May 22, 2006

Oprah Almighty

Once again I stand agog before the intelligence level of our society. Here is an article written by Ann Oldenburg for USA Today titled “The Divine Ms. Winfrey?”

I’ll admit that there was a time when I was persuaded to read books from Oprah’s Book Club until I saw the dreary pattern of victim/female victim/black female victim/on and on. I wouldn’t say the books were bad, (except that dreadful House of Sand and Fog!), they were just variations on the same theme – victimization. I got bored. Let the record show that I have been victimized in my lifetime. Seriously so. Frankly, there is no subject I would object to talking about more than my being a victim and/or a survivor. I wanted to get over it and move on with my life. And so I have. Oh, I may have a flashback now and again; nothing disabling, though. But I digress. My point is that Oprah thrives on stories of victims in an attempt to validate her own journey and triumph over being a victim herself. She lives it over and over again with every book she recommends and every sorry victim she features on her show.

As for her divinity, I say “piffle!” She has marketed herself tremendously. She tells her target market exactly what they want to hear. She’s not a goddess, she’s a marketeer! According to Oprah herself, her goal for the talk show, when it first began, was to beat out Phil Donahue. I didn’t hear anything about her wanting to save the world from itself or devoting her life to the service of others. No, she wanted ratings, and she got them. She’s also become the world’s richest woman because of those ratings. Being the richest woman makes her the most powerful woman. I suppose we have been conditioned to believe power equals divinity. No?

Here’s what I see: Oprah is making her life’s journey public. She’s working out all of her private issues in the living rooms of damn near every female in America. She turns on her urban-speak to appeal to those in the ghettos, and she wears the posh clothes to appeal to those in suburbia. She’s got a lovely smile and can give the impression of being completely genuine. She feels your pain because she has pain too. She comes from pain. The fact of the matter is she’s damaged goods and is working through it just like the rest of us. The other fact of the matter is Oprah has twisted and mutilated the trust factor over the years to where she has the women of America believing she cares about them. The ultimate fact is the women of America are Oprah’s personal validation. Ladies, it is you who are the saviors in this story.

Don’t let Oprah fool you. She has made millions off of you, and will continue to do so as long as you let her. Her philanthropy serves her double the amount it serves her beneficiaries. The saintly figures throughout history have never been loud, flashy, or rich. Those nearing divinity have never been so gaudy as to give away cars and consistently remind the poor of their destitution. Simply put, Oprah is living the ultimate American Dream. There is nothing divine about getting rich. There is nothing divine about giving to others in order achieve a higher self-esteem.

Hey there Oprah, I think you’re great. I love to get into the muck of the gossip on your show and see the celebrities on your stage. I salute your ability to become rich beyond your wildest dreams. But divine? I think not. You’re searching just like the rest of us, and I think it’s a shame how you commercialize such a deep and personal quest. As for the rest of you, keep Oprah on the ground where she belongs.

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