You can talk about violence always being wrong. You can talk about using words, about being dignified, about race, about put-up jobs and so forth, forever. But can we ever really know what's going on in somebodys' head?

Will Smith is the kind of actor who collects fans rather than Oscars. He's not a dramatic heavyweight like Denzel Washington. But there he is, at the ceremony, on the nominations list. That's enough to have him pumped on adrenaline right there. I have heard that there was already bad blood between the Smiths and Chris Rock, as well, so if true, that's another tension-raiser. Then the 'joke' lands. Now if Mrs Smith had her hair like that as a fashion statement, ti would have been just that, a joke. But she has a medical condition, about which she has been open and candid, and instead of hiding it with a wig, she has chosen what she must consider a more 'authentic' way of dealing with it. In which case, the joke becomes outright disrespect.

In those circumstances, it's entirely possible that a person will react in an uncharacteristic manner. What Will Smith did appears to have been as much out of character for him as it would have been in character for me! But he's a much nicer bloke than I am (so are Lord Voldemort and Dr Doom).

But there is another possibility here that speaks to a larger issue. Mr Smith might have had previous (verbal) dealings with Mr Rock regarding other, less public, instances of disrespect. The fact is that some people ignore words and can only be dealt with directly, with force. At the present moment, we are facing a war started by a man, Vladimir Putin, who also seems immune to persuasion and reason. We may yet find ourselves having to use force in that situation.