The Slap: Overreactions

I admitted last week that I don't know the best way to respond to someone consistently and publicly disrespecting your wife. I suppose the preferred way is to simply be so powerful that no one dares to, but that isn't always practical. Without knowing a perfect response, I agree that there are problems with even a mild physical assault.

Obviously the Academy had to respond in some way; it was their event. A ten year ban from attending any Academy events seems severe, but that was their decision. 

Other people wanted something much more severe, calling for Smith's complete expulsion or to have his Oscar taken away.

An Oscar won being revoked would be very unlikely. That has only happened once, because it turned out that the movie was from the wrong year. Even with the revoked nominations they were generally for very technical reasons: something believed to be original having been based on an existing work or coming from the wrong country.

https://www.oversixty.co.nz/entertainment/movies/oscar-nominations-that-were-revoked

For getting expelled from the Academy, there are currently only five: four sex offenders and one person who bootlegged Oscar screeners.

https://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/every-celebrity-who-has-been-expelled-from-the-academy/ 

Interestingly, Roman Polanski has been known as a sex offender for a long time, and still got a nomination and a win and Harrison Ford delivering his Oscar because Polanski is still hiding out overseas to avoid jail. He was only expelled when the new Code of Conduct came out. It took a long time (and two really high profile cases) for the Academy to decide that being a sex offender was a problem. Normally we expect that a woman shocked to be kissed without consent will play it off as a joke (and will be asked if it was "good"), or that there might be a whole musical number about having seen the breasts of various actresses, including one where it happened in a rape scene and that has all been fine.

That's not really what this post is about though. I am more interested in how comfortable people were with quickly condemning, inflating, and calling for vengeance, and some of the ways in which they did that. It is not a coincidence that the examples I am going to use are all white.

This is not about you: Amy Schumer "traumatized" and complained about not being able to make an Alec Baldwin joke.

https://www.nme.com/news/film/amy-schumer-alec-baldwin-joke-wasnt-allowed-to-say-oscars-3198409

It would be a really weird juxtaposition, except then I remember her "parody" (is that the right word?) of Lemonade and "Formation", and I guess that's kind of just her. Regardless, they did not just "let" Smith slap Rock. If Smith had asked permission, they would have said "no" and in the absence of that he was expelled.

That doesn't even make sense: A doctor (so obviously an authority) pointed out that such a slap could have killed Betty White.

https://news.knowyourmeme.com/news/doctor-mocked-for-attempting-to-emphasize-the-seriousness-of-the-slap-by-inviting-readers-to-imagine-it-happened-to-betty-white

If you want to condemn the slap, that is fine and you have lots of company. You don't need to add a ridiculous hypothetical. I neither believe that Betty White would make a joke that would upset Smith that much, or that he would respond that way if she did. A reminder that it is easy to cause serious injury in that circumstance could be fine, and not unreasonable. All you did was inspire a bunch of parodies of your own tweet. Could it be that you were afraid people were not getting how dangerous this Black man was? That would remind me of this next one...

Your house is glass: Judd Apatow tweeted out about how Smith could have killed Rock and his out of control rage. 

https://www.newsweek.com/judd-apatow-blasted-after-saying-will-smith-lost-his-mind-oscars-1692408

Those tweets were quickly deleted after backlash. Apatow himself says that he wasn't watching, and he heard "punch", not "slap" -- which, hey, I noticed that miswording myself, but I suspect the thing that really got him to delete the tweets were questions about him not stepping in when James Franco assaulted Busy Philipps on the set of Freaks and Geeks.

https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/busy-philipps-james-franco-assault-freaks-and-geeks-1202973054/ 

Hypocrisy can be embarrassing, true, but it could have been avoided if he hadn't been so quick to condemn something that he hadn't even seen with his own eyes. Why would you feel compelled to vividly describe and analyze something you had not even seen? To hear about it and think, "That's not right," is one thing, but there is no need to interject, except maybe there is a sense that it is allowed, and that sense relates to institutional racism.

Speaking of hypocrisy: Jim Carrey also felt free to criticize Smith, though he also got called out on some of his own inappropriate behavior, forcing a kiss on a young Alicia Silverstone when she presented an award to him. (But that wasn't the earlier reference; that was Adrien Brody and Halle Berry.)

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/jim-carrey-alicia-silverstone-will-smith-chris-rock-b2048927.html

Skills that were needed and not present here include de-centering, grounding, and self-reflection.

I do believe there is an eagerness to be able to cast judgment and sound wise. It is really easy to botch that; maybe we generally aren't that wise. 

If we want wisdom, it's going to have to include engaging with the past. That includes individual failures and collective ones. There are going to be threads of race and sex and exploitation, and we have to face them.

That is the only way anything is going to get better.

