I haven't commented on Rihanna and Chris Brown because my feelings are too strong to be appropriately expressed on this blog, especially since it's an ongoing legal matter. But this is a scary picture of how young people are looking at what happened:
Of the 200 Boston youths (ages 12 to 19) surveyed last month, 51 percent said Chris Brown was responsible for the incident, 46 percent said Rihanna was responsible and 52 percent said both were to blame; 52 percent said the media was treating Brown unfairly; 44 percent said fighting was a normal part of a relationship; and a “significant” number said “Rihanna was destroying Chris Brown's career.” Women blamed Rihanna as much as men did.
The question assumes that Brown did beat Rihanna. Yet almost half in the survey believe that even if things happen as alleged, that it's Rihanna's fault, and a significant number believe she is "destroying" Brown's career. I'd argue that Hip-hop's traditional streak is partially responsible, but it's important to recognize that these attitudes are old, much older than Hip-hop, and what's happening here is that they're being passed down and simply internalized through new mediums.
-- A. Serwer
