People not up over "Man Down"

Some people really need to work on their priorities.

Apparently, a number of advocacy groups with names like the "Parent Television Council" and the "Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence" are a little bit cranky with R&B singer Rihanna, who, in the course of her video for "Man Down," shoots a man who raped her.

Let me start off by saying that I don't listen to R&B. Go back to its roots, back when it was still "rhythm and blues," sure, I'm right there. But I'm old. There's no hop in my hips: I listen to a wide range of music, but there's two areas of the musical color wheel that I prefer to avoid and one of them is the area called "R&B," especially where it bleeds over into the "rap" shades.

So if I was going to be forced to listen to a song by Rihanna, it was a nice surprise that she went back to her reggae roots for this one. So yes, I wasn't harmed by the experience of watching it all the way through.



I have two thoughts on the subject.

First of all, I've admitted several times that I, perhaps, have a somewhat... unusual relationship with the concept of life being "sacred." (As in "yeah, not so much.") Perhaps that skews my reaction to this video. But I really have no problem with the concept of a woman killing someone who raped her.

But further than that, I think we need to remember February, 2009. When a 911 call ended with Rihanna being to the hospital with injuries that were described as "horrific." She'd been dating a useless bag of dicks named Chris Brown, who, apparently misunderstanding the traditions of Valentine's Day, gave her a litany of injuries that the 21-year-old Rihanna would be unlikely to forget: bite marks on one arm and both hands, a split lip, bloody nose, and contusions on both sides of her face.

Brown reportedly fled the scene of the incident on foot with the keys to the rented silver Lamborghini the couple was driving in following the alleged attack, leaving Rihanna "beaten really badly and hysterical" by the side of the road... "Rihanna didn't want anyone to touch her, she was in so much pain."

Given that, if anybody should be allowed to release a video like "Man Down," I think it's Rihanna.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm willing to stand by that theory.