May I offer an alternative take on this sorry event?
Comedians have taken offense at Will Smith's slap of Chris Rock, overlooking the fact that their stock in trade is figurative slaps at others so as to raise consciousness in their audiences - "Listen up!" What Chris Rock did was to draw specific attention to Jada Pinkett Smith's alopecia. Alopecia is a medical affliction; commentary on it is decidedly NOT funny, as Rock claimed, and it is nobody's business but hers.
It was Rock who crossed a line by gratuitously mocking a woman who bravely appeared as she is in public (yes, still lovely). I'm surprised that Will didn't deck him. An open-handed slap is not "violence." It was a totally understandable expression of extreme personal offense to a cheap pun targeted at his vulnerable wife. Bravo, Will!
All the rest - race, sexism, "privilege" - is irrelevant. It was Rock, who by verbally assaulting Jada, had failed to see the line drawn by common respect.
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Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