The Slap: Context matters

I will start with what seems like a diversion and write about inter-species revenge.

You have probably recently heard of an elephant fatally injuring a woman and returning to the funeral to trample the corpse some more. 

http://www.ptinews.com/news/13439379_Odisha--Elephant-tramples-woman--then-her-corpse.html

Other stories have added details about the elephant trampling the family home, including killing goats, and the possible motive being that the dead woman would assist poachers by throwing rocks. Those details are not substantiated, though for people who were sure the woman did something awful, the possible assistant poaching provides the desired "A-ha!"

Elephants trampling humans is common enough in India (100 - 300 annually) that the trampling itself would not have made news. Returning to the funeral is what caused the first story to catch on, fascinating with the extremely personal nature. 

Later details may just be enthusiastic fabrications, but this series of posts is considering how we react to things, including whether we try and understand, or whether we find the indignant judgment too delicious. 

I have been more interested in the attempts to understand. I have definitely seen references to habitat loss bringing humans and nature closer together, leading to more conflicts. This thread was more specific and interesting:

https://twitter.com/bloomfilters/status/1537844061222187008

I thought it was an important thread because it was getting too easy to laugh at the death of a human being and possible displacement of an already grieving family. If the human did participate in the loss of the elephant's children, but she did it to feed her own children, then how do we feel? Economic circumstances and exploitation (and over policing of minorities) can really perpetuate desperation.

Then there was this other tweet, referring to increased aggression in elephants that saw a lot of family loss while young in the 80s and 90s:

https://twitter.com/GiddensVision/status/1537885730860478465

This appears to be a posting of a private message, so is also unsubstantiated. It may be referring to this study, which does track with increased violence toward other species (including humans but also rhinos):

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3874604/

That study was done with African elephants, so it's a different population. However, that the repeated trauma of losing loved ones, combined with having fewer family members around in adolescence, can result in greater aggression (with more complicated reasons relating to decision making and knowledge), carries a certain logic. Were there similar poaching issues in India in that same time period? India has also had a long tradition of using elephant labor. If the family members are being taken away rather than being killed for ivory, there is still trauma there. 

It could be very tempting to spend some time extrapolating here about similar trends we might see among humans. My point is that even the most shocking stories don't happen in a vacuum. There are layers and background. If you just like being entertained -- "Wow! Fascinating!" -- that may not matter, though the layers could add interest. If you want things to be better, though... if you care about animals including humans... that may require paying more attention.

In that light, let's re-examine "the slap".

One interesting factor is that Chris Rock has a decades long history of making fun of Jada Pinkett Smith.  

https://www.thethings.com/chris-rock-has-a-history-of-making-fun-of-jada-pinkett-smith/

I have since seen some speculation that Rock has an unrequited thing for her, but that is not a necessary explanation; it would not be at all surprising for a comedian who habitually punches down to get lazy about the targets and feel really comfortable exploiting misogynoir.

The other thing I only learned from Twitter is that Rock has a reputation making it acceptable for white people to laugh at Black People. I don't have an article exactly on that, but one of the complaints was Rock giving Louis C.K. permission to use the N-word, and this is a pretty good article on that:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/chris-rocks-n-word-controversy-with-louis-ck-and-the-myth-of-the-down-ass-white-guy?ref=scroll

What I did know on my own was that I have Chris Rock's 2009 documentary Good Hair. Even as some of the issues with the racism Black women face regarding their hair are treated, there is more time spent on the inconvenience to men. His conclusion that he will hope that his daughter is more concerned about what is in her head than on it is not really earned, especially if his daughter ever tries to get an office job. I would not expect him to have much empathy for how a woman might feel about losing her hair.

There were also comments about the microaggressions of that night, including Jane Campion's needing to reference the Williams sisters (which was Will Smith's movie) and put down their victories to prop up hers. Rock's comment may have been one straw too many.

Let us let us also remember the different between a slap and a punch. A slap is how you start a duel, and show disrespect; it is not likely to result in a serious injury, nor is it generally intended to. The Biblical injunction to turn the other cheek does not rule out self-defense, but is saying that maybe you don't have to worry about being disrespected, which is especially helpful when you legally can't.

Obviously, none of this condones the slap. If we are going to try and understand, though, then it is worth thinking about what is considered an appropriate masculine reaction to your wife being insulted. A lot of the "rules" of social behavior depend on everyone obeying them equally. That gives the advantage to the one who does not mind being a jerk. There are a lot of problems with that.

There is one last thing it might make sense to remember, though this will be more to the point for the next post: there is a historical tendency to over-police Black men. It goes along with the historic differentials in power and authority that might make ridiculing Black people in the service of white people tempting.

None of this happens in a vacuum.

The Slap: What was said

I am now starting my three-post series (that's how I think it will go) inspired by "the slap" and our trip to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.

