Happy New Year everyone. I hope everyone is bringing in 2010 on a good note. Topics for this show:
Jay-Z & Rihanna as part of the Illuminati? Don’t be stupid
Gilbert Arenas does something stupid…again
Taco Bell’s ‘Drive Thru Diet’
Brit Hume and Pat Buchanan inject religion into the Tiger Woods debate
Tiger Woods shows his hairy nipples on the cover of Vanity Fair
Rick Warren raises $2.4 million for his church
New Airport security restrictions and how they won’t work
Kriss’s “Bacon, Beer & Porno” airport security screening process
and more

We’re looking for writers for TheInsanityReport.com and guests for the Insanity Check Podcast. If you are interested, email us at InsanityCheck@theInsanityReport.com. Also hit us up if you’re good with graphic designs or music production (we’re looking for a new opening for the podcast). Join the Facebook Group for weekly updates on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

First things first.  I don’t know if the rumors are true.  I don’t know if Tiger Wood’s statement that he just had a simple accident and there was no fight with his wife is true.  I don’t know if TMZ’s account, that there was a fight over Wood’s infidelity is correct.  Honestly, I couldn’t care less which is true.  It’s really none of my business and has absolutely no effect on my life. People are saying “This proves Tiger Wood’s is human”.  Actually, it really doesn’t.  I still think Tiger Woods is some kind of golf playing cyborg sent from the future.  When it comes to his personal life, of course he displays human tendencies and weaknesses.  Who doesn’t?  Even the T-800 displayed fatal human flaws.  People need to learn to stop elevating celebrities to superhuman status.  They breathe, eat, shit and fuck just like everyone else.  If you somehow want to use this incident as some kind of way of taking a jab at Woods for being black and marrying a white woman…kill yourself.  Let’s keep it real.  If Tiger Woods was Tyrone Woodson and he wasn’t a golfing phenom but instead a mild mannered accountant…would most black woman raise holy hell if he married a white woman?  Of course not.  Black woman only care that Woods married a white woman, not because his wife is white, but because she gets to cash Woods’ checks and not them.  Of course most of those same women wouldn’t think twice about marrying a rich white guy who pampered them.  But I’ll save that case of woman hypocrisy for a later discussion.

Anyway, the real reason I’m bringing up this Tiger Woods story is that I want to talk about the hypocritical way some people, particularly women, are treating the alleged case of domestic violence compared to the Chris Brown/Rihanna case.  Let’s assume for a moment that his wife Elin did swing at him with a golf club. I’m sorry, but I don’t care if Woods admitted to having a threesome with Elin’s mother AND sister as her best friend videotaped it, that does not excuse her from swinging a golf club at the man.  Think about it for a minute.  What Chris Brown did to Rihanna was horrible and inexcusable…but even he only used his fists (and teeth…).  This woman allegedly swung a metal rod with a weighted end at another human being.  That’s assault with a deadly weapon.  Women are trying to excuse it because apparently Woods was cheating.  Ummmm…so what?  You still can’t swing a golf club at the head of your husband simply because you think he was unfaithful.  Sorry, but that’s unacceptable.  I can understand screaming at him.  I can even understand an impulsive slap in the face.  But swinging a golf club?  Come on.

Even crazier are the women who think that it’s okay for a scorned woman to swing a golf club at a cheating husband but that it’s not okay if a husband retaliates and defends himself by knocking the woman out.  Whoa, how does that logic work?  A woman slaps me, okay, as a man who is physically stronger than her, I should know that it’s best for me to walk away.  But if I’m trying to walk away and she swings a baseball bat, golf club or even a knife at me, you better believe I’m going to defend myself.  Head trauma can be deadly.  Even something like a frying pan to the head can cause serious damage.  This isn’t something to laugh or joke about.  Once a woman picks up a weapon and swings at a man, not to protect herself from him but because she got upset with him over some bullshit, the playing field is even.  Come at me with bad intentions like that and no amount of Maxwell is gonna save your ass.  Women can’t scream bloody murder about Chris Brown but then cheer on a woman committing assault with a deadly weapon.  Not only is it hypocritical but its giving bad advice to millions of women out there.  Seriously ladies, come at a man like you’re a man and don’t be surprised when he has you doing the stanky legg like Machida did to Rashad Evans.

