Why you can't stop reading about the Slap

I lost count of the links I clicked about the controversy after the Oscars. I only know that celebrities support Chris Rock. Will Smith apologized. Jada Pinkett Smith breaks her silence! I decided to add another link to the tally because it was so strong.

I don't want to look at the Slap itself. You have already seen those takes. The incident is referred to as a Rorschach test, in which your opinion becomes a projection of your own experience. Others think we should not take it that seriously. I would argue that the fascination with the controversy shows something important about our wounded collective well-being, what content we crave, and how the media is able to both create and satisfy those desires.

Americans are not well. A recent poll conducted by the American Psychological Association revealed that people are experiencing shocking levels of stress related to issues like inflation, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the prospect of nuclear escalation. The world is in a crisis. Russia unleashed more attacks on Ukraine after promising to pull back, and the Omicron variant BA.2 threatens to steal any sense of normalcy.

It would be easy to write-off a collective obsession with the Slap as escapist entertainment for an audience that cannot come to terms with living at the edge of apocalypse. I can tell you that it is tempting. There is much to be loathed about celebrity culture in the U.S., particularly how the most vapid forms of it promote fame and consumerism while ignoring intractable problems like climate change, racism, and income inequality.

The Slap was far more complex than that. It may have been a distraction from the crises. It was a finite event compared to the future of war and climate change. The incident has become a drama with consequences. This is not a lightweight escapist fare like a preoccupation with the replies of C-list celebrities, but it is grappling with emergencies that we have little control over. We can make the level of attention an indictment of a celebrity fixation, but what if we didn't? What if we thought of it as a pressure-release valve? The fascination becomes a sign that people are desperate to think about a conflict that is less important.

The stakes were higher than they first seemed as the takes came in, especially on social media. America has known for decades that Black public figures have histories of domestic violence and sexual abuse, and the coverage of the controversy brought those histories into sharper focus.

The discourse focused on protecting Black women from harm. It opened up discussions about violence and masculinity, and how a public physical conflict between Black people will become a morality play for white people to judge. Audiences were asked by polls, social media posts, or their friends if the Slap was right. In other words, the controversy caused a lot of deep thinking.

The media consumption of content related to the Slap makes sense. Human beings use media to cope. Media use can make you feel good. It brings joy and happiness through discovering meaning. For some, the content of Slap yielded both good and bad, as well as a momentary diversion from coverage of war, COVID-19, and climate change. The provocative nature of what happened made people think about their values and identity, which is an act of making meaning.

These two sets of experiences are not exclusive. Like me, you might shift between modes of engagement, which would be to follow the story and ponder the deeper issues of the debate.

There is one more factor at play. Humans seek information to better understand the world around them. In times of uncertainty, information can be reassuring. We are flooded with facts, details and viewpoints, as well as countless opportunities to consume them. This is done by design. Both social media platforms and media companies try to compete for your attention. If you click enough of the links, you will be rewarded with unique insights or content.

If some people can't stop reading, viewing, and listening to Slap content, maybe they are behaving exactly as the media hoped they would.

It would be great if we could acknowledge the dynamics of a celebrity scandal without judgement, which would allow us to better understand what is happening. The system is not built for that. We must insist on it wherever we can in order to slow down machinery that flattens what it means to be human.