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Forgiveness is a Good Thing but Chris Brown Still Doesn't Deserve It

Posted: 10/07/2012 00:00

On Sunday night R&B singer, rapper, dancer, convicted felon and general irritant Chris Brown went straight to the top of the UK charts with his latest album Fortune. His success comes just over three years after beating the crap out of his ex-girlfriend Rihanna.

Don't get me wrong, I think forgiveness is a good thing. We want people to show remorse and accept the seriousness of their mistakes. But Chris Brown does not deserve forgiveness and perhaps the most depressing thing about his recent chart glory is the realisation that beating a woman is no obstacle to success. He didn't need our forgiveness because his career never really suffered anyway.

It seems like every other week another article crops up discussing if Rihanna should forgive Brown, debating if he should be allowed to perform at the Grammys or asking if getting attacked by a seagull is some sort of divine karmic retribution. So far I hadn't felt the need to join in. Until now. Listening to the radio announce Chris Brown as the number one album, I just thought "Christ, this stinks". It stinks, it stank when it happened, it continues to stink and the stink is getting worse. I feel compelled to put it on record just how much I think it absolutely and utterly stinks.

Apart from the obvious (he kicked the s**t out of a woman) I've got two other big problems with the situation. Firstly his attitude since the attack. Brown says he is remorseful, but his actions following on from the event say otherwise. He clearly believes he is a victim. Secondly I take serious issue with the reaction from his fans, people I know and the various celebrities who've come forward to suggest it is time for forgiveness.

For those unfamiliar or with hazy memory of the incident just take a quick look at those pictures that were leaked. This wasn't a bit of a scuffle, it was repeated punching, biting and smashing of a her head into a car window. Police reports recorded visible facial injuries, including a bloody nose, as well as bite marks on her arms and noted the victim had been strangled until she began to lose consciousness He told her "I'm going to beat the shit out of you when we get home" and "I'm really going to kill you".

Since the incident Brown has publicly apologised. Which would be great if he wasn't still going round punching things and calling women bitches. So respectful of women is Brown that in a recent song, widely speculated to be about Ri-Ri herself, he raps "Don't f*** with my old bitch it's like a bad fur. Every industry n***a done had her". Classy, Chris.

Then there's his lyrics from the remix collaboration with his ex Birthday Cake with where he talks about how he wants to "give it to her in the worst way". Nice touch. Then there's the time he smashed the window in his dressing room and stormed out of the Good Morning America studio, in an hulk-style shirtless rampage onto the streets of New York because he was enraged that the anchor had dared ask him about the incident on television. What a guy.

Then there was last month when he got in a bar brawl with rapper Drake. A changed man, clearly. Then there's the time where he tweeted after winning a Grammy: "HATE ALL U WANT BECUZ I GOT A GRAMMY Now! That's the ultimate F*** OFf." Awww. He is after all a victim in this too. He beats his girlfriend because she won't do what he tells her to, shows little remorse, feels he doesn't deserve criticism for it and earns of millions of pounds as his career rocket lanuches. Poor Chris Brown. Really, my heart bleeds for you.

So we've established that Chris Brown is not very good at apologies but that's okay because some celebrities seem to think he didn't need to apologise. Others think it is time we moved on.

At the time few celebrities came forward to condemn Brown and a number of well known artists have gone on to duet with him. Three years on and even human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, a guy usually on the right side of every campaign possibly going, thinks we should forgive Chris Brown. After all, he is an incredible dancer.

Usher had to publicly apologise for daring to criticise Brown. Then there is our national darling Cheryl Cole who thinks "it's time we all moved on. That guy is talented as hell." Even Peter Andre, a man so inoffensive and middle of the road he's practically a cat's eye, thinks Chris is a tip-top fella and wishes we could just all get along. Peter Andre. We're doomed.

Even people I know have startled me with their take on the situation. Educated, normally sound-minded people saying things like "yeah but Rihanna is a bit slutty" like if true that is in any way relevant. Or "I wonder what she did for him to do that?" like this kind of violence could maybe be excusable. Like she might have deserved it.

Perhaps most sad of all though has been the backlash from his army of young, mainly female fans. In reaction to Brown's appearance at the Grammys, Team Breezy as they call themselves, went into a frenzy on Facebook and Twitter posting things like "Chris Brown can beat me any day", "Chris Brown... please beat me" and "I don't know why Rihanna complained".

