The Oscars (1 Viewer)

[Jon]

So do I. But the problem is, in those types of situations, you Don't Think, you react instinctively.

And that is what criminal punishment is for.

Apparently, most violent assaults by women are crimes of passion. An ex of mine told me that. She was a criminal lawyer. Another interesting fact was that she said in London, most crimes are committed while someone is high on drugs, something like 70% of all cases. By drugs, she might be including alcohol in that.

Edit: Harvey Weinstein: "Sorry m'Lord, I was just doing what came natural to me!"

 

[NauticalGent]

 

[ColinEssex]

Chris Rock is a foul mouthed non funny comedian. His routines are absolutely disgusting, littered with non funny use of the worst language. He is banned by several British TV stations.
If you are a clever comedian like for example the British comedian Bob Hope, its all about the delivery and timing, Bob was a master. Anyone can stand on stage and spew foul language, that is not funny it's disgusting.
I'm glad Will Smith slapped the low IQ idiot.
As for the predictable Oscars, anyone black, disabled or arousing sympathy will win. Its boring, irrelevant and patronising, how the yanks can like it is beyond me.
Col

 

[AccessBlaster]

I never knew men slapping men was a thing. Smith had time to wind up and deck him but chose to slap him.

 

[Pat Hartman]

Will didn't like his joke

I don't like his joke either. It was mean spirited and probably embarrassed Jada. You just don't make fun of people for the way they look especially when the "look" is caused by an illness.

Put yourself in their places. You are with your wife and the spotlight is on the two of you and the comedian makes fun of how your wife looks. And she isn't bald by choice so who knows how she feels about it. If tears came to her eyes after the camera moved on, how would it make you feel? There are men out there who still feel protective of their family and would defend them if someone attacked them no matter how unfashionable that is these days. How patriarchal. How dare he defend his wife for being insulted or even hurt by a callous remark?

I think the slap went too far but I'm pretty sure Smith pulled the punch so he didn't actually hurt Rock.

Should Smith have simply ignored the incident? How much of a scene should he have made?

How about if Trump went around assaulting CNN journalists?

His guards wouldn't let it happen but if Melania were bald because of an illness and she sucked it up and went to a state dinner without a wig and someone made fun of her, I wouldn't think it was terrible.

People made ugly remarks about Melania all the time. They remarked on her choice of Christmas decorations, her choice of wardrobe, her accent, and any thing else but insulting someone because of how they looked due to an illness is a bridge too far. I might have slugged Chris myself. His remark was tasteless and cruel.

 

[AngelSpeaks]

I'm Italian American. We would have wacked Rock.

 

[Isaac]

My daughter told me about it along with some other gossip about the Smiths (infidelities). I watched to unedited version of it and was not impressed. Will Smith even laughed initially until Jada gave him an eat-death stare, then we felt the need to defend her honor.

Again, not impressed...

Yeah I agree I was noticing that he laughed at first like it was no big deal.
Truly the joke was a very bad one. Obviously women are going to be EXTREMELY sensitive even those that have very little hair much less those that are bald.
On the other hand I have never been able to sit through a Will Smith movie, just dislike him .. both as an actor and a person.
Now denzel washington, I'll watch any movie he makes!

 

[Uncle Gizmo]

Where is the balance between "family is off limits" and "Public figures are fair game"?

I think Will has answered that question!

 

[The_Doc_Man]

I intentionally avoided the Academy Awards presentation because it had become uber-painful to watch the meaningless "thank this person, butt-kiss that person, thanks Mom and Dad for not aborting me either immediately or retroactively as I grew up, ..."

I watched Jada's eyes in the video replay. She became very unhappy at Chris Rock's words. Will realized that Jada had been disrespected and he was not about to let that happen. I don't know if Chris was following a script from someone else, following his own script, or ad-libbing. In any case, it was crystal-clear to me that Will stood up for his lady.

Was he wrong? There are so many factors in that simple question that we may never decide that. But I know that I would defend MY wife from certain harmful words and situations, which is why I am conflicted on how I judge that quick set of events.

I think part of the problem is, as has been pointed out, the Left cannot process what happened because it doesn't fall into one of those common pigeon-hole events. It was a public black-on-black event. According to Miss Manners, when you are faced with an event that (socially speaking) cannot happen, then when it DOES happen, you must ignore it. (Sort of like farting in a theater.) Therefore, nobody is going to be able to discuss it since it so OBVIOUSLY could not have happened, right?

Col, you may have seen more of Chris Rock than I have in order to form your opinion. I was never that interested in him in order to know whether his material is clean, dirty, or some stage in between. But in this case, it wasn't Chris's vulgarity that was being punished - it was his disrespect and ignorance that Jada has alopecia. The best man at my wedding had this condition. He reacted pretty much as Jada did - going for the "chrome dome" look.

The question came up about why Jada didn't wear a wig or something. In this day and age, she is trying to be proud of who she is AS she is. She should not have to wear a wig if she doesn't think she should. A joke offered in poor taste to target her deserves a negative reaction. Did Will over-react? He tried to be cool with it until he saw that Jada wasn't cool with it. This will be debated for a while, I'm sure.

 

[AccessBlaster]

Had Jada Smith used a tiny bit of humility and seen the humor in a poorly timed joke it would have let an already laughing Will Smith off the hook. She could have graciously accepted being the butt of a poorly timed joke and walked away unscathed.

"Remember, they're just jokes, we're all gonna die soon and there's no sequel." -Ricky Gervais, Golden Globes 2020.