Come at a man like a man and this could be you ladies...

Listen, I won’t say that hitting another human being is inexcusable.  In a perfect world that would be true.  In a perfect world, women wouldn’t hit men and men wouldn’t hit women.  But we don’t live in a Utopian world and I won’t pretend like we do.  Sometimes a person is being such an unbelievable douchebag that they deserve a punch in the nose.  Take that gay dirty douche Perez Hilton and the incident he had with Will.I.Am.  Was a gangland style beating necessary?  No.  A punch in the eye socket?  Yes.  If someone was to call my mother out of her name, yes, I’d punch them in the throat.  If a lady is being harassed by some asshole in the club, calling her a bitch and making unwanted sexual advances, she has every right to knee him in the nuts.  Yeah, in all those cases, cooler heads should prevail and the “correct” response is probably to walk away.  But again, we are all human.  Impulsive reactions happen.  But I draw the line at obvious extremes.  Beating a woman’s face in because she had the “audacity” to not have your dinner ready?  Unacceptable.  Swinging a weapon at your husband because you think he’s cheating?  Unacceptable.  Getting angry at your significant other and beating them relentlessly until their face is disfigured?  Unacceptable.  I understand there’s gray area.  That’s why I’m not willing to label a man who pops a woman in her mouth after she tries to verbally emasculate him in public as a woman beater.  Its why I understand why a woman who just caught her husband cheating on her might end up slapping him across his face.  But as with everything, there’s a time when an understandable reaction goes entirely too far and becomes extreme.  A golf club to the head falls into that extreme category.  If women want to really take a stand against domestic violence then they should be willing to do so regardless if the agressor is a woman or a man.

First things first, we’re back on iTunes. To subscribe all you have to do is search for “Insanity Check” in the iTunes store or click this link to subscribe.
Topics for this show:
Sammy Sosa has mysteriously gone from being Dark-Skinned to looking damn near white in 6 months
Rihanna goes on her publicity/speaking out on domestic violence tour
Chris Brown should realize he doesn’t have a say in what Rihanna talks about
The Fort Hood shooting and the idiotic reaction by the media and right wing
The House passes a Health Care Reform Bill but Joe Liebermann is still a douchebag

We’re looking for writers for TheInsanityReport.com and guests for the Insanity Check Podcast. If you are interested, email us at InsanityCheck@theInsanityReport.com. Also hit us up if you’re good with graphic designs or music production (we’re looking for a new opening for the podcast). Join the Facebook Group for weekly updates on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

So I, like many others, watched Larry King’s interview with Chris Brown.  I think I speak for most people who watched it when I say it was a colossal waste of time.  First off, its probably better to describe this as Larry King’s interview with Chris Brown’s mother and lawyer Mark Geragos with Chris Brown making a featured appearance.  Joyce Hawkins and Mark Geragos did most of the substantive talking during the interview as Brown himself could only give us such riveting talk as “Umm” “I don’t know” “It’s a personal matter” and “I don’t want to talk about that.”  Honestly, for the life of me I can’t figure out why if Brown didn’t want to talk about what happened, why the hell he went on an interview with Larry King.  Stay your ass home, put another Youtube “apology out” and go back to working on your album.  Let Larry get back to asking rape victims if they were fearing for their lives during their attack.

Some things that stood out to me during the interview:

1. Chris Brown’s baby blue sweater with his bowtie.  I’m convinced no imagination having idiots will be wearing that dumb looking shit to the club by Labor Day.  Chris Brown’s PR team should be shot  for telling him that shit looked good.  And wtf?  His mother is right there beside him, she should know better.  At least tell him to take off the bowtie, it makes him look like a douchebag.

2. Did I miss the memo that said wearing 2 earrings as a guy is gay?

3. Brown says he “Can’t remember” hitting Rihanna.  Ahh…the classic “I blacked out” excuse of women beaters.  I’m going to try that next time I get pulled over by the cops.  “Sir do you know why I pulled you over?” “No Officer, I kinda blacked out.”

4. It’s amazing to me that Chris Brown and Mark Geragos tried to shift blame at multiple points to the media.  Actually, what they tried to do was use what I’ve deemed “The Palin Strategy”.  The Palin Strategy is when you call blogs and gossip sites “the media” and then get mad because apparently some asshole in his basement wrote some mean words about you.  You beat a woman’s face in, of course people wrote mean things about you.

