THE STANDARD *The week, judged by one standard — applied to everyone.*
Four streams this week, one move on repeat: every time the mirror got too honest, somebody went shopping for a villain.
1. THE POSTER COUPLE FOR BLACK LOVE DID NOT FAIL BECAUSE OF HIM
Papoose did everything the script asked. The script still made him the villain.
For years they were the face of it — the spin-off, the Black Love interviews, the hats. Papoose made the drive to see his wife through her prison sentence and let his own career stall to do it. Then photos surfaced, a battle rapper put it on a stage, and the camera held on her face. That look was not anger. It was shame. Now the commentary casts him as the cheater, the bum, the bitter ex. If a man can do all of that and still end up the villain, the problem was never the man.
2. ISSA RAE BLAMED ALL MEN. THE MEN SAID "I ROCK WITH HER" FIRST.
If you have to apologize before you disagree, you already lost the point.
At Variety's Power of Women event, Issa Rae told the room it is all men's fault. The men who answered opened with "I rock with her, she's so talented" before calling it the dumbest thing they had ever heard. Flip the genders and nobody opens with a compliment. Her own show, Insecure, taught the opposite lesson. Nobody made her character cheat on Lawrence. He got his life together; hers came apart. She wrote the lesson and missed it. Too many men pretend to be boulders, then roll the first time somebody pushes.
3. THE DAY OF THE GEECHIE NEVER ENDED
A 1984 movie is still the best test of who you are.
A Soldier's Story: who was the villain? If the answer is Sergeant Waters, pay attention. Waters demanded his men be better than the clowning stereotype the world expected, and got called cruel for it. He said the day of the Geechie was over. It never ended, and the loudest voices celebrate it. Meanwhile every week brings a new boogeyman — this week, a sneaker ad. The standard Waters lived by still holds: not having is not an excuse for not doing. You want to be treated better? Act better. Be better.
THE BIGGER LESSON
Put the three side by side. A marriage fell apart and the commentary went looking for a villain. An awards speech needed a culprit and picked half the population. A community that keeps losing ground keeps finding a shoe ad to be angry at. Same move every time: when the mirror gets too honest, go find somebody else to blame. One standard means the question lands on everybody, including the person asking it.
A boogeyman is just a mirror somebody refused to look into.
THE BOOK
Papoose followed the modern script to the letter and it still ran him over. The script is broken. The Angryman Standard: Traditional Relationship Solutions for the Modern Man is the old standard, written plain, for the man who wants rules that work. theangrymanchannel.com/book.
Know a man who still apologizes before he disagrees? Forward this.
— The Angryman.