In listening to all the reactions to Oprah for Barack Obama, and how good she will be in helping him become president, there is one reaction that has not been mentioned. And that is anger at Oprah.
My anger at her is not simply that I support Hillary Clinton and resent Oprah using her bully pulpit to stump for one I don’t support.
What I really resent is that she has taken a vehicle that was presumably for all and reduced it to a vehicle for just some. Because of her overt actions and words, in recent days she has made it impossible to ever see her in the same light again. That hurts!
Her show is no longer a show, or magazine, for the benefit of all individuals, but a megaphone for a political position that, by it’s very nature, will be divisive because many will not agree, including me.
Among the millions of women who watch her and read her words are a myriad of women of different political beliefs — Democrat, Republican, Independent, non-believers of any political party. But those differences were never at issue and we were allowed to join together in seeking a world devoid of disparity and to be united as women. But that has all changed now.
I have no problem with Oprah supporting Obama. That is her personal choice.
But her show was aimed at and for the masses, regardless of political or religious belief. Thus I have a real problem with her shoving her personal view down my throat when I don’t agree and have no way of presenting the other side.
It will be interesting to me how many women will continue to watch her and read her, with unquestioning loyalty. Politics and religion are the most personal and divisive topics on Earth. If there is anything she has taught in her years on TV is for women to think independently, for ourselves. I hope if there is anything we have learned, it is to not blindly follow one anyone deemed a God, or Goddess, even if it is Oprah Winfrey.
I truly doubt that I will stand alone in saying I will not watch her again, or read her magazine. Even after the election. The magic is gone. She no longer represents me and never will again.
I wonder what her sponsors and advertisers will do when she begins stumping for Obama, at the expense of all others. Will she really be a benefit? Maybe not. There just may be whiplash from those who supported her that she never believed would happen.
Maybe she reached too far, taking for granted we would blindly follow. We’ll soon know.
