Le sigh …
Azealia …
Banks …
Double Le sigh!
Why the respiratory distress about this young lady?
Because I have a love/”hate” thing going with Ms. Banks.
I love that she marches to the beat of her own symphony.
But I cannot stand some of the things that come out of her mouth … or her Twitter fingers.
The music that she makes is actually pretty dope.
But I really hate rooting for her only to watch her crash and burn due to circumstances she seems to have created herself.
And watching sis on this now legendary episode of “Wild ‘n Out” was no exception.
So without further ado, I present to you, 3 things I learned from Ms. Banks this week and this train wreck of a public image she, circumstances, and (sometimes) outside forces, have created.
- If you can dish it out, you have to be able to take it.
I watched sis curl up and literally cry about someone calling her ugly and making fun of her teeth. I felt bad for her because I hate to see people cry.
But …
Then …
I thought back to those racist and homophobic tweets she made about Zayn Malik; and the time she said called an airline employee a f***; or the time she said made a public call for action for a group of black men to “run a train” on Sarah Palin and for someone to “film it and put it on worldstar.”
Yeah, I can’t make this stuff up.
Now, I’m clearly not that far off the deep end as far as inflammatory comments are concerned, but if we’ve ever had a conversation, you know that my sarcasm level can be on a hundred, thousand, trillion.
But if you’re quick witted and throw that same energy back at me, I might just drop a thug tear.
Why? Because sometimes those of us with the biggest mouths are the most sensitive.
And I had to check myself and make a mental not to either a. dial back the sarcasm or b. remember that I’m not the only one with a sharp tongue.
In other words, you’re free to say what you want, you just have to be ready for the consequences, which sometimes is exactly what you dished out.
- It is ok to remove yourself from any situation.
This one is going to be short and sweet. Ms. Banks was clearly uncomfortable; you could see it in her body language as she swayed slightly on that stage, eyes wide and full of nerves.
And she should have left … flat out … no apologies or explanations needed.
What’s the worst that could have happened?
She wouldn’t have been invited back?
She would have damaged her reputation the show? The network?
Either option would have been better than what eventually transpired.
Simply put, if you’re ever uncomfortable somewhere, for whatever reason, LEAVE.
- We need to be careful about what we consume.
I’m not talking about tracking our macros … I mean that’s important too, but that’s not the point.
Here are the facts.
Ms. Banks has demonstrated some “questionable” behavior over the years.
If I’m aware of that fact, MTV is aware.
They hired Ms. Banks anyway and put her in a situation that a blind man could see would explode.
Then they turned on the cameras.
Chaos ensued.
And we watched.
Do you see where I’m going with this?
Now, I’m not going to get all of the way on my conspiracy theory soapbox, but I’m going to put my big toe on the corner when I say this:
Everything we consume, whether it’s on traditional TV or through social media is carefully constructed. And I feel like sometimes, we’re becoming accustomed to watching car wreck after car wreck. And maybe one day, it will get to a point where a car wreck is no longer entertaining. Then we’ll want a pile up; then we’ll want a plane crash; then we’ll want … I don’t know.
And in the meantime, regardless about how we feel about Ms. Banks, she’s still a person.
And my concern is that we’ll get so caught up in this perception of public figures in the media and watching them in their respective car crashes, that we’ll forget that.
And the point when we start forgetting that people are people, is not somewhere I think we can afford to go.
Until next time folks,
Check your sarcasm levels,
Break out with you’re uncomfortable,
And don’t get caught up in the carefully constructed matrix.
Love and Light,
Erin
What did you say?
You miss me when I’m gone?
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