5. Hey Chris Brown, you beat a woman…you can’t laugh or crack a smile at any point.  I’m sorry, those are the rules.

6. Did that nigga’s watch start beeping during the interview?

7. If its true that Rihanna is still “friends” with Chris Brown, then she’s an idiot.  Plain and simple.

8. I’ve seen some people say “You know how those Caribbean women are.  Rihanna probably has a temper and that’s probably what set off the incident.”  I know some people are joking when they say it, but to anyone that is serious…that’s one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard.  Do you realize that’s how white men used to (and some still do) view black men?  “Of course that black man raped that white woman.  They’re savages and have tempers”

9. The “I’m young” and “No one taught me out to control my anger” has to be the dumbest excuse I’ve ever heard.  So let me get this straight, when you were popping bottles (Did anyone else see how he dodged that question by Larry about whether alcohol was involved), can hang around all these adults, can spend money wildly, drive a lambo and do all these other “adult” things, but somehow when it comes to putting your fists to someone’s face, you need to be taught that is wrong?  Pathetic.

10. After seeing the pictures of Rihanna’s face again, I’m now convinced that Chris Brown’s fists are made out of Adamantium.  Its the only way to explain how he was able to damage to a forehead that size.

11. His mother and lawyer said the Chris was eager to admit to his crime.  Really?  Is that what happened?  Cause I seem to remember Brown leaving the scene of the crime and then having to turn himself into the cops  later on.  If he was really eager, he would have stayed and waited for the cops to show up instead of running to his mommy (Who does that shit?).

12. It’s pretty weak and idiotic to continually say “I’m sure Rihanna did something to Chris Brown” or “The abuse went both ways”.  First off, a single slap doesn’t equal abuse first of all.  Abuse is sustained over time.  Secondly, saying “Well I’m sure in the past she abused him” is one of the dumbest things I’ve heard.  There’s no evidence of that.  Zero.  You want there to be abuse because its easier for you to comprehend, but that doesn’t mean there was.  Also, we’re not talking about abuse that happened in the past.  We’re talking about the events that happened that night.  Fact is, Chris Brown pleaded guilty to felony assault.  We have the photos of what Rihanna’s face looked like.  If it “went both ways” that night, Chris Brown wouldn’t have pleaded guilty and he wouldn’t be a felon right now.

13. If you say “Rihanna deserved it” because you phantomly believe she “abused” Chris Brown some other time in their relationship, then I sure hope that when….

Rodney King was beaten by the LAPD that you were vocally saying “He deserved it from being drunk and running from that cops”

Genarlow Wilson was put in jail for 10 years for getting a blow job from a high school classmate because she was 14 and he was 17.

14. And finally, I’m tired of everyone, including Chris Brown and his lawyer and mother, saying that he made a mistake.  A mistake is when I drink decaf.  A mistake is when I put on mismatching socks.  A mistake is me leaving my iPod at home and having to sit 8 hours at work with no music.  Those are mistakes.  Putting your fists to someone’s face is a deliberate action.  You know its wrong at the time and you did it anyway.  The only reason Brown is apologizing now and trying to show  the public that “he’s sorry” is that he doesn’t want his career to be over.  That’s not only selfish but its the wrong reason to apologize.  If he was really sorry, he’d shut the fuck up, postpone his album and do his community service until his time was up.  You can’t apologize for something if you haven’t had time to reflect on what you did.

Now the question is quite facetious obviously but there is a point to this. Chris Brown’s physical abuse of Rihanna seems to be on everyone’s mouth these days especially now after this Larry King interview.

Meanwhile, men abuse women in so many other ways these days (and vice versa) and the common folk let these things slide everyday. Here are some quick examples……

A man gives his woman one helluva Christmas gift: and incurable STD

A man cheats on his woman

A man impregnates a woman and leaves her to carry the burden (dead beat father)

A man emotionally abuses a woman in so many different ways on a daily basis (attacking her self esteem, verbal threats, demeaning her in public etc)

A man cheats on his woman outside of his race lol

A man comes out that he is gay and has been on the down low, the entire time in the relationship

A man raids the joint account of the family and runs off with another woman

Now….don’t get me wrong. Two wrongs NEVER make a right and I will NEVER condone any of these actions listed above and….

