Wednesday, August 24, 2011

The Price of Respect

Doing my usual stroll down my Facebook news feed, I ran across a particularly interesting status posting; and I quote: “If you don’t get respect from your own kids, what makes you think a grown...man will give you some?” My initial reaction was to get offended and say a “grown man” is supposed to respect a woman regardless of the situation, but reality set in. First of all, do women really deserve respect at all costs, no matter what the action? Secondly, since its evident that mothers are no longer raising our children, who is?

Living in a world where respect is given with a grain of salt and classes are being taught on female empowerment, ladies are taking the whole equality thing to another level. Honestly, why on Earth would a 112 pound woman hit a 6’5”, 315-pound linebacker in the face? Because she is demanding respect, that’s why. Now, if said linebacker backhands her across her cheek Baby Boy-style, she will either: one) call the police or, two) grab a knife/gun/weapon. No matter what background you’re from, this is a double standard. Why do some women (lets not overgeneralize here) feel that their physical prowess over their mate translates into power? This is where I rebuke the urge to bring up anything Chris Brown-&-Rihanna debacle related.

In my opinion, VH1 and BET are doing poor jobs of releasing images and shows that are adolescent friendly; however, that’s not their job. Their ultimate goals are to produce shows that are both entertaining and shocking. The more shock-value shows adolescents watch, the less they are bewildered at every day life. So many teens are desensitized to tragedy and sadness now, it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to care about one another. For instance, ten years ago, if a teen was pregnant at the tender age of sixteen, she was shunned from her family, if not her whole community. Now she lands on the cover of InStyle and People Magazine. The message to teens is blatantly clear: if you want fame and fortune, don’t earn it. Just engage in reckless, damnable activities. Like hitting linebackers.

(Special thank you to Mike Bless for his status. I’m quoting you so it’s not stealing. Lol.)

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