It has been hard to get started. There are so many connected thoughts and I like my writing to be organized and flow in a logical manner. The two things that nagged at me the most were related, so they are the starting point.

In the post-slap discussions of violence at the Oscars, various people on Twitter kept mentioning that it had taken six men to keep John Wayne from assaulting Sacheen Littlefeather.

Thoughts inspired there were brought home more at the Academy Museum. In a hall with rotating winner announcements and speeches (and some Oscar gowns), I was able to view the speech. 

Evening gown with black bodice and gold and black skirt on platform. Walls behind show videos of past Oscar acceptance speeches.

On Twitter there had been mentions of Littlefeather not being allowed to go over one minute. As I heard her, I realized that she was not able to read all of what Marlon Brando wrote. She did say she would make it available to the press, and it can still be found:

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/packages/html/movies/bestpictures/godfather-ar3.html?mcubz=0 

It struck me more because for years I always remembered being told that Brando sent up a "fake" Indian.

This was the 1973 Oscars. I was one year old and should not have any memories of it. That I do indicates people talking about it years later. I don't really remember, but I suspect it came from my father at one point expressing disgust with Marlon Brando. Dad was a fan of John Wayne and Clint Eastwood.

https://www.sportskeeda.com/pop-culture/news-john-wayne-1973-oscars-attack-clint-eastwood-mocking-sacheen-littlefeather-explained-will-smith-x-chris-rock-slap-sparks-debate 

Then I remember years later reading an article about Littlefeather, who really is Indian. It might have been from around 2018 when she was diagnosed with cancer, but it could also have been back in 2015 when I was reading Ojibwa Warrior by Dennis Banks. Banks mentioned receiving aid from Brando, and felt his commitment to their cause was sincere.

There are plenty of worse things that can be said about Marlon Brando; I may get to them myself in a different post. For now, I am going to assume that at least for this his intentions were good, and his desire to raise awareness sincere. 

(Whether it was an effective form of protest is a completely different question.)

Brando's speech indicates that he intended to go to Wounded Knee himself, and that was one reason for not attending the awards. Another article indicates that preparing for the awards show ended up being hurried, so he seems to have still been in California that day. Plans don't always work out.

https://www.snopes.com/news/2022/03/31/john-wayne-sacheen-littlefeather/

Regardless, I remember this pause at realizing something false repeated as fact. Littlefeather is Apache and Yaqui through her father. Why was she called fake? Were they confusing her with Iron Eyes Cody?

It might have started with John Wayne's quote about Brando "taking some little unknown girl and dressing her up in an Indian outfit." I suspect that is a way to minimize the validity of the protest, and what is being protested. 

Reading about Cuba at the time of their revolution, how well off people were socially and financially seemed to directly correlate to how sure they were that the Taino were completely extinct. I would not expect more successful genocide to alleviate guilt, but what do I know?

Maybe loyalty to a system that benefits you is harder when someone the system harms is in front of you. As it is, I was writing about harmful portrayals of Native Americans in film just five years ago, so questioning the progress made over the past five decades is reasonable.

https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2017/06/humor-me.html

Also, there is another whole discussion to be had on blood quantum ways of determining who counts as Native American, and to whom, even today. That is not the point of this post. 

Remember, I said two things nagged at me. The other was that in the immediate aftermath I saw lots of people talking about Will Smith punching Chris Rock, but it not a punch.

That people now refer to it as "The Slap" is actually progress, but that difference matters, and we will get more into how that matters in subsequent posts. 

For this post, it reminded me of one other thing.

Once, where there was a lot of protesting going on (but it was not George Floyd, it was before that), I was getting onto a bus and the driver advised me not to stay out too late, because there was a riot scheduled. No, what was scheduled was a protest.

We were not even at the point where Portland Police would automatically declare a riot so they could break out the tear gas then. It was just that the right had gotten to the point where talking heads were changing the use of those words: protests were riots, and protesters were rioters, and those heavily negative connotations were being accepted automatically by those who leaned conservative.

If you need examples of deceit, escalating language being used as a weapon, and of people refusing to face truth (and not even having to fight that hard to avoid it)... well, you don't need the Oscars or my memories. You might view chilling January 6th footage on one channel, and then find another channel only mentioning the hearings to call it boring and manipulative.

I maintain that truth matters. 

With words being such a crucial component of communication, words matter too.

Messy and mattering: May's daily songs

I understand that I stress about things that may not really matter; that does not stop me from doing it.

May is Asian-American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. I have tried to do some reading and movie watching with that, but also very much wanted the daily songs to focus on appropriate artists.

There are two areas where I always struggle with this. Firstly, well, with Pacific Islanders in many ways their experience feels more like that of indigenous people. Still, that's how the month was arranged.

