I can sit and watch the cute animal videos all day. But when you have a case of girls ambushing one of their friends, beating her up, then POSTING IT, we have a problem.
When students start cyberbullying classmates on FaceBook, we have a problem. When THEIR PARENTS get in on the act, that's f**king sickening! Especially when it leads to the suicide of a 13 year-old girl!
See, it's not just FaceBook and YouTube and video games. It's parents who not only don't monitor what their kids are looking at, but ACTIVELY ENCOURAGE THEM TO BE NASTY!!!!!!! WTF?!?!?!?!
Listen up, parents: your kids don't need another PAL. Another BUDDY. They need PARENTS. Yes, they will hate you at times, but you're the adult. ACT LIKE IT!!!!!!
That means that, no, you can't accompany your minor child, even if she is a celebrity, into clubs. you can't buy the alcohol for their parties. If they're screwing up in school, you need to take away the phone, blackberry, TV, computer, whatever, and make them study. Maybe they need to get a job, instead of you subsidizing their shopping sprees. That way, they might actually learn that designer duds DON'T make them better than anyone else.
Maybe.
But I suppose that when the parents are screwed up, there,'s not a lot of hope for the kids.

2 comments:

Charlotte said...

I know! This whole Rhianna/Chris Brown thing has just been breaking my heart all day. Esp. when they added the charge of a deadly weapon. I can't imagine how much harder it must be to be a victim of dating violence and be under all this public scrutiny. What a nightmare.

Anonymous said...

there's so much misinformation but you are abs. right - a lot of stuff i've heard seems to be blaming her (ie she threw his cars keys out the window and when he returned, he was so mad by what SHE did that he choked her. because, i suppose, there were no other alternatives.
It's so sad. But if it's true, i hope he gets what he deserves and applaud her for speaking out - many women remain silent.