You’ve gotta love Daniel Finkelstein. For those not familiar with the Fink, he is the Times’ chief political commentator (and author of football blog Fink Tank) whose weekly columns never fail to deliver a nugget of substance to an otherwise meaningless existence. This week was no exception.
This week, Fink took on Richard Dawkins. The militant atheist (Dawkins, not Fink) conducted a study in which 54% of people ticked the box next to ‘Christian’ but only a tiny number of these people knew the first thing about or believed in actual Christian teachings. Dawkins concluded from this that even people who identify themselves as Christians do not believe in its teachings or read the Bible. Fink suggested that the same data might also be interpreted as even people who do not believe in its teachings or read the Bible still identify themselves as Christians.
Such pithy logic might well be applied to Chris Brown’s latest retort to all the haters who have been hating on his being accepted back in to the music industry three years after being charged for the assault of his then and possibly soon-to- be-again girlfriend, Rihanna. He tweeted: ‘HATE ALL U WANT BECUZ I GOT A GRAMMY (sic)’. Applying Finkian logic to this statement, Chris Breezy (as he is known in the biz- or at least on Choice FM) might as well have said ‘Despite committing a crime for which I have served minimal time, I have still been granted an accolade of international recognition’.
Female fans of Brown even came to the star’s defence on twitter, saying things like ‘Chris Brown can punch my face any time as long as he kisses it better after’. It all leaves rather a bitter taste in the mouth. Needless to say this is not an isolated occurrence. Only this week another R&B singer, surname also Brown, also guilty of abusing his R&B singer ex-wife, was refused entry to that ex-wife’s funeral. That Bobby Brown served no time in jail for his violence towards Whitney Houston is a scandal.
Almost as big a scandal as that which the people at PETA sought to create with their latest TV advert promoting veganism. It manages to link the embracing of lettuce with women getting injured through sex (the idea being that even a non meat-eating male is strong enough to cause damage). It’s all very risqué and it would be best not to devote too much airtime to it given that that would just be giving PETA what they want; but if you are interested in seeing it, go to http://www.bwvaktboom.com/ . It is just worth saying on the matter that the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals may do well to use the idea of the Ethical Treatment of Humans as a starting point.
This is all rather depressing, for which I apologise. And of course the truth is that you find high profile figures committing not only sexist but also racist and homophobic acts and walking away with a slap on the wrist. But it is worth bringing to our attention the crimes which go largely unpunished and the special dispensations that the A-List are granted.
In the meantime, to cheer you up, why not head down to La Raza on Tuesday for an acoustic and cocktail night. All proceeds go to Cambridge Rape Crisis Centre. http://www.facebook.com/events/171195026326692/
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