Stop Romanticising Violence

I'm sure by now everyone has heard about or seen the infamous Oscars 2022 moment where actor Will Smith slapped presenter Chris Rock. The latter had made a joke about Smith's wife Jada Pinkett Smith's shaved head, and her husband reacted with violence. He walked up on stage where Chris Rock was standing, slapped him across the face, returned to his seat and shouted "Keep my wife's name out your fucking mouth!" twice.

Jada Pinkett Smith has alopecia, and has shaved her head due to the condition. Whilst making a joke about someone's appearance is neither kind or to be recommended, turning to violence to solve the situation is not the solution. Will Smith's a grown man, and he should be able to control himself and respond in a proper manner. Shouting to Chris Rock would have been sufficient to send the message that he didn't approve of his joke.

Will Smith is a huge celebrity with a large following, and has in the past been named by Time Magazine among the 100 most influential people in the world. This comes with a responsibility of being a good role model and showing people acceptable behaviour. Everyone can make mistakes, but being forgiven for slapping someone in the face is a stretch to say the least. There were even a lot of people wondering whether the slap was staged or not, which says something about how ridiculous it was.

What's perhaps as shocking as the slap itself, are people's reactions on social media. Numerous people have called Smith's actions beautiful and hot, and many have said that that's what should be expected that a man does for his woman. This is definitely a cause for concern, especially if younger people see these comments and think this is normal. It's not.

Violence isn't cool. Punching someone for insulting your wife isn't cool. Resorting to violence doesn't make you tough or strong, it shows immaturity and carelessness. Punching someone isn't something to be proud of. A total disregard of consequences, even for just a moment, is a dangerous character trait.

Smith apologised for his actions in his acceptance speech, and publicly apologised to Rock the following day. He has taken accountability for what happened, and said that "There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.". An apology doesn't fix everything. Doing something stupid from a place of irrationality and later apologising for it doesn't make your actions okay.

The world is seeing pointless violence and civilians being killed every single day, and at a time where media coverage of the ongoing war in Ukraine is everywhere, resorting to violence to solve a situation looks incredibly bad. It's a disgusting thing to do. Pacifist ways of life should be practiced more. If everyone decided to not be the one who initiates violence in a situation, we'd see a huge decrease in violent conflicts. Violence should be used as a means of self-defense only.

If you hear someone you know talking positively about what they saw happen at the Oscars, please take this moment to talk to them about violence. If you have children, this is an excellent opportunity to teach them that this is a bad example of conflict resolution, and that violence should never be used other than defending yourself if you're in peril.

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