 

[KitaYama]

Chris Rock is a foul mouthed non funny comedian. His routines are absolutely disgusting, littered with non funny use of the worst language. He is banned by several British TV stations.
........
I'm glad Will Smith slapped the low IQ idiot.
Col

You're missing the point. Apparently you're on Will's side just because you don't like Chris.
Read @Jon 's posts again. He has a point. As long as it's on words, you can't turn it into violence. We had a news this morning that Will may be sued. Will didn't like the joke? Well, he could take his wife and leave the ceremony. He could talk back. But he chose to attack a comedian who everybody knows is an idiot and nobody take him seriously.

And don't forget. It's not the first time Will attacks others. I've seen at least 3 clips of him attacking his fans and a reporter.

 

[ColinEssex]

You're missing the point. Apparently you're on Will's side just because you don't like Chris.
Read @Jon 's posts again. He has a point. As long as it's on words, you can't turn it into violence. We had a news this morning that Will may be sued. Will didn't like the joke? Well, he could take his wife and leave the ceremony. He could talk back. But he chose to attack a comedian who everybody knows is an idiot and nobody take him seriously.

And don't forget. It's not the first time Will attacks others. I've seen at least 3 clips of him attacking his fans and a reporter.

To be honest I didn't have a clue what Will Smith looked like. I can't name one film he was in. Also, if I saw a photo of Chris and Will together I couldn't tell you who is who, I'm afraid they all look the same to me. For years I thought Morgan Freeman was a female because there was a TV show where the lead female was called Morgan something so I guessed Morgan was a girls name.
Col

 

[Harrybrigham]

If you don't want to be the butt of jokes don't go to these BS festivals. My suggestion to those who do, and anybody else, is to make "taking offence" a hate crime, punishable by cancellation.

 

[Jon]

For me, when you start to say violence is acceptable you unleash an unpalatable set of events. Imagine people who are arguing on Twitter hunting down their opponents, turning up at their house to violently assault them. Or someone like Will Smith may take offence at a lot of things, resulting in them regularly punching people, slapping them, putting them in headlocks. What about if the perceived insult was more severe? Will Smith to host: "Do you want a cut or a break?"

Imagine the presidential debates. Trump says to Hillary. "Your going to jail!" Hillary kicks Trump in the shins. She says Trump makes her skin crawl, so Trump chokes her out. All fair game, defending their reputations.

What type of society do you want to live in? Should laws that punish violence be abolished? Or do we put in exception clauses that say if someone says something you don't like, you are allowed to assault them? Should we allow men to assault their wives for the offence of nagging? How about the wife punches her partner for snoring and hogging the remote?

Comedians have been roasting their guests for years at the Oscars. Yet only one person decides to disgrace themselves with violent thuggish behaviour.

Is this not a case of free speech? Or should we extend the hate speech laws to say that if we don't like something, we are allowed violent retrubution?

For those who think it was only because he was out of control due to anger, well, we have a place for these people: prison.

There are alternatives to violence to express your anger. Surely it should be the last resort, not the first?

 

[NauticalGent]

There are alternatives to violence to express your anger. Surely it should be the last resort, not the first?

Agreed on the Order of Operations to Violence. That being said, I have had many conversations with "enlightened" individuals on the necessity for violence. They liked me even less after the conversation then they did at the beginning.

 

[Uncle Gizmo]

For me, when you start to say violence is acceptable you unleash an unpalatable set of events

Yes I agree. My point is that Will did not plan, or consider his actions, if he had he wouldn't have done it. He fell foul of his male protective instinct.

An interesting observation. How do women feel about a man stepping in like a knight in shining armour to protect them, something which goes against the modern independence of women?

 

[KitaYama]

I need some help.
I don't watch movies. I have much more important things to do with 2 hours of my life.
But what happened in Oscar made me ask myself what it is all about. I rented G.I.Jo and watched it just now.
It's a movie starring Demi Moore, one of the most beautiful actresses (at the time). She was a brave and strong young woman who enrolled in an all-men camp and emerged victorious at the end. She went through it and she succeeded. That is the gist. The movie is about the struggles of a young woman who beat all the odds. Chris called Juda : G.I.Joe2 . referencing how brave and strong Juda is.

Chris didn't referenced to a movie about a weak woman who was defeated. Or about someone who was sick and died at the end. So how this may trigger anger in Will Smith. If it was me, I would go and shake his hand on the stage.

So why do you think it's humiliation to Juda?

 

[KitaYama]

How do women feel about a man stepping in like a knight in shining armour to protect them

If I was a woman I preferred a ,man who can think and behave like a real man, not a 10 years old kid. A man who uses his brains not his fists.
But that's me. We must ask Juda how she feels. maybe she appreciates it.

 

[Jon]

Yes I agree. My point is that Will did not plan, or consider his actions, if he had he wouldn't have done it. He fell foul of his male protective instinct.

An interesting observation. How do women feel about a man stepping in like a knight in shining armour to protect them, something which goes against the modern independence of women?

I have no debate to the contrary about evolutionary instincts. And my belief is that a social framework of the modern independence of women does not negate the physical and cognitive wiring that evolved slowly over millions of years.

Maybe the fact Will's partner has multiple partners might have triggered some evolutionary instinct to compete against her other mates. By showing his aggression, he elevates his status within her harem.

 

[NauticalGent]

An interesting observation. How do women feel about a man stepping in like a knight in shining armour to protect them, something which goes against the modern independence of women?

Now there is a real can of worms...

My wife expects to me step in and protect her in any way I seem fit. I did resort to the threat of violence once against her sister's husband and she appreciated it although she did tell me that I did escalate it too quickly.

In my defense, I felt that if I explained to him right up front what the end result would be, the situation would die down quickly, skipping the build up.