Jezebel 
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New York, 10:53 PM
Sat Nov 7
20 posts in the last 24 hours
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06:40 PM
and, when he apologizes publicly its for his fans and sponsors? wow, real sincere asshole. #chrisbrown
06:38 PM
She really impressed me throughout the whole interview - so mature and wise.
07:10 PM
07:11 PM
07:31 PM
07:59 PM
05:27 PM
06:57 PM
07:44 PM
05:04 PM
Exactly! And the smarmy, "I'm young, so it still hurts my feelings..." crap was almost too much for me to watch. Are you fucking kidding with the little boy lost act? You beat the shit out of your girlfriend. A lot. And then one time she was hospitalized so we all found out. Now you want it to be: poor Chris, somebody [accurately] called him a woman beater?
One of the most striking things about his interview to me wasn't the PR spinning (I'm sure he was coached and that was the reason for the interview: no points for surprises there), it was the complete lack of self-reflection. You committed a violent crime against a woman you claim to love, and when asked about your motivations, after hours of court-ordered anger management and months of telling people you're "learning from your mistakes [ugh "mistake"!]", your response is "uhhh ... I dunno." Seriously, Chris Brown? Seriously? #chrisbrown
05:53 PM
They will seem genuinely hurt when I tell them that they're acting like mean little assholes (admittedly not the exact language I would use in a school setting). They expect people to somehow understand that they are really nice people who sometimes do assholey things, and the assholery should be written off as an exception to the rule.
'The real me,' to them, is different from the version of them that other people experience, and those others should accept the reality of that nice inner 'me' even if they don't get to see it much.
Listen to Batman, boys. It's not who you are inside, but what you DO that defines you.
Related: I would kind of like Batman to scare the hell out of Chris Brown by dangling him off a building until he cries for his mama and swears never to raise his hand or voice to a woman again. #chrisbrown
06:23 PM
04:51 PM
Why did ABC News show that picture again? Way to be dicks, guys. #chrisbrown
11/06/09
According to court records and other sources, Rihanna struck Brown in the face "numerous times" before Brown assaulted her. NCFM purports although that would not justify his more severe assault, her violence should not be ignored, and if she does not "woman up" to it then her message will be the usual one-sided double standards that leave female perpetration covered up.
The saying, "There is no excuse for domestic violence," applies to both sexes. Female violence in relationships is not rare but is often hypocritically deemed acceptable or humorous, such as in the film, Sideways. It is part of the cycle of domestic violence, which cannot be stopped without addressing the problem honestly. Children are damaged just by witnessing domestic violence, regardless of its severity. A 32-nation study by the University of New Hampshire found women are as violent and as controlling as men in relationships worldwide #rihannainterview
11/06/09
I wish Rihanna well and I hope she's on her way to having a great life. #rihannainterview
11/06/09
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11/06/09
Just because he and I were once in love doesn't mean he wasn't any less abusive or I wasn't any less a victim. It doesn't downplay what I went through, or color over what he did. I still left him, he still suffered consequences, and it was still abuse. Nevertheless, love was there at one time.
I think women who have been through horrible abuse have enough to deal with emotionally without having to worry about nitpickers trying to tell them that they didn't love so and so, they couldn't have, that using the word 'love' glorifies the experience, etc. These are real people with real feelings, and as much as people might want to marginalize and pigeonhole, it is possible to love someone who hurts you. #rihannainterview
11/06/09
11/06/09
11/06/09
I also completely identify with her feeling that it was "embarrassing" to admit she loved him. I can say from experience that it TOTALLY DOES NOT HELP to have people asking you "What were you doing with him? I thought you were smarter than that. Why didn't you leave when you saw red flags?". Possibly well-intentioned questions like that are why victims clam up, don't talk to anyone about what is happening in their relationships, and feel shame later.
It's my belief that when Rhianna refuses to criticize him too much, it's less about him and more about her need to feel that he had some redeeming qualities - that there was some reason she was with him in the first place. It's about needing to feel that she still has good judgment, and isn't a total fool - or maybe that's just me, projecting how I felt.
11/06/09
11/06/09
11/06/09
When the red flags start popping up, there always seems to be one "friend" around who will make excuses for them. "Maybe he was just stressed from work", "Maybe you picked the wrong time to ask him about [X]", "Do you really want to break up over that one little incident?" And so on. Been there.
The "support" of "friends" (and even family) may not be a factor in Rihanna's case, but I'll bet it's a factor in lots of them. #rihannainterview
11/06/09
First - congratulations on getting out. I know how hard it is.
I still deal with this, and a series of "friends" who act like armchair quarterbacks, feeling completely justified in telling me what I SHOULD have felt or what I SHOULD have done - rebound guy even told me I was personally responsible for any woman my ex abused in the future. (Rebound guy bounced right off the backboard and outta my life soon after. )
We survived. We healed. We found a way to feel safe in our own skin again and still trust other people. For that I give you, and myself, a lot of credit. #rihannainterview
11/06/09
11/06/09
11/05/09
I appreciate that she is speaking out even after she went back to Chris Brown and left him again. If anything, maybe it will help people understand just how difficult it is to be involved in an abusive relationship, and how it can be difficult to leave for a myriad of reasons. It would be nice if we all behaved perfectly in accordance with our politics at all times, but the fact is, we don't, and it takes a brave person to be willing to own up when they fall short of the ideal. #rihannainterview
11/05/09
11/05/09
Maybe from afar I'm just trying to assuage her guilt because dammit it wasn't her fault. #rihannainterview
11/05/09
11/05/09
I think people sometimes forget how young Rihanna is.
As for Chris Brown, I feel like he still doesn't get it. That Larry King interview was bizarre. #rihannainterview