Rob's Soapbox - The Problem With Perspective

<p>It is my sincere hope that this will be the last, and hopefully most unique and least polarizing perspective on the “Slap Heard Around the World,” and the truth is, it isn’t about Will Smith or Chris Rock at all.</p><p>It’s much more about us; and not in that pandering, drivel-soaked way most are using this moment as a way to point out that we, the people, are to blame for everything because we’re an angry society, we worship celebrities, we’re all snowflakes, we’ve demonized masculinity, blah blah blah.</p><p>Thinking about this more in-depth, and, as I often do, trying to find the angle no one is taking, I stumbled upon something that can’t be ignored.&nbsp;</p><p>While nothing other than childish rage defends Will Smith’s behavior, we are told that Chris Rock’s joke was offensive for three potential reasons as follows:&nbsp;</p><ul><li>Jada Pinkett Smith has alopecia, an autoimmune disease that causes a person’s hair to fall out.</li></ul><p><br></p><ul><li>Whether Rock knew about the alopecia or not, it is well-known in the black community that you don’t make fun of an African American woman’s hair; there’s 400 years of history to explain why, and Chris has daughters himself. He should have known better.</li></ul><p>&nbsp;</p><ul><li>We should be past commenting on and making fun of, peoples’ appearances.</li></ul><p>&nbsp;</p><p>As a lifelong fan of standup comedy, I have seen how it has devolved lo the past many decades. And devolving is what it is doing; people want to tell you that we’re more enlightened when we stop making fun of certain things and people, but the opposite is true. We will reach true enlightenment when each of us as individuals is comfortable and confident enough with ourselves that the words, thoughts, and judgments of others are truly meaningless to us, regardless of whether or not other people agree with them or laugh at them.</p><p>For now, let’s just focus on the first of the three arguments, which is Jada having alopecia, as a new refrain was born this weekend vis a vie