Bowties=Innocent and Friendly

So, I'm all about putting things into context and understanding that a lot of people who perpetrate violence are often part of a longer cycle of violence that came before them... and I try to understand that much of the world is grey and not black and white and that if we want to help lessen the amount of violence towards women in our society, we can't just go around shouting at people.  BUT... I'm sorry, I'm going to shout this time and make strong, declarative statements:  Chris Brown, the fact that "no one taught [you] how to control [your] emotions and anger" doesn't excuse beating the absolute shit out of your girlfriend and then making the media rounds to apologize to your fan base.  And neither does wearing a friggin' bow tie and saying you don't "remember" it and it's "not who [you] are as a person."  'Cause you know what, I'm pretty sure your victim remembers it (and the other times you hit her but apparently you forgot all them about too), regardless of what you say and how many times it includes the word "sorry." 

Seriously, after all the victim-hate that went on (it's her fault, she deserved it, I'm sure she hit him first, blah blah blah blah), and the leaking of the victim's crime photos, and the lack of any jail-time, I am really pissed off.  If I had any of his records, I would get rid of them immediately.  But, I'm not so into crappy studio pop/hip hop, a.k.a., misogyny in musical form, so thankfully that's one thing I can cross of my massive to-do list.  Whew.  You know, it would be really nice if someone with this sort of public presence could admit that they are responsible for what happened and not pull the "what? I'm young, oops/it's not like me, most of the time/I'll never do it again since I finally got caught" crap.  The amount of change that he could affect by acknowledging what domestic violence is, how easily men in our society perpetrate it, and how damaging it is to the victim would mean a hell of a lot more to me than a nice-looking, albeit repentant, young man in a sharp tie giving a moving interview.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/08/31/chris.brown.interview/index.html