Am assuming you’ve seen it? If not – the clip is below: a video posted on YouTube, Chris Brown’s public apology for smacking the sh-t out of girlfriend Rihanna.

Many of you have emailed your thoughts and asked for mine.

Totally scripted, overly rehearsed, and can it be sincere when it’s all about strategy anyway? This is a young man whose primary motivation is to save his career. He’s almost there. He gets invited to parties, he sits courtside at the NBA finals, he can still work with other artists, he still has money to burn, and he needs to make sure there’s more on the way…

This video will pretty much guarantee it. Because forgiveness for someone cute and talented comes that easy. All you do is hire a writer to write the right words, practise them enough times in the mirror, practise them even more in front of a camera, making sure the voice cracks at the most effective times, edit and adjust the volume, ensure the lighting is attractive, and then click “upload”.

The world watches. The world accepts. And that’s all they expect. Expectations are low these days. It goes hand in hand with the death of good taste.

Sure the public apology is a good start.

But this kid, while claiming to have been contrite for months, while consulting his “spiritual advisors”, and his mother, and his “minister”, has also been having more fun than most people who haven’t given their girlfriends the beatdown.

I guess I’m old school. When I used to say I’m sorry my mother would reply that my words were like peanut shells at a movie theatre (lightweight and easily crushable) or fishballs from a dirty streetside stand in Hong Kong (goes right through you and gives you a stomachache). She’d tell me that swallowing a meaningless apology can bring on the sh-ts. No, I don’t know what this means either.

What I do know is that she refused to forgive me until I earned it. Which usually involved sacrifice.

Chris Brown has sacrificed nothing. He’s barely sacrificed any time. He has however been seen kicking around in a $1.5 million car.

Will he drive it to volunteer with a women’s shelter?

Will he volunteer at all?

Please.

At this point he doesn’t have to. Read the comments under the video. It’s all been wiped clean.

I hate people.