Here is the point:

While all of you are looking outside of your lives into Chris Brown’s lives, take a look in the mirror and make sure that you are not aiding (as a woman putting up with any of this nonsense) or actively causing the damages listed above.

If so, please check yourself before you start checking others.

G’ Night!

I really didn’t want to do this.  No really.  I actually like addressing real news, like the battle over Universal Health Care, the upcoming throw down with Judge Sotomayor’s confirmation hearing, the troop withdrawal in Iraq or foreign policy strategies with Iran and North Korea.  But after seeing how many seemingly educated people have been bitching about not seeing Chris Brown perform a Michael Jackson tribute at the Buffoonery Entertainment Television Awards this past Sunday, I have to speak out.  Now, first things first.  I understand that humans have infinitesimally short memories.  I understand that I’m in the minority of people that avoids making emotionally rash decisions 99.9% of the time.  However, I think it’s completely inexcusable that so many people are seemingly brushing off the fact that Chris Brown beat a woman, plead guilty and is now a felon.  I’m going to break down some of the arguments people are using to downplay what this idiot did because I think in reading back their arguments and how stupid I make them seem, it’ll finally sink in:

“He’s been punished by the courts.  That’s good enough for me”
Wrong.  Chris Brown hasn’t yet been punished by the courts.  On Tuesday June 23, Chris Brown pleaded guilty to felony assault charges.  He accepted a plea deal of community labor, 5 years formal probation and the judge threw in Domestic violence counseling (amazingly that wasn’t part of the plea deal) and a stay away order.  He won’t be formally sentenced until August 5^th.  That means at the EARLIEST, he starts serving his debt to society on August 5^th.  The BET Awards was this past Sunday, June 28^th.  Its not even close to being logical to say that he’s paid his debt to society.  When you’re punished for a crime, the punishment should make you regret the crime.  Being able to perform in front of a bunch of screaming, brainwashed girls and your peers that do the same fucked up repugnant shit isn’t a punishment.  Not to mention, when you break society’s rules, not only does the court punish you but so does the public.  Chris Brown’s only getting a pass because he’s an entertain.  Joe Blow woman beater is looked at as a despicable human being yet Chris Brown is a “kid who made a mistake.”  GTFOH.

“Well, nobody says anything when [Name of some asshole that's done some fucked up repugnant shit that people now overlook] performs”
Hearing grown, intelligent folks use the “But he did it too” excuse rots my brain.  You either went to or are currently attending college, yet you’re using an argument from 2^nd grade to argue for a woman beater.  Just because people stupidly gave someone else a pass doesn’t mean we need to keep the cycle going.  Using that logic, next time someone beats a woman and wants to perform we’d then say “But we let Chris Brown perform.”  At some point you have to say, enough is enough.  Refusing to change behavior is why companies fail, Civil Rights get ignored and why we as a people have such a hard time moving forward.  Stop contributing to that behavior.  I’ll say it.  No, Don Cornelius shouldn’t have been at the BET Awards either.

“No one else could do a proper Michael Jackson tribute.  I hate what he did but he’s the only option”
Is a Michael Jackson tribute for Michael, to give tribute to his life’s work and achievements in the realm of music, or is it for your own personal entertainment? I find it mentally lazy to say that the only way to give tribute to Michael would be to give a free pass to a man who beat a woman horribly and pleaded guilty not even a week before the awards show.  Sure, is Chris Brown the closest, big name dancer to Michael’s dancing abilities?  Probably.  Would he have done a great job?  No doubt.  Does that mean we should overlook the fact that he beat a woman?  HELL FUCKING NO.  Your own personal selfishness in wanting to see some form of entertainment shouldn’t be an excuse to overlook the fact that what Chris Brown did was horrible and that he shouldn’t be rewarded with giving a tribute to the World’s Greatest Entertainer.  It shouldn’t be mental exhausting to see how doing such a thing sends the message that what Chris Brown did was “okay”.  A classy musical tribute with a video montage would have been just as good.  The biggest problem with BET doing a Michael Tribute was that people with actual talent, that could have done him justice, already decided to say “Fuck you” to BET.  John Legend and Stevie Wonder would have been excellent choices for doing a song or two to give tribute to MJ but they were at their own concert.  Usher was overseas and couldn’t make it back in time.  The problem wasn’t that Chris Brown couldn’t perform, it was that BET doesn’t have the pulling power to make sure that big name stars (with actual talent) are going to be at their awards show.  So when faced with putting together something last minute, they failed.  Even if Chris Brown did a tribute, the BET Awards would have still been coonish.  Not only that but then Brown would have been rewarded for his behavior and we would have sent yet another example of how easily we forgive people just because they have talent (See Mike Vick, T.I. and everyone else that committed a crime and we overlooked).

