Will Smith slaps Chris Rock at Oscars

satanboy

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  1. Looked staged/fake
  2. I have lost all respect for Will Smith for promoting violence.
 
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LD50

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No not staged. Police aware of what happened but Rock declined laying a charge.
 

LD50

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Obviously Smith over reacted. Violence is never the answer. I also don't think Rock's intention was to make a joke about Jada's condition. Standups will always test crossing a line but I don't think there was any malicious intent.
 

EADC

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More surprising was that the Oscars where on.

My first reaction was that it looked staged, but who knows
 

Blantyre

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What Will did was bad but I do think everything is capable of violence, if a certain situation happens. For some, it takes more to crack than others.

Everyone is also capable of evil.
 

Sinbad

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So they push for more diversity at the Oscars and this is how the diverse candidates act....



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satanboy

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If you feel confused, angry, or uncomfortable after watching the video clip of Will Smith assaulting Chris Rock (and let's be clear, it is assault) then, like me, you are experiencing a trauma reaction. It's probably a fight or flight response.

Reflecting on how this clip made me feel, I realised my reaction was first denial ("oh this MUST be scripted"), then trying unsuccessfully to make sense of what happened, followed by rationalisation (Will must be going through something difficult).

The truth is that I was triggered by this unforeseen act of violence. That's why I feel so uncomfortable about it. Scripted or not, this act of rage taps into an unfortunate part of the collective life script that many communities, including my own face: men behaving violently.

The reality that too many of us have experienced, within our families or communities, is the rage of a man who has lost control. And seeing Will Smith, Hollywood's darling, resort to violence on a public stage, results in an all-too-familiar fight or flight response. Even worse is his so-called apology, in which he limply states that "love makes you do crazy things". This is not an apology. Rather it's a justification for losing control of your emotions. It's the same kind of rhetoric used by men who violently abuse women.

Now I'm not in any way condoning Chris Rock's joke. It was in bad taste and inappropriate. I know there are many people who say he deserved the slap, and honestly that was my initial thought as well. But I realise that's a primitive defence and we need to evolve. Also, acts of violence never come from a place of reason and rational thought. The tragedy of this situation is that it became a power struggle between two men, excluding the woman and leaving her voiceless and powerless once again. A true reflection of patriarchy and toxic masculinity.

There is really no "lesson" in this for Chris Rock as some seem to think. In fact, there was a missed lesson for us all: that problems can be resolved calmly, and that you don't have to act on your angry emotions. It is hugely disappointing that a man of such power and authority who had endeared himself to nearly the entire world, has squandered the opportunity to teach young men and boys how to deal with their anger, by allowing his primitive defences to be enacted.

Garth Newman Psychology
 
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LD50

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@satanboy , thank you for a well written and well thought through response which hit the nail more than once.

I am wondering , apart from the obviously wrongful act commited by Smith, will his whole character now be defined by a single incident? Let's be fair, Smith is not known for regular bad behaviour. He had an, AFAIK, clean record up to now. Will it be fair to judge him in totality as a violent person? I think not. However, the consequence or repercussions are far more important because of the example set on a global stage to many many other boys and men.
 

satanboy

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@satanboy , thank you for a well written and well thought through response which hit the nail more than once.

I am wondering , apart from the obviously wrongful act commited by Smith, will his whole character now be defined by a single incident? Let's be fair, Smith is not known for regular bad behaviour. He had an, AFAIK, clean record up to now. Will it be fair to judge him in totality as a violent person? I think not. However, the consequence or repercussions are far more important because of the example set on a global stage to many many other boys and men.
I wish I had written (most of) it. Thank Garth Newman.
 
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