Its Always Political

I'm really glad that this gets to be my first politics & reality crossover post. With all the different opinions and discourses floating around, here are my thoughts.

While there is no exact LI chart for how much viewership is African American, from the takes I've seen from AA's, I believe it to be a considerable amount. Many of the takes on their relationship derive from 3 primary arguments.

Black love in media (or the lack thereof)

Diversity

Black women & their downplaying

Thoughts:

Starting from the beginning of their relationship, we know that neither KC nor Aniya was picked, so they ended up being put together. Over time, their relationship became more than just them being placed together. KC seemed to believe they were the strongest couple in the Villa at the time. However, as more problems began to arise in the relationship, first with the challenges and then with the Sol of it all, the audience began to see something that Aniya wouldn't till much later. Many of the people who have discussed this relationship BEFORE KC revealed his true character often reference when he called her "the blueprint". I truly believe that this was his way of manipulating both her and the audience. He played on the instance of them being the only black couple in the villa when he started talking about his mother and his sister, and black women. He instantly had the ENTIRE black community that watches the show behind him. Throughout history, black women have been put down and belittled. KC used the black woman's experience to further his own agenda to keep himself in the villa. This is further exacerbated by his casa experience and sly comments about Aniya. Aniya was not willing to give up the cat, not for nothing, and why would she? She had practically just met the man. As soon as he linked with Titi, Aniya was out the window. Also, his actions reflect the black man and woman's stereotypical interactions. How? Aniya felt as though she was giving him everything. He still wanted more. "I didn't get picked; no one was behind my door." He forgets to mention her and how no one was also behind her door. He focuses the narrative strictly on himself, which is like Love Island. However, he doesn't even try to handle the situation delicately; there was no sense of class in his movements. Aniya, having basic self-respect for herself, made her a grandma. His not focusing on her in the slightest after their arguments perpetuates the idea of the black man not caring for the black woman. The black woman is supposed to take care of the black man, but when she doesn't, she becomes either aggressive (like how he described her when he brought Titi back or during Movie night) or unattentive. This, however, doesn't apply to the black man. He called her out of her name; he disrespected her verbally, emotionally, and physically. When he got to casa, he found a woman who was willing to give it up for him, and he moved on. Quick. Their relationship, to me, sparked so much discourse about black love in media because it depicts the harmful stereotypical relationship between a black man and a black woman. The woman has to take the brunt of everything the man does, and the man gets off scot-free, but because he's a man, it's all right. This relationship is also furthered by the idea of the black man being the most hated man in America.

Summary

Their relationship intersects with racial and gender politics, specifically the politics regarding black men and women within the diaspora of the black community. There is a lot of source material straight from the show I could have included, but the post was starting to get a little lengthy...

I'm very glad to have this be my first intersectionality conversation through reality TV! Aniya being black and a woman does matter, and when it comes to this conversation, race and gender should not be looked at separately.

MOVIE NIGHTTTT! This episode was loaded, so I'm going to separate my takes and feelings on what we saw by each couple's clip in order.

Kayda & Zach

Truthfully, I do feel as though he was wrong to not tell Kayda that Alannah (the connection he was exploring) had left. He came in as a nepo baby, used that as his get-to-know-me, then started actually talking. Personally, I think he's childish and says a lot of stuff that is kind of weird. However, I genuinely think seeing Kayda cry hurt him, and he was right. He couldn't say anything but sorry. Also, everyone was backing up how he behaved in casa; he was always talking about Kayda. I don't see a world in which he would have brought back Alannah. Kayda's crying hurt me too cause that has to be tough to watch, but I do hope they can move past this. They're some of the funniest ones in the villa.

Aniya & KC

This was a show. Aniya's whole relationship with KC was basically squashed here. I don't think they're even going to be cordial now. With her seeing allll the disrespectful things he said, he's done. I do feel like the girls could've toned it down a little to let Aniya & KC speak first and then pitch in, but at the same time, those are her girls, so why wouldn't they call out her being disrespected? Also, KC KNEW that wasn't going to go well for him, so again, all he could really say was sorry and let Aniya get what she had to get off her chest. The discourse, specifically with this couple, on "black love" or "black struggle love" is also INSANE. How do you want this girl to be with this man after actively getting belittled by him? Which is why I'm so glad that once he stood up like he was big and bad, Aniya walked over and got right in his face. Cause, genuinely, who are you, Equilibrium Constant (It's a chemistry thing...)? I could say so much on this episode, but moving on..

Melanie & Sincere

I knew that once this episode aired, there was going to be little to no chance of them staying together. Melanie has been, and will always be, my client. Sincere has also been my client. Before you say, "If you're for Melanie, you should be anti-Sincere," hear me out. I think that Sincere has trouble articulating what he actually wants. Whenever he has the chance to explore, he always feels the need to protect the other person's feelings—which keeps getting him in trouble. Sincere genuinely got caught LYING to Mel's face at least 3 times. I cannot defend that; he had me so hooked I honestly forgot just how BAD he's done that girl. However, it really is in Melanie's court on whether she's going to leave him or not. He said he wanted to close it off with Mel in this episode to Aniya. That might not be happening. Sincere's problem is that he doesn't recognize that his people-pleasing hurts other people, and that at the end of the day, this is Love Island. Someone will always get hurt.

I was working on my Universal Justice classwork, and, of course, there was a discussion forum assignment. Truthfully, when it comes to these types of assignments, I usually just find one that will be quick and easy for me to answer. However, today I decided to pick one that actually sparked my interest. Q: "Afghan Women are the biggest current victims?" My response was:

Human rights are supposed to be universal. If we start comparing victims to see who the "biggest" current victim is, we are creating competition through human rights rather than recognizing our shared obligation to these victims. To sum up, rather than trying to understand who the biggest victim is, we should recognize that all victims of human rights violations deserve our protection, concern, and help. The ranking of victims perpetuates an idea that is, in a way, against human rights. While Afghan women face numerous human rights violations, they are a part of a larger global pattern of human rights violations that need to be addressed collectively. ———

This is NOT AT ALL to say that these women are not victims. However, comparing people's pain does nothing to solve the problem, and ranking pain causes more harm than help. To me, it's essentially putting victims against each other and basically weighing who has been done the worst, and that just doesn't sit right with me, honestly.