“He should still be allowed to work and perform because that’s his job”
If I commit a felony, not only will I lose my security clearance, but I’ll lose my job.  AFTER serving out my sentence, I’d probably have an extremely hard time getting back into my field.  Truth is, no company with a good reputation wants to hire a felon.  Period.  Maybe its wrong to make it hard for felons to get back to work, but it’s a pretty good deterrent that keeps me from committing a felony. “If you can’t do the time (and all the negative things that come with it) don’t do the motherfucking crime.”  Now I understand in the Entertainment industry a criminal record is like getting a good recommendation from a former boss.  That doesn’t mean we as a society should find that acceptable.  Hell, if a teacher is caught fucking one of their students…they can’t be a teacher again after they get out of jail can they?  Chris Brown didn’t just beat a woman, he beat a fellow entertainer.  So no, he shouldn’t be allowed to work again in the industry.  Other entertainers should band together and say “No, we don’t want to work with him.  We don’t work with woman beaters.”  But since we don’t hold anyone accountable…that’s not going to happen.

“Rihanna didn’t testify, we don’t know the whole story”/”The Punishment is too harsh”
He pleaded guilty.  Rihanna didn’t need to testify.  If there was any significant thing missing from the story, I think Chris Brown’s attorney’s would have said something.  You don’t just plead out to a felony.  And as far as it being too harsh.  Paris Hilton spent more time in jail for drunk driving than Chris Brown did for beating a woman.  And the funny thing is, when Paris went to jail, all the black folks were bitching about how light her sentence was.  SMH.

“He made a mistake in his personal life.”/” We can’t judge him. Only God can judge him”/ “I’m sure he’s learned his lesson.  We should all just move on.”
I’m holding back from telling anyone that’s ever said this or anything like it to go kill themselves.  First off, beating a woman ISN’T a mistake.  That’s a calculated act of violence.  Hell, beating ANYONE is a calculated act of violence.  I even said it in my Perez Hilton post that while the douchebag deserved to get his asswhooped, Will.I.Am’s manager was criminally wrong.  We’re human beings, not wild animals on the plains of Africa.  Sure, in the Animal Kingdom, random acts of violence are not only common place, its written into the bylaws of the Jungle Book.  However, in human society, that shit is wrong.  I think plenty of people need their asses whooped, but I don’t do that.  Why?  Because I know that with that comes a set of consequences.  Chris Brown not only beat Rihanna but threatened to KILL HER.  Again, that’s not a mistake.  A mistake is forgetting to put on the same color socks or leaving your coffee mug on the top of your car.  He only apologized and feels bad because he got caught and that shit threatened to affect his cash flow.  Secondly, that “We can’t judge him, only God can” line is bullshit.  We judge all the time.  There’s NO ONE out there that doesn’t judge.  We use that bullshit ass line from the Bible when we want to hand the responsibility off to someone else.  It’s easier to say “Only God can judge” than it is to say “I really like this guy’s dancing abilities and music, but I just can’t support him any more”.  But wait, in this case, we don’t have to.  Why?  Because we have a criminal justice system and Chris Brown pleaded guilty.  There’s no judging necessary.  He’s guilty.  Yes, maybe I’m harsh for saying that when you commit a felony, you shouldn’t be allowed to work in your field again.  But you know what?  Whose fault is that?  Chris Brown knew he was doing something wrong and he had a blatant disrespect for the laws of society.  Fuck him and anyone else who wants to excuse that behavior.  If Rihanna was your sister, you’re LYING to yourself if you say you wouldn’t feel bad if the man who beat your sister was back to doing concerts and selling records.  Like I said, this is just a way for you to avoid having to make the tough decision not to support someone any more.  There are ways to keep the music you like but not support the criminal that made it. Hell, I have R. Kelly on my IPod.  But I didn’t pay a dime for any of his music.  Stop being lazy and irresponsible.

