I’m truly not interested in hearing that you don’t watch the Oscars. Refusing to watch a bunch of self-important hypocrites give awards to each other doesn’t require any sacrifice on your part. It’s easy to ignore things that don’t interest you. I’ve never watched an awards show ever, but that’s not something that deserves recognition. I’ve never knitted a sweater for the same reason — there are too many other things I’d rather do. However, I don’t go out of my way to tell the church ‘Knitters Club’ that I couldn’t care less about their hobby. I’d be a special kind of jerk if my grandmother told me she knitted the sweater she’s wearing and I responded, “Knitting bores me.”

Fortunately, there are a few people who DO watch the Oscars so that when something noteworthy happens, I can find out about it. For example, I know that Will Smith smacked Chris Rock in the face presumably for making a joke about his (Smith’s) wife; and I didn’t need to spend hours listening to sanctimonious celebrities tell me they hate me.

I’m not totally convinced the slap wasn’t staged. Hollywood’s relentless contempt for American citizens has caused the viewership of movies (and award shows for movies) to drop like a concrete kite. The sagging audience numbers would certainly swell if the Academy Awards contained moments of open combat. These are actors, remember? It’s their job to play pretend.

But, for the sake of this commentary, let’s assume that Will Smith really was so enraged by a joke that he was driven by chivalry onto the stage during a live broadcast to wallop Chris Rock. Let’s assume that this wasn’t pre-arranged.

If you’re teachable, you can learn an important lesson from Will Smith’s assault. When Smith marched on stage to unleash his fury, he lost the fight. Chris Rock beat him without even taking a swing. Self-control is an attribute of champions. Emotionalism is an attribute of weaklings. Whoever loses their mind is the fool. Period.

I’ve said this a million times before but Will Smith proved that it needs to be repeated. “Bullies cannot hurt your feelings without your permission.” When a joke bothers you, it’s YOUR fault. If you protect your feelings with a thick sense of humor, you won’t lose your mind when someone provokes you. I wrote a whole book about this. If you’re upset by anything I’ve written here, you should DEFINITELY get the book and learn how to not be a dope. (It’s on my website.)

“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.”

(1 Peter 1:5)