Sunday night's airing of the 51st annual Grammys Award Show ran smoothly, with the exception that two notable guests were MIA. Chris Brown and Rihanna were both scheduled to perform; however, he was arrested on suspicion of making criminal threats, and she was allegedly victimized by him. He turned himself in at the LAPD's Wilshire Station and is being investigated on charges of domestic violence. It came as no surprise that Wrigley suspended their Doublemint Gum ads that featured Brown, but the actual allegations were shocking. However, we should ask ourselves "why is this shocking?".
Naturally, there is an element of shock concerning any incident where a man beats a woman, but especially in situations like this. MTV asked people on the street what they thought about the story, and they made comments like "You would've never thought Chris Brown, a superstar...would be beating females down" and "he doesn't seem like the type". But, why? Why do we expect anyone to be an ideal man or role model simply because they have become rich and famous from singing and dancing. W.E.B. DuBois warned about the danger of this in his 1903 essay "The Talented Tenth".
"If we make money the object of man-training, we shall develop money-makers but not necessarily men", Dubois declared. Although those words were published over a century ago, they are particularly pertinent today. In modern society, we frequently exhalt select individuals and put them on a pedestal for the wrong reasons; and we subsequently hold them to unrealistic expectations. He believed that real men could only be developed if boys were educated on 'manhood', which to DuBois, encompassed intelligence, broad sympathy, and knowledge of the way of the world.
"The Talented Tenth" discusses DuBois's idea that a small percentage of African American men will have to become "leaders of thought" and "missionaries of culture" to save the race. Based on this notion, there is nothing wrong in supporting individuals for their entertainment talents, but we should not look to them as the kind of leaders that DuBois describes, solely based on those talents.
Naturally, there is an element of shock concerning any incident where a man beats a woman, but especially in situations like this. MTV asked people on the street what they thought about the story, and they made comments like "You would've never thought Chris Brown, a superstar...would be beating females down" and "he doesn't seem like the type". But, why? Why do we expect anyone to be an ideal man or role model simply because they have become rich and famous from singing and dancing. W.E.B. DuBois warned about the danger of this in his 1903 essay "The Talented Tenth".
"If we make money the object of man-training, we shall develop money-makers but not necessarily men", Dubois declared. Although those words were published over a century ago, they are particularly pertinent today. In modern society, we frequently exhalt select individuals and put them on a pedestal for the wrong reasons; and we subsequently hold them to unrealistic expectations. He believed that real men could only be developed if boys were educated on 'manhood', which to DuBois, encompassed intelligence, broad sympathy, and knowledge of the way of the world.
"The Talented Tenth" discusses DuBois's idea that a small percentage of African American men will have to become "leaders of thought" and "missionaries of culture" to save the race. Based on this notion, there is nothing wrong in supporting individuals for their entertainment talents, but we should not look to them as the kind of leaders that DuBois describes, solely based on those talents.
The lede alone is pure talent: "Sunday night's airing of the 51st annual Grammys Award Show ran smoothly, with the exception that two notable guests were MIA." I. love. it.
ReplyDeleteThis is really good stuff. I like how you tied W.E.B. DuBois' quote in.
Grade=100/A