I’ll end with this.  Domestic violence is real.  Most of us know someone who is either currently or in the past a victim of domestic violence.  It’s appalling that so many of us would turn our backs on that fact just because we think Chris Brown is a good dancer and entertainer.  They say if you don’t stand for anything, you fall for everything.  Right now we’re falling…hard.

LOS ANGELES – Chris Brown has pleaded guilty to one count of felony assault on pop star Rihanna. Brown entered his plea before a preliminary hearing was scheduled to start in Los Angeles on Monday.

Rihanna had been on standby to testify.

After Brown left the courtroom, Rihanna entered and was addressed by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg, who explained to the Barbados-born singer that she had issued a stay-away order.

Rihanna had not been seeking a stay-away order, but the judge imposed one. The order requires that Brown and Rihanna stay at least 50 yards from each, except at industry events when the distance is reduced to 10 yards.

The judge also told Rihanna it’s not a one-way order and she will be in violation if she gets closer to Brown than the order allows.

Brown’s lawyer, Mark Geragos, said the plea deal includes five years of supervised probation and six months of community labor. Brown will be formally sentenced on Aug. 5. (Source)

So the Chris Brown/Rihanna saga is finally over.  While I’m happy that it is, I can’t say that I’m thrilled with the outcome.  Honestly, I think it sends a horrible message to get the kids.  Brown pleaded guilty to Felony assault charges and for that he’ll be getting 5 years…..PROBATION.  Yes, probation for felony assault.  He’s also been ordered to stay 50 yards away from Rihanna (10 yards for industry events) and 6 months of community labor.  He won’t be sentenced until August.  Now I have a couple of problems with this.  The first one is obvious.  Just like the T.I. case or the Dontae Stallworth case, this is another example of the “blind justice” system showing that they clearly have their eyes looking out for those privileged.  While I’m not surprised, I find it quite appalling.  I mean, even T.I. got a year and he didn’t hurt anyone.  The least they could have done was put Brown away for 6 months.  We all know he would have been out in a day, but at least it’s not completely asinine.

The second problem I have with this is what I heard on the radio coming home from work.  First off, Tigger was driving me crazy because he was suggesting that 5 years PROBATION was “harsh”.  Chris Brown beat a woman.  He was facing 5 years jail time…and he got PROBATION.  What the hell is harsh about it?  But what really sent me over the edge was the calls that were taken.  Call after call was made by young women saying the same thing over and over again. “I think that’s too harsh.  We don’t even know the whole story.”  Listen…he pleaded guilty.  He had Mark Geregos has his attorney.  One of the lawyers who got MJ off.  I would think if there was a CHANCE that we didn’t have the whole story and that Brown was innocent…they’d be up there talking about “If the brass knuckles don’t fit…”  You know, a lot of talk has been made about Obama’s plead to fathers and how young men need fathers in their lives.  And while that’s true, let’s not forget that daughters also need strong father figures in their lives.  Our newest writer, TMD wrote an article about this. As I listened to these young women call in all I could think was that none of them had strong fathers in their lives.  Because if they did, they wouldn’t be so eagerly defending a woman beater.  Again, Brown pleaded guilty, that’s the end of the story.  There’s no “other side” that we need to hear.  The only way out of this for him was if it came out that Rihanna tried to seriously cause him harm or kill him.  I’m about to be real sexist right now and keep it real.  I don’t care if a woman hits me first, as a man, I know I can physically overpower just about any woman.  That means that even if she hits me first, I need to make sure that I don’t go excessive with the response.  It’s obvious Chris Brown, regardless of what Rihanna did, was excessive.  That’s not up for debate.  So the fact that he beat a woman…then only gets 5 years probation, is a gift.  Its a sad snapshot of where we are in society when we have young women automatically assuming the woman deserved to get her ass whooped, even after a guy pleads guilty.  Remember…he got charged with FELONY assualt…not a misdemeanor.