In addition, I generally end up mixing in Asian people with the Asian-Americans. For the reading and movies it often gives some cultural context that adds to understanding for the immigrant experience, but for contemporary music, does that make sense?

What made it additionally frustrating this year was that I have not been reviewing any bands, but I did not want to only play songs from familiar artists.

Therefore, I made it a point to listen to the top ten songs for each of the Asian, Asian-American (mostly US, but some Canada), and Pacific Islanders that I have listed to review. I also checked out previously reviewed bands to jog my memory and see if they had new material since the last time I listened, but I did listen to at least 27 new artists.

Normally when I do a review, I try and listen to the artist's complete catalog three times, and learn more about them. This is much more shallow, and there is less opportunity to notice things.

This became more of a concern after having read some comments about Turning Red (which I also watched and enjoyed).

One artist that was not featured in the May daily songs is Awkwafina. This is because of criticism of her appropriation of Black culture, especially in a way that exploits misogynoir. I say this having enjoyed her in movies and not thinking that she means any harm, but still being sure she could do better.

Some discussions of Turning Red criticized a similar appropriation of Black culture. I also saw responses to it that for many kids growing up, the only people of color they saw on television were Black, and they did tend to identify with and imitate those characters. It was interesting to think about. I can sympathize and understand that harm can happen without intent, and also know that I totally miss things.

When I highlight different music -- regardless of theme -- I am trying to do a good thing. I began to worry that some of these artists may be appropriating, or they may be being misogynistic, or anti-Black, or fascist in a way I don't even know about, because this is more hurried than it would be ideally. 

I mean, generally the first I saw of the videos was the day I played it, and I often did not see the whole thing. In fact, Psy was getting a song, but I saw it had a line about the pandemic being over and I actually deleted it right after posting. That is why there are two songs from The Slants (but also that they are great). I don't know that I had a great reason for doing two Mitski songs; it just worked out that way.

(I know it is not unreasonable that a pop star that focuses on style would align the capitalist trend of prematurely declaring the pandemic over, but bad Psy!)

So, I have had concerns, and they are probably over inflated, especially given that there is a good chance that no one ever really clicks on the songs I post.

However, I do have more familiarity with a number of different bands, and I have really liked some of them. If I ever do get back to having the time and ability to do reviews, I will be glad to get to some of them. 

A lot of those bands were from articles and recommendations, but then Spotify and Youtube began making recommendations. That is how I found Jennifer Chung, and I really liked her. That is a reason to do things like this.

Also, I totally nailed a BTS song on Beat Shazam the other night; that totally would not have happened otherwise.

To delve more thoroughly into the complicated relationships between Asian Americans and African Americans, I am pulling up some additional reading. Will I understand it all after that? Of course not, but I am committed to trying, and to caring.

I will continue to complicate my life in June by focusing on artists that are both Black and Queer, for a combined Black Music/Pride month.

(I recently saw that May is also Jewish Heritage Month. I don't know if I will ever successfully combine those two themes, but it is something to think about.)

Daily Songs:

5/1 “Endlessly Falling” by The Slants
5/2 “Growing Up” by The Linda Lindas
5/3 “Short Hair” by Cho Yong-Pil
5/4 “Dance With Me” by Beabadoobee
5/5 “Be Sweet” by Japanese Breakfast
5/6 “Dynamite” by BTS
5/7 “Le Manu” by Shepherds Reign
5/8 “A Little Peace” by MILCK with Creators for Change
5/9 “Helpless” by Clones of the Queen
5/10 “Why Not” by Jake Shimabukuro (feat. Kenny Loggins)
5/11 “Monsters Calling Home” by Run River North
5/12 “This World Breaks Your Heart and Makes You Grey” by Ogikubo Station
5/13 “Rocketeer” by Far East Movement (feat. Ryan Tedder)
5/14 “Sagaba” by Blue Scholars
5/15 “Rydeen” by Yellow Magic Orchestra
5/16 “Narcissist” by No Rome (feat. The 1975)
5/17 “Black Hole” by Griff
5/18 “California” by Rich Brian, NIKI, and Warren Hue
5/19 “Me After You” by Paul Kim
5/20 “Guap” by Yaeji
5/21 “Try” by Melissa Polinar
5/22 “First Love/Late Spring” by Mitski
5/23 “Honeybody” by Kishi Bashi
5/24 “June Gloom” by Low Leaf
5/25 “Alone Again” by The King Khan & BBQ Show
5/26 “Thursday” by Asobi Seksu
5/27 “Marionette” by BOØWY
5/28 “Come Back Home” by Katherine Ho
5/29 “Take It One Day At A Time” by Jennifer Chung
5/30 “18 21” by The Slants
5/31 “Washing Machine Heart” by Mitski