But who can blame them. Look at the messages they've been sent. We've basically sent a loud and clear message: "You can beat a woman but give it time and we'll turn a blind eye and your career will be better than ever." Inspirational.

While I don't think everyone who has gone out and bought his album condones his behaviour it is certainly not at the forefront of people's minds when rushing out to buy his records.

Domestic violence is apparently not as important as we pretended it was for that brief time in 2009. The Grammy's uninvited Brown from its future ceremonies. Take that, Chris! Well they did for a whole two years but now they've changed their minds. Radio One stopped playing his music. Again, that protest had a shelf-life of two years until the station resumed playing his records in 2011.

We were outraged with Brown and we were outraged with domestic violence but apparently it was temporary. All it takes is an album full of chart friendly songs, a lot of airplay, some celebrity supporters, a couple of duets and domestic violence nosedives down the agenda. What a great message we've sent to young girls. It seems that the reaction in 2009, the anger and promised boycotts, the condemnation of domestic violence, was seemingly no more sincere than Brown's apology.

 

Follow Fran Singh on Twitter: www.twitter.com/fransingh

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On Sunday night R&B singer, rapper, dancer, convicted felon and general irritant Chris Brown went straight to the top of the UK charts with his latest album Fortune. His success comes just over three ...
On Sunday night R&B singer, rapper, dancer, convicted felon and general irritant Chris Brown went straight to the top of the UK charts with his latest album Fortune. His success comes just over three ...
 
 
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This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program
17:37 on 20/08/2012
Any man who hits a woman is gutless scum...end of
10:26 on 04/08/2012
Take a look at girl's socialisaation - they are conditioned by the likes of Disney and the media to think boys are a totally benign force. Boys are socialised on porn which they first access on the internet around about 9 years old on average. The male media that portrays women - Porn - calls women bit**es, wh**res and worse and portrays them, via reportage, as enjoying being hit and being worthy of being hit. If it was about a race of people rather than a gender it would be called propoganda. When boys hit girls they are following what they see men doing and celebrating throughout their media, and Rihanna was brought up amongst the same messages, that men are good and women are sl**ts and if they get hit, they deserve it, because from Eve onwards, all evil in the world can be blamed on women.
06:29 on 20/07/2012
I wonder what Tina Turner would say? Ahh who am I kidding, 99% of this new brainless generation have no idea who she is.
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Parade Keegan
I Can Hear You
19:25 on 15/07/2012
Consider who his fans are, how old they are and I believe that the reason for his continued success is obvious.
12:41 on 15/07/2012
OK lets look at the negative aspects of Rihanna..
She appears on an advert asking for " just 5 pounds " to save a starving African child, before the cameras roll she pays 14,000 pounds on hair and make-up.
She promotes gangsterism with her juvenile music videos.
She is obsessed with guns, having tattoos of them.
She is photographed sitting on the shoulders of a bald security guard who has cocaine on his head.
She tweets pictures of herself with titles like " Just Got Laid "
She is in her early 20's but acts like a stroppy teenager.

If she can be forgiven for all this ( and her very immature music ) surely Chris Brown can be forgiven too !!!
06:57 on 15/07/2012
Making*
06:56 on 15/07/2012
He Asked for forgiveness but his behavior suggests he doesn't deserve it. He still has insane anger issues and you know it as well as I do. Stop maling excuses for things that shouldn't be excused...
02:57 on 15/07/2012
The most hilarious of all is when he did an interview on Tyra saying he really respects women after what his mom went through with domestic violence.
I guess stupid is as stupid does.
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Mr Hoodoo
"I Wish I Could Talk In Technicolor"
22:42 on 14/07/2012
Sadly, for all of us, this is the age we llive in, Fran.

The "reality" show age in which bad people become huge successes for having a sex tape (paris hilton, kim kardashian), bad behavior (all on jersey shore for example), spread hate and/or threating the President (as so many teagoplican politicians, their media and entertainment personalities and supporters have done), and beating up a women, as this brown did.

The worse they are, it seems, the more they gain infamy, notoriety (which their fans and too many people in general mistake for fame) and wealth.