So now everything goes back to normal.  Radio and Entertainment shows and hosts will go back to treating Chris Brown like he’s a prince, never once turning down an opportunity to have him on their show even though he’s a woman beater.  His fans will still sell out his concerts and their parents won’t question it.  *sigh* I’ll just sit back and shake my head.

I don’t have kids but stories like this make me not want to.

I said I wasn’t going to write about the Chris Brown/Rihanna thing any more, but I think this is way deeper than that situation.  Once Rihanna forgave Chris Brown, I said she deserves whatever comes her way.  I stick by that.  I, however, don’t all of the sudden forgive Chris Brown.  As a man who one day wants to be a father, I was actually shocked by the number of grown men (and women) who have excused Brown’s behavior.  I recently read a post by someone trying to claim that Brown was “defending” himself.  Right, because putting someone in a headlock and then biting them is a great defensive move.  If someone is trying to kill you, putting them in the hospital is a legitimate response.  If someone, particular someone of lesser physical strength or skill, takes your phone or slaps you, sustaining a beat down that puts them into the hospital is obviously excessive.  But this is what we have become.  Radio stations tried to have it both ways, some said we “didn’t have all the information”, even after the pictures surfaced.  Then there’s the ultimate washing of the hands:  “It’s none of our business.  It’s between the two of them.” No, that’s where you’re wrong.  This situation wasn’t like two regular celebrities had an incident…it was two celebrities whose major following are impressionable teenagers.  I’m guessing adults no longer realize that their actions are what kids look at for what’s right and wrong. It’s really our faults for letting our kids look up to celebrities and idolize them, but that’s a whole other topic.

We’ve destroyed the innocence of children.  “We” being us adults.  Just look at these quotes from some of the young girls in that article.

“I thought she was lying, or that the tabloids were making it up,” one girl said.

She probably made him mad for him to react like that,” the other ninth grader said. “You know, like, bring it on?”

“So he shouldn’t get into trouble if she doesn’t feel that way,” one girl said. “She probably feels bad that it was her fault, so she took him back.”

Her friend nodded. “I don’t think he’ll hit her like that again,” she said.

We as adults can’t even agree that Chris Brown is wrong, what do you think these teens with still developing brains are going to think?  But it’s not just this situation.  More teens are having sex at a younger age, getting pregnant, spreading sexually transmitted diseases, etc.  And we have no one to blame but ourselves.  I am 100% against censorship.  I like my movies laden with cuss words, violence and sex.  I love video games that let me pump bullets into victims at an insane rate and jack old ladies in their cars.  I don’t think I should have to suffer because some parent out there didn’t do their job and teach their children how to be productive, safe and effective members of society.  Growing up my parents would let me watch R rated movies…only after they watched them and they would fast forward or cover my eyes when the “bad parts” came on.  My mom only let me play video games for 1 hour straight…then I had to stay off for 3 hours.  Do you know how long it takes to save the Mushroom Princess doing that?  But nowadays, parents sit their  5 – 10 year old kids down in front of the Xbox with Grand Theft Auto all day, where they learn to beat prostitutes after they serviced you (in order to get your money back), to jack cars, that running from and shooting the polices is fun and other intricacies of “proper” social behavior.  And don’t get me started on how many parents think it’s “cute” when their kids “drop it like it’s hot” as they mimic what they see in the latest booty shaking video.  No, it’s NOT cute when your child can’t speak in complete proper sentences but can recite “Bust it Baby” by Plies.

People like to say that the younger generation is “lost” and “hopeless”.  That is completely unfair.  The truth is, the younger generation is in the predicament it is in because we, the adults, haven’t owned up to our responsibilities.  We’ve handed off the “chore” of raising our kids to video game systems, television and drug addicted and/or socially unstable celebrities.  Now we’re starting to see the result.  Isn’t it kinda sad?

Barring any major developments in the Chris Brown/Rihanna saga, this will hopefully be my last mentioning of these two idiots.  Honestly, I can’t waste any more of my time or energy on a woman who goes back to the man who beat her.  It’s 2009 now people.  We all know the statistics.  Men who beat woman and get away with it are likely to do it again.  Considering the reports that this wasn’t the first time Chris Brown put his hands on her, Rihanna is even dumber for sticking it out.

