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Wait, Didn’t Chris Rock Initiate the Violence at the Oscars?
So, all everyone saw was the slap?
I had two close friends growing up. Let’s call one John and the other Anita.
John was a prankster. He’d be the one putting gum on the teacher’s chair, and a fake lizard on the wall next to the blackboard in class. He’d also misplace his mother’s glasses so she’d frantically look around the house when she wanted to read the newspaper.
I grew up in India, in a pre-social-awareness world, where casually “hitting” your child was common — both at school and at home. In no way the right thing to do, but very common still. For all his pranks, John would often get a couple of hits of a wooden ruler on his knuckles from the physical education teacher at school — and spanks on his behind from his mother.
Violence — very real violence. Not the kind that would leave him bleeding or hurt or injured severely, but the kind that would leave the pain on his body for long enough that it would surely hurt. I am not defending any of it — but ask any Indian child who grew up in the 90’s and this would be a fairly common thing.
Then, there was Anita. She was a model child, and she aced all her subjects in class, and would never be out of line. However, at home, she had a tense environment. Her parents…
