So I wake up around 9:00am this past Sunday; watch Meet the Press, read a little of Berger and Luckmann's The Social Construction of Reality and then decide to reward myself with some hilariousness. Now, I didn't know in what form this hilariousness would come forth into my life so I begin to start with television. I wanted to see what horrible show I could lose myself in for a few hours... after a couple seconds of channel surfing I settle on 'Tool Academy' (now reflecting back I should have looked a LITTLE longer, but you'll have my ADD to blame for this extreme decision). Tool Academy is a new VH1 show on which frustrated women bring their lying, cheating, egomaniac, and in many cases BROKE boyfriends on the show to 'straighten them out.' The show starts off by the tools girlfriends telling the tools that they are going on a show to compete for the title of 'Mr. Awesome,' however soon after arriving on the show they realize they are going to be schooled on how not to act like total morons.
I definitely think I lost at least 22 brain cells after watching this, but I digress... it was my own free will. The first thirty something minutes of the show consisted of the male contestants doing all types of ignorant things on camera while their girlfriends watched in a back room and cried. After the men are told they are being challenged to shed their tool-ish ways the tools and girlfriends watch the tools actions that were filmed previously. The girlfriends cry again and the tools feel bad for a millisecond, offer some fake sympathy, and all is well.
Their first challenge vastly approaches, in which they test their communication skills. They have to build a bed together; the tools are to read the instructions while their girlfriends build the bed. Several comments from the tools such as; 'you're stupid,' 'shut-up,' and 'I quit' later the challenge is over... I knew for sure the guy that just gave up was going home, but I was proven wrong when Dimitri 'The Greek God' gets voted off. Check out his girlfriends 'ultimatum' here....
What Dimitri basically said to pacify her was 'Ok, I love you ALRIGHT... NOW GET IN THE CAR... b*$&h' (c) BobbyG
... and then the other contestants with their comments are HILARIOUS!! 'She's stupid, her man ain't gon change.' That's so typical, they see clearly the wrong in someone else's situation but totally disregard that they're dealing with practically THE SAME THING...but that's denial for you. I guess that makes coping with their stupidity that much easier... by focusing on the wrong in someone ELSE'S situation instead of dealing with their own issues.
I mean I would have a lil more respect for this show if I thought it would impose change, but it's not. To me this show is the equivalent of some girl who just found out her cheatin, lyin boyfriend cheated for the 99th time so she doesn't answer his calls for a whole day, plays her Beyonce', Keyshia Cole, Mariah C. ladies empowerment records of her choice on repeat, listens to her girls repeatedly remind her of what she ALREADY KNOWS (her boyfriend ain’t ish) but the next day she goes back to answering his calls and everything is peachy keen. Now don't get me wrong, I know relationships take work, and people make mistakes, no one's perfect... and all that jazz but COME ON!! You just got BLATANTLY disrespected on national TV! He doesn't care about you... Some fights aren't worth fighting. If you don't stand for anything you will fall for everything. So do yourself a favor and stand for the respect of yourself... cause if you don't respect yourself best believe your man isn't going to either. Besides, you have to realize that you putting up with his mess is only ENABLING your man from being a better person. He has what he wants, he's comfortable, he is doing whatever he wishes with minimal if any repercussions at your expense. Think about it... If you're rewarding his disrespectful ways by staying with him, what motivation does he have to change?
*Steps off of soap box... NOW.*