Another famous, beautiful and talented young woman just got beaten to a pulp by her sociopathic boyfriend, and she’s going back to him, and everything will be hearts and flowers until the next time. In the case of O.J. Simpson and Nicole Brown, it eventually turned out that the “heart” became just a knife target and the only “flowers” were the tokens left at the graveside by her grieving family.
Now history seems to be repeating itself with Rihanna and Chris Brown, and all the 911 calls and stormy break-ups in the world won’t affect the most likely outcome. It’s tragic and it’s infuriating and it makes me think back to a underheated Katate dojo in Greenwich Village in the early 70s. My friend was studying with the great Tae Kwan Do sensei Duk Song Son and occasionally his beautiful daughter, herself a high ranking black belt, would teach a class. In kumite, or free fighting sessions, she regularly schooled my friend in the fine points of Korean karate technique. Put more crudely, she kicked his ass.
And so, much as die-hard NRA members love to fantasize what might have happened at Columbine if one of those nerdy biology teachers had been packing some heat, I can’t help thinking about Chris Brown trying his psychotic bully-boy routine on someone beside Rihanna -- his shy and self-effacing Korean girlfriend, say. It would be a kind of pure justice that the institutional justice system could nevertprovide.
Because the ideal, Platonic form of justice, is this:
The world you create with your actions, the terms and ground rules of life which your behavior defines -- APPLY TO YOU.
I suppose it’s like a street-fighting Golden Rule: others will do unto you as you do unto them. You punch your girlfriend and instead of the satisfying crack of fist on cheek, the rich spatter of blood, your punch is blocked, your wrist is broken and your jaw is shattered, all in about one tenth of a second. You were looming over your helpless female victim – how delicious! But now you’re on the ground, with your cheek rasping into the asphalt, the girl – I guess this was the wrong girl to beat up, Chris -- has your other wrist in one hand, and she’s straightening your elbow with the other. And perhaps she has the presence of mind to say something g like this:
“I’m going to break your arm in a few seconds. It’s going to hurt. I want you to remember that pain the next time you decide to attack someone weaker than you are. Will you do that for me, Chris?”
A whimpered, groveling “Yes, yes …” and then the satisfying snap of separating cartilage.
That beats anything you’d ever hear in a court-room, where even an eventual guilty verdict gives nothing but empty closure and everyone knows the punishment doesn't matter because it came too late.
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Comments
sorry brian, i got no issues with a little table turning. it's not retribution to fight back. retribution, by definition, comes after the fact.
correct me if i'm wrong, but this is the same bobby brown that used to beat on whitney houston? what's almost as amazing as a woman going back after a beating, is a woman getting involved with a known batterer in the first place. yeah yeah, i know, i'm sure he was misunderstood.
Bobby Brown used to beat up on Whitney Huston. I can see how you got them confused.
(He is Chris Brown not Bobby Brown but maybe they are related!)
I think there are brain studies that show that men actually experience some pleasure when a person who "deserves" it gets hurt. If that's true, it makes evolutionary sense. I just can't believe it's the right answer for us as humans.
It's a lovley fantasy that all women could be trianed to be strong and smart enough to defend themselves against all manner of ill-bred men (and sociopaths and rapists etc). What a wonderful world that would be!
Until then (which will be never at our current rate), we kinda have to focus on making the men responsible for their own actions. Globally Steven, not just here at home. The incredible level of violence against women in the fanatical religions and cultures abroad is astounding.
Sorry, man, you hit a soft spot. But I appreciate that you're thinking about it, and writing about it, in a positive light so to speak XO
I feel a neutral goodwill toward most people. They may be strangers, but I would at least call the police on their behalf if I saw them getting hurt by another person.
But him, I would so, so like to hurt him in a way he'd never forget. I've never owned a gun or wanted one, but painful retribution might be one way to teach the bastard a lesson.
Yep, Golden Rule applied at street level. Very satisfying to imagine. A man in red-hot sadistic fury can only be reached at this level. That's just a fact of biology.
Rated...Jim
Humanity or the expression of such from one human towards another can frankly be over rated. Retribution, on the other hand, is often one thing much of humanity understands. Humanity likes to rate itself as the “civilized;” beings that can at will raise ourselves to a higher level in the animal kingdom (although our activities belie that claim on a daily basis). Now that DNA is an advanced method of forensic science, even the death penalty is acceptable justice in my book. Why not? What is justice but retribution for those to whom an injustice was perpetrated?
Oh Yes! We all like to flower it up a little and call it “justice” for those wronged, but those wronged likely couldn’t care less what euphemism is applied to it, just as long as the perpetrator doesn’t get by with it.
Socially, I’m very, very liberal, but what the hell does holding back retribution accomplish, socially? Nothing whatsoever! If a person is willing and has the mental capacity to commit one heinous, or even one trivial act upon another human being, then logically, why would withholding retribution change that person? The level of humanity that should have been there in the beginning won’t be there later, just because we wish it to be. Kindness wasn't present in the perpetrator prior to the act and it's highly unlikely it'll manifest itself afterwards.
People too often attempt to apply Judea-Christian standards that have, over the millennia, been entwined into the fabric of human presence, mixing logic and Judea-Christian standards as though they’re one. And they are not
RATED for justice and retribution
It doesn't matter what context it is in. To think that we have to resort to our base instincts is for survival both saddens me and gives hope as well.
There is no doubt that Chris Brown will beat her again. The question is: will she defend herself?