No, No Chris Brown!
Chris Brown has withdrawn his name as a Nickelodeon Kid's Choice award nominee after 10,000 people signed an online petition criticizing Nickelodeon for keeping him on the nominees list despite charges against him for assaulting Rihanna. Perhaps unfortunately for Brown, the public is speaking out, and saying that they will not enable his actions.
In domestic violence cases, aside from the perpetrator and the victim -- who generally co-exist in an unhealthy codependent cycle -- there also tend to be enablers who, perhaps unwittingly, can allow the abuse to continue and play as important a role as the perpetrator and victim themselves. The victim can be an enabler him or herself by, for example, going back to the perpetrator as it is alleged in the case of Chris Brown and Rihanna. Other enablers may be friends or family members who don't speak out about the abuse, who make excuses for it, cover it up, or encourage the couple to get back together.
Often in the case of celebrities who act up, their fans, the music or media industry can be enablers. In 2008, when Amy Winehouse was awarded a number of Grammy's despite her much publicized drug problems, Natalie Cole drew attention to her belief that Winehouse was being rewarded for bad behaviour. That is, the music industry was in effect enabling her, financially and through praise, to continue in the same way. The same could be said of Winehouse's fans who continued to like her more and buy more of her music, the more she indulged in self-destruction.
While some celebrity figures have come out in support of Brown, the public response to him has shown that music buyers have no interest in supporting or enabling his disgraceful behaviour. This can only be a good thing. If Brown is to make changes and to deal with his issues, it may help him to see the public fallout of his behaviour. Unlike many other mollycoddled stars, he may be realizing that actions come with consequences: serious ones that affect his career, his image and his finances.
Abuse and other types of destructive behaviour do not exist in a vacuum. Society at large can also play a role in aiding and abetting the behaviour when people do not step up and let it be known, loudly and clearly, that they won't buy into it. Chris Brown has not just abused Rihanna, he has abused the trust all of the people who bought into his image and supported his music.
While Rihanna may not have the strength to walk away and say no, the public does. And it is exercising it.
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Agreed! The music industry is a great enabler and I've had enough!
Johnny Cash's estate, Jimi Hendrix estate, the estates of Frank Sinatra, James Brown, Janis Joplin, all of the Greatful Dead profits, the Who, Hank Williams I-III, the Beatles, Eric Clapton, Nirvana, ect all need to give their money and awards back. It was all just our society enabling their addictions, and its wrong!
Oh, we just get to pile on Amy Winehouse for her substance problems and ignore the great sum of musical history? OK...
Enough of this story already. People need to just let it go. C brown and rihanna are not the first and won't be the last human beings to have a fight. This story is old and believe me if the point of repeating it is so the young children and teens will know when they are being 'domestically abused' then, by constantly talking about it has made it a losing case. The teens are already on to the next story or drama in their own lives--remember they have very short attention spans. Please stop trying to drain the last drop of blood from this story. Rihanna is well;out and about in NYC and c brown will be judged in the court of law. Meanwhile, thousands of woman, men and children are being abused -- as we continue to talk about two rich, famous, and immature young adults who had a fight. If c brown or rihanna never sell another cd, they will be just fine. I say, worry about the truely helpless victims of domestic abuse--go volunteer at a shelter; there is nothing left to this story and to keep trying to tell it with a new angle is pointless.
Where is the outrage against Rihanna ? She started the physical altercation and yet, not one person has called for her arrest. Why ?
It will all come out in court. Personally, I think she exgagerated her story to the police. There is no way that she could be so detailed about an incident that happened in the heat of the moment. Once the truth is told, some people will still view c brown as abusing her even if he was protecting himself or was pushed to far by her abuse because there are alot of people who think that it is okay for a woman to hit a man but never okay for a man to respond.
The only way for c brown to clear his name would be to have a full trial where he testifies, she testifies, have character witnesses to testify about what they have seen happen in the relationship and reveal her history of having an uncontrollable temper. He will probably not want to do this because he wants to protect her so there will probably be a plea. But it would be to his benefit to have a full trial. I for one am waiting to hear his side of the story.
Yeah, cause you were there.
Oh wait, maybe you were. Is that you, Chris?
The thing is I did not remember hearing any outrage (but maybe i am wrong) when Jay Z was accused of hitting two women and one was caught on camera. No the one on camera was not quite the same as the Chris and Rihanna case.
It is on Youtube now titled: Jay-z Hit's a Female He is a hypocrite
I am fed up of hearing people say Jay Z is after Chris Brown because Rihanna and him are like family. Jay Z signed her and that's it.
Jay Z has nothing to say to Chris when he is no better.
The Grammy awards are based on artistry through the music medium, they have nothing to do w/ social behavior or living a well balanced life. No one can claim superiority over others, because we all have our problems, vices, ignorance, etc.
I can count on one finger the number of Caucasian artists who's albums I own - and "Back to Black" is one of them and I even paid for it. It's an exceptional album and rewarding her for her artistry may validate her self-abusing behavior in her own mind, but it doesn't make the rest of enablers.
Well, Peter - you don't understand the psychology of abuse.
Instead of blaming her, imagine how all of this would look if everyone were blaming him. I mean, REALLY, blaming him, not giving him a quick spanking and then moving on to blame her for going back to him. If she has. We don't know that to be true.
Let's all try blaming him and not mentioning her at all, and see how that looks?
Looks different, doesn't it?
It would be wrong to blame her for the first assault. When(not if) he takes his fists to her again, she should get some of the blame.
How can Rihanna not have the energy to walk away? She is a successful, beautiful woman who des not need to tolerate abuse. She does not need Chris for economic support. She does not need him for moral support and, she can find a more respecting man very easily. That she chose to go back into the arms of her abuser within 72 hours of it happening makes her undeserving of my sympathy. She has the power to end the abuse. She can walk away. Instead, she found an excuse to let him continue with the battery.
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