Last week while casually procrastinating on the internet I discovered
that Chris Brown was number 1 in the UK album charts, and in the top 5 of the
singles chart. This is just so unbelievably depressing.
Three years ago Chris brown violently beat his then
girlfriend Rihanna and threatened to kill her. Three years ago Radio 1 (and
many other radio stations) stopped playing Chris Brown’s music because of his
attack on her. Two years ago the UK refused to give Chris Brown a working visa
and therefore entry into the country due to a “serious criminal offence” so he
had to postpone his UK tour. Two years ago Chris Brown posted a video message
begging his fans to buy his music still. I’m just confused to how we got to the
point where the UK forgot all of this, and started buying his music again.
It’s almost like the UK is sending out the message that as a
country it condemns domestic violence, but only directly afterward it happens,
and then it’s all forgive and forget. It
is wrong to ‘move on’ from Chris Brown’s domestic violence as this sends a
message out to society, and to young girls particularly, that domestic violence
is socially acceptable. Sure, you’ll get a slap round the wrist, have to
apologise, but then everyone will forget and you’ll be popular again. This is so
completely wrong. 1 in 4 women will be a
victim of domestic violence in their lifetime and on average 2 women a week are
killed by a current or former partner, killed.
Nothing should ever suggest this is socially acceptable, even if it is indirectly
suggesting this.
What if a teenage girl is hit by her boyfriend, and then he
says he’s sorry, that he’ll never do it again and that he’s changed (like Chris
Brown) and then she accepts the apology? Then he hits her again, this time
harder. He apologises, she accepts. This is the beginning of the cycle of
abuse. The music industry, and society as a whole, had the chance to take a
stand against domestic abuse. They could have potentially prevented others
falling into the same cycle of abuse by suggesting to these women and girls it
is okay to forgive an abuser if they say they are sorry. They could have taken
steps towards this by condemning Chris Brown. His current chart position shows
that they failed miserably.
Then again, these tweets show that as a society on the
whole, we are failing pretty miserably. Violence is not a compliment. We’ve got
an incredibly long and complicated way to go to stop tweets (or thoughts) like
this happening, but boycotting Chris Brown’s music would be a good place to
start.
Wonderfully put. While I admit his songs can be catchy it is terrible to endorse such awful, violent and destructive behavior. We already do too much of that! Especially here in the states... case and point Jersey Shore.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much! I do agree some of his songs are catchy, but there is plenty of other music that is equally as catchy, or maybe more so, that people can listen to and buy that isn't sung by a misogynist:)
DeleteI've never actually seen Jersey Shore - but based on what you have said that doesn't sound like a bad thing!
Agreed. I think so often pop is about the marketing and the hype. He seems to have got himself a good pr and suddenly we've all forgotten about the fact that he violently beat up a woman.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what the right response should be though. I (obviously) don't know him so don't know if he went through some sort of counselling and is now a changed person or if he has no remorse.
I am not a fan of his and wouldn't want to be around him yet I don't want to condemn him forever if he has changed.
I really don't know.
but I think you're right to bring it up, it is so important to think about the music and culture we consume almost without thought
http://ahandfulofhope.blogspot.co.uk
I completely agree with you, it's the consumption without any thought that I find most concerning. People just seem to go along with the media, one minute it's anti Chris Brown, and then like you said he gets some good RP and it's all forgotten. It's a difficult one, I read somewhere he had had counselling, but then a few months after that had a violent outburst on TV when he was asked about it. To me, I wouldn't class that as changed. If he has great, but im still uneasy about him being in the charts because that makes him some sort of role model which can't be a good thing.
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