So, it may come as no surprise to you that the leader of the free world (Oprah Winfrey) would eventually weigh in on one of the hottest issues of the year. Oprah is asking for Chris Brown and Rihanna to reconsider staying together or at least take a break. She's also planning to have a show about domestic violence in the near future.
None of these things surprised me. However, I was alarmed by the number of comments calling for Oprah to "mind her own business" in this article.
I am not going to give you my personal opinion on this issue, rather I want you guys to answer this: Does Oprah's opinion matter here?
This question is tricky, in that, Rihanna's decision to stay with Chris Brown (regardless of the facts of the incident) goes against most of our "modern day domestic violence training". As a public figure, her actions essentially demonstrate it is okay to stay with a man after an abusive incident (that is a very loaded and complex statement and there are MANY reasons people stay with their abusers. I know someone will have something to say about it, but bear with me for now). Oprah's job as THE public figure, is to "counsel" the public through issues to make the right decisions based on a set of generally accepted, modern day values, eventually leading us to some form of spiritual happiness. With that said, shouldn't someone with the proper platform engage these two in discourse (figuratively speaking) to explain their decision to the public? Or is an intimate relationship, no matter how publicized, such a deeply personal and intricate subject that Oprah (and the rest of us) should just leave it alone?
I feel that Oprah's opinion does matter, for one reason and one reason only. Being in the limelight stars such as Oprah and Rihanna have their semi-public portions of life almost entirely exposed for all to see and whether we like it or not, that influences a lot of people. Let's face it, the world (which DEFINITELY includes America) has a lot of idiots who don't always think for themselves, b/c it's easier to follow someone else's lead and/or blame someone else when things don't go their way. Regardless of why Rihanna has made her decision to stay with Chris BREEZY without knowing all the intricacies of the situation (b.c we are not them) we, and more importantly non-independent thinking girls and women, are going to more easily apply it to their lives and justify the violence in their relationships and condone such behavior.
ReplyDeleteNow personally, I'm not gonna hit a woman, but if some dude does decide to, he'd better have a DAMNED good reason. Her (Rihanna)decision is hers to make but Oprah's condemnation of the decision might just wake up those people who are blind followers. They just might start to think, "WHY the hell Oprah stick her rich nose in someone else business?" and that might get them to probe. Maybe they'll realize C-Breezy and Ri-Ri have their own UNIQUE problems to work out but at the very least it should get them THINKING.
The whole situation kinda frustrates me as I was JUST gettin to be proud of the fact that I liked CB (homeboy can DANCE). Makes me mad enough to wanna just ChrisBrown the next person I see!
(Yea I just used his name as a verb and what?)
Its been very surreal just listening to people's comments about the situation over the past month. A lot of the women I've spoken to have come out in defense of Chris Brown on the grounds that Rihanna is crazy, or Rihanna deserved it.
ReplyDeleteI aint really goin down that route. I feel as though its possible that Rihanna had more of an active role in the fight, even a provocative one, which allowed me to keep a clear head about the issue til now. The pictures came out, then the police report, and it all seems to be her side of the story, and yet she took him back!?!?
Im not sure how i feel about Oprah in this situation. She has more power than most, but she can use it to damage Chris Brown's career before ANYONE knows all the facts or his side of the story. So for me that sucks. Oprah has jumped on a story to inform/influence her viewers way of thought before, but she is not infallible, which is why this is dangerous. People blindly follow her too much... A Million little Pieces anyone?
So what's gonna happen with Breezy's music? I've been debating about whether to allow DJ's to play it in Blackbox for the past few weeks. Dude is a great talent, his hits are undeniable, which makes things even worse. In my personal life, I'm not going to take him out of my itunes...music is music. I'm down for not buying his shit, but then again, I never did.
Thanks for the great feedback guys.
ReplyDeleteNiceness, I def agree that Oprah is doing her job by at least entertaining this as a topic of public interest.
(it is also completely acceptable to use his name as a verb lol)
Double J, your last paragraph brings up a question that is perhaps more important to us as listeners and that I've been watching people struggle with recently. A lot of people are boycotting C. Breezy's music, deleting him off their iPods, etc. And like you, I am personally not going to go down that road. R. Kelly had sex with a 14 year old girl, but that doesn't mean I skip the first 10 minutes of Space Jam when kid-Jordan attempts the impossible as "I Believe I Can Fly" plays in the background. As far as I'm concerned, especially when it comes to commercial artists, music and personal lives are unrelated. Much in the same way the Clinton-Lewinski scandal played out, Chris Brown's poor personal decisions don't change the way I feel about the way he does his job, especially the work produced before the public thought of him as a "monster".
But that's that. Everyone is different. The next subject of interest is the duet the two are scheduled to release in the near future. I hear they say time is of the essence because the raw emotion they are feeling right now will translate into the music. If this isn't a twisted publicity stunt, I don't know what is. But am I going to listen to it? Yuh damn skippy.
R and C are just people and humans and yes they should do whats right, but they just humans. O should speak up, but where are the males? I think what would have been great would be for the males of the hip hop community to stand up and say this is wrong and C is a bum and she should leave. Where are they? Think, what would Tupac have done if he was around?
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