But that’s not what article is going to be about.  No, I want this article to be more about why we as a community are so forgiving when it comes to incidents like this.  Women, who you would expect to rally to Rihanna’s support, have said “She probably deserved it” or that she “Provoked him.”  You have other celebrities like P. Diddy letting Chris Brown and Rihanna use his home to reconcile or Akon who came out recently and said that he would still work with Chris Brown.  Huh?  Since when was working with a woman beater a sound career connection?  There is no doubt as to whether Chris Brown beat Rihanna.  This isn’t like the O.J., MJ or even R. Kelly cases where there’s “reasonable” doubt.  We know flat out what Chris Brown did, yet people are willing to look the other way.  I turn on the radio and in one instance, radio personalities are talking about how we need to speak out against domestic violence but then they turn around and play a Chris Brown or Rihanna song.  Is it me or doesn’t that send the message that in certain circumstances you can get away with assaulting a woman?  It seems hypocritical.  “We’re appalled by what Chris Brown did…now here’s ‘Take you Down by Chris Brown.”  What a joke.

I also started thinking about something else.  When that idiot Don Imus made that ignorant comment about “Nappy Headed Hoes”, people marched, protested, raised a huge stink and not only tried to get him off the air but went after his advertisers.  Why aren’t we doing the same thing with Chris Brown?  Don Imus made an ignorant comment…Chris Brown put a woman in a hospital.  It’s not even in the same ballpark, yet people seemed to get more upset by a few ignorant words rather than a woman having her face rearranged.  Some people were even upset that some of Brown’s sponsors dropped him.  Are you kidding me?

What if Chris Brown was white?  Would people react different if it was a white man that beat Rihanna?  Would it then finally sink in to Chris Brown fans and Rihanna haters (hell, I don’t like the chick’s music but even I felt bad for her before she let that idiot back into her life) how wrong it is to give this guy some support?  I really think that’s it.  Think about it.  If R. Kelly was white and had sex with a 14 year old black girl do you think radio stations would have played nothing but R. Kelly after he was acquitted?  Or would they have raised bloody murder?  If Justin Timberlake had beat up his black girlfriend, would we as a community sit back and say “But he makes good music?”  I highly doubt it.  I understand that we as a people want to see our brothers and sister succeed, but that doesn’t mean we should turn a blind eye when one of our own clearly fucks up.  Chris Brown should be “persona non grata” in the music world right now.  He should be toxic to anyone that even THINKS about working with him.  But we know that won’t happen.  That’s too much like right.  It would require people actually having some principles and acting on them.  So this will be rationalized (“It’s a personal issue between them”) and forgotten.  It’s much easier to do inconsequential things like “boycott” a newspaper you already aren’t reading or threaten to stop listening to a show you’ve never heard of or applaud a funeral for a word.  None of that requires any real work and therefore, this will continue.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again.  Our society is messed up.  Our priorities are all jacked up.  Sadly, I think people are too lazy to change that. Seriously, if you’ve ever said “But [insert celebrity that did something fucked up] makes good music or plays [insert sport] really well” and continue to support them, you’re just as much a part of the problem as they are. President Obama said it himself “Change comes from within.” If you can’t condone their actions then you can’t support the person. Stop trying to rationalize it. It’s like saying a prayer right before you jump into an orgy.

The return of the angry man Kriss. Okay, he never really left but today he’s really pissed. Kriss spends the first part of the show complaining about the idiots he works with. Also in this show: Chris Matthews vs Ari Fleischer, Kwame Kilpatrick’s text messages, There’s never a bad time for head, Chris Brown and Rihanna channel Tina and Ike Turner, FMyLife.com and a few other things.

There’s a problem with getting the show on iTunes for new subscribers. If you already get the show on iTunes you’re fine but if you’re looking to find us in the iTunes store it’ll probably be a couple of weeks until we’re back up and running. You can manually add us to iTunes by going to Advanced->Subscribe to Podcast and then add this url. We’re looking for writers for TheInsanityReport.com and guests for the Insanity Check Podcast. If you are interested, email us at InsanityCheck@theInsanityReport.com. Also hit us up if you’re good with graphic designs or music production (we’re looking for a new opening for the podcast). Join the Facebook Group for weekly updates on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.