Sunday, January 30, 2011

The dangerous power of celebrity

Steve Harvey...what can I say about you that most won't or can't say. From everything that I have heard about this man, I was not at all impressed when I saw he wrote a book on relationships. I know people who have met him and all have said he is a major asshole. Now when one person says it, you may be able to just shrug it off. When multiple people say it, there must be something to it. On top of the fact that he comes off as an arrogant jackass, his personal life is no secret. As you may well know, he is divorced and scandal has been attributed to his divorces. Now his most current ex-wife is speaking out and that prompted me to revisit the question: "Why is he a best selling author of books on relationships?"

My wife and I had a discussion on this question and the consensus was simple and unfortunate, most black folks are willing to "forgive" him for his mistakes and that writing a book is his way of learning from his mistakes? Huh?? Are you listening to yourself??? We all make mistakes, that is life. We learn from those mistakes and press on to be better people. How has he learned and become a better person. From what I can tell, he is still making the same mistakes over and over again. I have a problem taking any type of moral direction from someone whose moral compass works in a circular pattern. So why do we as black folks take this? Are we just that hard up for life direction and focus that we will just take advice from anyone. That is like asking someone for directions when you are lost while driving and the person doesn't just say they don't know, they instead just gives you what they think is the right way to go. In that scenario, one or two things may happen, you may get to your destination (albeit haphazardly) or you end up more lost that when you started your journey.

What has to happen? Is it too much to ask or to expect that individuals look closely at the source of life information before accepting it? Why do we put so much faith in the words of celebrities and politicians? Are they not human and fallible as well??? If you bought his book, I hope you got something out it and that your relationships are better for it. I would wager strongly that you are as lost now as you were before the book.