A Little Reality

Goes a long way.

Right now I'm thinking about the way that happenings in the media can cause you to examine their real-life implications.

The Apprentice continues this week. Last week, of course, they fired Omarosa. I didn't watch her departure, but believe me, I'd been waiting.

Like Dubya, Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth is one of those people who I hope is decent in real life. Because her televised persona has me reeling.

I think the people @ Black Enterprise got it right:

"...there is a large and growing contingent of black women professionals, including The View's Star Jones, and many of the female employees at BLACK ENTERPRISE, who believe that Omarosa's behavior projects the most negative stereotype of black females in corporate America: angry, conniving, defensive and impossible to work with"

It is sad to say, and it is something that I don't care to discuss in great detail right now. But people like Omarosa are dangerous. Never mind how they behave as individuals. When their behavior is broadcast in the media...

Arrrgh!

As I said in the Television Without Pity forums:

"'I think of my mother, my aunts and cousins, my friends, and myself...Hard working (Strong Black) Women* doing our best to stay afloat. And then I think of Oma, and I want to give her a shake.

[One of the reasons I dislike Omarosa is because of t]he fallout that I knew would come as a result of her behavior. When I think of all the media sheep who were watching her and are now dumb enough to have lowered their expectations and narrowed their minds, along the lines of unspoken statements such as, "So. This is how a black woman behaves on the job...'"

Because of our culture, people from marginalized groups (i.e. minorities) who are thrown into media environments where they are among mainstream groups (i.e. Caucasians) are seen as "ambassadors" or accurate representatives of their "people". You can use the explanation I gave, juxtaposing any contrasting groups--women among men, young people working with older adults. I don't care. Naive consumers suck up these images, often heralding them as accurate. I don't need the kind of representation that Omarosa brings.

*mocking Omarosa's public claims that her failure on The Apprentice depended from the fact that people resent her being a "Strong Black Woman". She failed and was eliminated because of her behavior. No more, no less.