99 Problems? Might be time to do a recount.
We don’t know what we don’t know, but who cares? It’s still newsworthy.
And maybe that’s the problem.
In the hours since perennial rumor mill TMZ released camera footage of Solange (sister of Beyonce the Great and Powerful) beating Jay-Z like he was her property in the elevator of an after party for the Met Gala they all attended earlier in the evening, the Internet (as is its wont) has been ablaze with theories, memes (guilty) and various other speculations about not only why Solange went ham on rye at the hip-hop mogul, but also why it appears that wife Beyonce (the Magnificent) pretty much stood there, doing nothing but being her usual regal home-schooled self.
Where there is a lack of reason for an action or actions, the simple alternative is to make up the narrative that seems to make the most amount of sense, but in a moment like this, I find myself wondering, “Who cares?”
Now yes, I know people care, and that somehow this all matters in the greater scheme of things I have no depth of understanding for, but beyond the lurid nature of it all, are we paying attention to the right things?
For all that has been said in the last few hours, what hasn’t really been mentioned, and the thing that grabs my attention the most is just how much restraint Jay is showing after being pummeled by Solange. In fact, many on Twitter and Facebook have questioned why he didn’t haul off and hit her back.
And here’s where we enter the fabled no-win scenario. Understand this: for whatever brought it on, the moment that Jay got hit with the first punch, there was no outcome from that point that would favor him. If he hit her back (along with likely being arrested), the headlines would have painted him as a savage woman beater. If he maintains his calm (as it seems he did), he’s branded (by some) as being weak, and in an industry where you’re supposed to portray a harder image, that can be damaging to a certain extent.
That the expectation was that he should’ve fought back says more about our culture and how we think situations should go for other people. We sit back and cast judgment on complete strangers and foist some code of ethics upon them that we wouldn’t follow ourselves. Somehow that is supposed to serve as the line that makes us better than the people we foolishly idolize.
If you think Jay should’ve socked Solange without knowing the whole story, you’re a piece of shit, and that’s not hyperbole.
Of course if your position is that it’s OK to beat women in general…it goes without saying how much of a piece of shit you are on top of being a piece of shit for wanting him to do the thing that you would not do yourself.
Am I using this topic for clickbait? Sure. That makes me a bit of a hypocrite in that I’m attaching my hooks into this story like everyone else, but what I hope makes me different is the notion that if we’re going to play this game in the media, then we should not only be more honest about it, but we should also be paying attention to the right things.
I’m not willing to paint Jay-Z a hero without knowing what caused the dispute in the first place, but at the same time, I think a man showing restraint at a time where restraint usually flies out the window says more for him that our desire to know everyone’s business all the time says about us.