Its all about the O

I have a confession to make. Now let me preface it by saying I am generally a very accepting and kind person.  I certainly have my moments of impatience, arrogance and self-righteousness, but I try to own up to those things quickly and make amends for them as completely as I can.  I love people very much and the feelings and needs (particularly emotional needs) of those around me are of utmost importance to me. I had a very good friend who used to make comments on a fairly regular basis--and in a somewhat irritated tone--to the effect, "Well, you like everyone," or "Yeah, but you're nice to everybody."  I believe the irritation was because he saw this trait as evidence of poor judgment skills. :)

But every now and then, someone comes along who just grates on my--who I can simply find no affection in my heart for.  This was brought to my remembrance a few weeks ago when Doug and I were watching the NAACP Image Awards.  At one point, Oprah was mentioned as a nominee in one of the categories.  They didn't cut to a shot of Oprah in the audience, so I concluded that she must not be there.  You would think that an event that centers entirely around honoring people of color in the media would be important to someone like her, but she wasn't in attendance.  Perhaps it was a scheduling conflict or maybe she had the flu.  My guess?  With women like Aretha Franklin and Ruby Dee in the audience, she knew she wouldn't be the most revered person in the room.  I don't think she can stand to be so obviously outshone.  That's right, you're hearing me correctly:  I can't stand Oprah.

The name "Oprah" comes from Hebrew, meaning "desperately seeking validation".   It seems to me that this woman does everything that she does to try to make herself the center of everyone's adulation.  Now before you legions and legions of Oprah fans start blasting me with comments about all the money she gives away and all the charity she does, let me give you a thought to chew on:  she's worth more than a billion dollars.  She makes somewhere in the 200 million range each year.  She donates roughly 10% of that to charity.  That's what I pay in tithing, all other charity and generosities aside.  Now granted, to the people who need the supplies it purchases, $20 million is $20 million, but lets not blow out of proportion how "charitable" she truly is.  But my bigger issue with it is that she makes a show of all her giving--literally.  She always makes sure the whole dang world knows about every dollar she gives away, every charitable task she's taken on and ever free spa weekend she hands out.  In the end, her "giving" always someone ends up being about Oprah.

She started her own magazine several years ago (which I refuse on principle to ever read) and what did she name it?  O. The Oprah Magazine.  But of course! Nothing else would do.  And what is on the cover of this magazine each month?  Pictures of different celebrities they do major interviews with? No.  Photos of the wonderful "real people" that are written about in its pages?  No way.  Perhaps occasionally photos of some of the children helped by her famous African school?  Alas, no.  Every single month, month after month, year after year, the cover shot is a different glamour photo of, you guessed it, Oprah.  

The one thing that really got to me the most, though, was probably something she did a few years ago.  Being oh-so-generous and thoughtful, she decided to gift some newlyweds with surprise gift at their wedding.  Ok, great, pat yourself on the back, and be sure to bring along a camera crew so that EVERYONE ELSE can pat you on the back, too, because you (yes, you, who could buy and sell Poland) bought a young couple a set of dishes.  But the bigger surprise was that she "gifted" the couples by making an unannounced stop at their reception.  Oh how kind of her.  What does that really do?  It suddenly makes the most important day of  their lives all about Oprah.  Obviously she sees nothing wrong with this because in her world, everything is  about Oprah.

The whole kerfuffle last year with the Hermes store in Paris was a perfect example.  She showed up after closing and was told that she couldn't run in and make a purchase.  Well, welcome to the world that the rest of us live in, where we don't get everything we want, particularly if we're trying to get someone to bend the rules for us.  She wasn't denied entrance because she was Black.  She was denied entrance because someone didn't care who she was.  She made it a race issue so she had a socially acceptable reason to be ticked off at being denied entrance to a closed store.  The whole thing reminds me a bit of Eddie Murphy's old SNL Gumby skit in which, dressed in the big green suit, he would bark, "I'm Gumby, dammit!"  That's how ridiculous the whole thing was to me.  What she was really upset about was that either she wasn't recognized (heaven forbid!) or she was recognized and the employee simply didn't care--oh, the humanity!!  In her head (undoubtedly covered with lacking-TV-perfection tresses) she was probably barking "I'm Oprah, dammit!" and furious that no one cared.

But you know what? I don't care, either.  It seems to be so important to her that the whole world love her, but I don't.  If you are devoted Oprah fan, please don't take offense--please don't hold it against me.  I don't care if you love her.  Obviously some one must.  I simply cannot understand the appeal.  Unfortunately, I have no desire to understand either.  So watch her if you must, give her the ratings she so desperately needs to feel good about herself, but don't sing her praises to me.