hidden image

Bob’s Banter by Robert Clements Will and Gandhi at the Oscars..!

Robert Clements Robert Clements
04 Apr 2022
Will Smith slaps Chris

A resounding slap indeed. A punch heard all round the world. One that revealed not a broken jaw or black eye, but showed ever so clearly, that you can take a man off the streets, but you can’t take the streets out of the man.
Will Smith revealed himself: An ugly revelation!
As a youngster, when his grandmother found a notebook of his lyrics, which he described as containing "all his little curse words", she wrote him a note on a page in the book, which read, "Dear Willard, truly intelligent people do not have to use words like this to express themselves. Please show the world that you're as smart as we think you are". Smith said this influenced his decision not to use profanity in his music.
But his decision didn’t change how he was deep inside.
And that is very important. When the Father of our Nation, introduced non-violence to the world, he spent a long, long time working on himself. It was because he worked on himself, he was able to take any insult thrown at him, and keep his mind focused on the idea of ‘turning the other cheek’.
What an opportunity lost for Will. He, the six footer that he is, could have taken those giant strides to the front of the hall, stood by Chris Rock, and then using powerful, impactful words, told Chris and the rest of the world how needed it was to have compassion on someone’s illness and not make a joke about it.
The world would have loved him for it, realizing, the Will they knew in reel life was even bigger in real life.
But he blew it.
He blew it, because his mask was off and he showed his true colours.
In our country, we have many Will Smith’s. Many politicians who speak gently and convincingly to the poor, and thereby get votes, then use the same tongue to slander and cut down men and women who worship differently.
You can’t unite and also divide, because though you may have some cheering for you, the world will consider you a hypocrite.
After this Oscar incident, let us as a country start becoming proud again of a simple man with simple tastes, who had simplicity both in his heart and outward appearance, using those same simple methods to win a victory over the overdressed Englishman!
Tell America, what our Gandhiji would have done, and even as they put their heads down in shame, will them not to say, ‘Then why have you started honouring his assassin?”
Because it’s time we emulate and glorify the one man who stands tall in the world arena, one who would have got his point across with his arms around Chris Rock’s shoulder and not a fist at his face..!

bobsbanter@gmail.com   

Recent Posts

The RSS has spent decades building an international ecosystem of charities, cultural bodies, donors and political influence. Bhagwat's centenary outreach seeks to consolidate it. The West has noticed.
apicture Oliver D'Souza
07 Sep 2026
Bhagwat's New York sermon offered the world an India where diversity is sacred and every citizen belongs. Back home, the reality is far less harmonious: food, faith, dress, history and citizenship its
apicture Jacob Peenikaparambil
07 Sep 2026
If you ask me which was the greatest news story I reported or commented upon during my 53 years in journalism, I would answer without batting an eyelid: the eradication of smallpox from India.
apicture A. J. Philip
07 Sep 2026
The Taliban tried to silence Malala with a bullet. India's new fundamentalists wield sticks, censorship and intimidation. The weapons have changed; the instinct has not. Both fear the same enemy: a yo
apicture Cedric Prakash
07 Sep 2026
The Church cannot preach courage to its flock while practising caution in the face of persecution. When Christians are attacked and sacred spaces desecrated, polite memoranda are no substitute for act
apicture P. A. Chacko
07 Sep 2026
They write of democracy from rooms where democracy has never had to enter the kitchen, where equality is discussed beneath lights that never reveal the darkness outside.
apicture Dr Suryaraju Mattimalla
07 Sep 2026
According to Koenraad Elst, when Hedgewar started the RSS, he had purely pragmatic ends in mind. The first thing he had to guard against was British imperial surveillance. He carefully adopted secret-
apicture Thomas Menamparampil
07 Sep 2026
Perhaps Mr Bhagwat had brought this beautiful version of India in his luggage. Perhaps it had cleared American immigration because unity, unlike some Indians, is still welcome in the United States.
apicture Robert Clements
07 Sep 2026
You may be supremely happy that your Freedom of Religion Bill has received the President's assent and has now come into force in Maharashtra. But there is an irony that you may not have noticed.
apicture A. J. Philip
31 Aug 2026
India's children are discovering the power of protest. Their demands are modest. Safe classrooms, clean water, toilets, teachers and dignity. If governments silence those who expose these failures rat
apicture Jacob Peenikaparambil
31 Aug 2026