Should Black Women Walk Away from “Think Like a Man?”

Image via Wikipedia. Steve Harvey displaying his watery blood-shot eyes and giant horse-teeth.

Umm..let me think about this question posed by the folks at Your Black World.com (http://www.yourblackworld.com/2011/12/14/ybw-question-of-the-day-do-you-plan-to-see-the-new-steve-harvey-film/) for about two seconds here.

Okay. Yes.

The question to me is not whether or not women should see this movie.

It’s a shallow question as to whether or not someone wants to see a formula sitcom movie with an attractive cast or if they have something more productive and enlightening to do with their time and/or want to save $15-$20 bucks for something else. The question should be, why is it not okay for women to actually think like, and be, women?

I don’t know Steve Harvey. Never met him. Never went to any of his shows. Saw him on “Kings of Comedy,” but didn’t laugh at his chitlin circuit jokes. Earthquake and Bruce Bruce were funnier in my humble estimation. And at least they were comedians and not trying to peddle themselves as self-help gurus pushing a meaningless and impossible to fulfill slogan on people.

When you tell women to “Think Like a Man,” you are also telling them that they’re not acceptable as they are. It’s not a cute slogan or catch phrase and it’s not funny. If I had a daughter who was told to “think like a man” by someone, I would tell that person to go talk a wandering stroll off a short Jersey pier somewhere. If someone said that to my wife, she’d tell that person to go set up a picnic in a busy intersection.

I have no reason to believe that Steve Harvey is an expert in relationships or marriage any more than the drunk down the hallway. He’s been divorced and re-married like many people these days, which is no big deal. He has an angry ex-wife (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzX2D0yfDUs) and brother (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvzGX1IHdrM), which kind of lead me to feel he must not know how to do that much better than most people from what I can see in terms of results.

“Thinking Like a Man” might have gotten Steve Harvey a bestseller and a movie deal and got him on talk shows he otherwise would never have been on, but it also got him a resentful ex-wife and brother, and some depressing movie reviews (http://jezebel.com/5867730/think-like-a-man-is-everything-that-is-wrong-with-the-world-and-will-make-you-want-to-stab-your-eyeballs-with-a-fork). The whole “Think Like a Man” concept is wrapped up in egotism and sexism; that women are not good enough and have to think like men in order to be happy. It sounds cute when we live in a shallow and materialistic time, but it’s nothing more than a hollow slogan and (to me) a ridiculous demand.

I say let black women think like women and let Steve Harvey go sell his supper club jokes, strip mall clothing line and whatever else he can hustle. Booyah!

Summer Camp for Jews of Color

Here’s a link to a piece in the great newspaper “The New York Times” about a summer camp program for Jews of Color:

• http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/13/us/13religion.html

Link to original piece:

• Prayer, and Bug Juice, at a Summer Camp for Jews of Color (nytimes.com)