Pillaging and plundering our nation and citizenry is, thanks to thirty-some years of the neo-cons/1%ers rigging our system, legal now; fomenting hatred, screeching sedition, secession and calling for violent overthrow of the government and assassinating the duly elected President, and now his wife as we've just seen reported; conducting oneself in the most depraved and gutter level ways: all of these things and more seems to be the road to success these days.

Hard work, being decent and civilized, treating people with respect and care, these things are long gone to only be blathered about as ideals, and hardly even that anymore. All we hear is money, money, money. And the ends, aquiring it, justifies the means, no matter how low, how depraved, how criminal.

Very good set of commentaries, fran. And, as a male with, or course, a mother, as well as a daughter, I totally concur.
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gayleg
15:32 on 14/07/2012
"What a great message we've sent to young girls."

And the young boys who will beat them.
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17:39 on 20/08/2012
totally agree
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spinmas
04:04 on 14/07/2012
Chris has issues~I would say it's about race, that folk find it hard to forgive. He i9s like Mike Vick who has killed dogs. Yet the white man has killed Indians and Africans and has managed to expect forgiveness and hold themselves out to be virtuous~the poster group for people who live in the shining city on a hill~as they still keep boots on the necks of Indians and those from Africa and are of African decent~
15:08 on 14/07/2012
I'm white, i didn't kill any Indians or African's in fact i go with the philosophy that you shouldn't harm any living thing no matter how small, don't tar everyone with the same brush, lets just look at history and try not to repeat it and we can make the world a better place by all getting along.
17:33 on 13/07/2012
Here is a description of what exactly happened in the car that night:

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1606481/chris-brown-police-report-provides-details-altercation.jhtml
16:53 on 12/07/2012
Everyone deserves forgiveness or the whole world would be in total darkness.
13:50 on 12/07/2012
Chris Brown does not owe Fran Singh an apology or require her forgiveness. Rihana is the person who was beaten. Fran Singh is beating her again by dragging an awful incident through the press in order to make her column. Rihana is being victimized again, this time by Fran Singh. What has happened here is that Ms. Singh, who I reckon has never met either of the persons involved, has taken bits from other news articles and made this angry tirade and extrapolated a very authoritative analysis of what's going on with these two people. Fran, it's none of your business. Stop being a vulture. Write about something that doesn't leech off of other people's tragedies. Or make an album that a lot of people like.
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Fran Singh
15:44 on 12/07/2012
This article isn't for Rihanna and I doubt very much she will read it. I don't think I am "victimizing" her - I think you misunderstand the use of the word. Nor am I beating her by writing a blog. That was Chris Brown. I am writing about our attitudes toward violence against women which is important and not leeching off other people's tragedies. It is not my place to tell Rihanna if she should personally forgive him. Nor have I done where I quite easily could have mentioned it.
19:54 on 12/07/2012
Verbal abuse against children is horrible as well, but you, the media, didn't seem too bent out of shape or campaigned THIS hard after a voice mail message he left calling his daughter a pig was leaked. As a matter of fact, you guys have gone above and beyond with praise for his work on 30 Rock - it's as if he was....hmmm...what's the word? FORGIVEN.
15:13 on 14/07/2012
I can't stand Chris Brown, the lyrics to the song you quote above are disgusting and clearly about Rihanna, it's a shame she seems to want to go back to him, i also agree with you regarding violence to women, indeed violence to men also is unforgiveable and women can sometimes beat up on their man, whoever it happens to is unacceptable, i cannot understand why some women are drawn to what the media refer to as "bad boys."
22:20 on 11/07/2012
I think it's not enough to say you're sorry. I think actions speak louder than words, and that's what people are looking for. He could get involved with a charity or organization that is dedicated to domestic abuse. I think that would show dedication to reform, a way to use his celebrity for good, and if he is really committed to his rehabilitation it could be empowering for other men or women that are currently or previously were abusing their significant others...to show that it is possible to stop the violence. But you have to want it for yourself. It has to be more important to you than anyone else.
23:49 on 11/07/2012
Chris Brown could find 12 geese that lay golden eggs and promise to give the money to charity and some people would say "how could he treat those poor geese that way".. You can't please everyone, and he really doesn't have to try. Apparently the person who this affects the most has forgiven him. That's enough.