G
Gandalf Grey
Guest
Forget The Color Purple: Oprah's all about the Green
By Jason Miller
Created Sep 12 2007 - 11:02am
- from Thomas Paine's Corner [1]
"The other kids were all into black power," Oprah told the Tribune in the
mid-1980s. But "I wasn't a dashiki kind of woman . Excellence was the best
deterrent to racism and that became my philosophy."
Excellence indeed. Few would deny that Oprah Winfrey has achieved an
extraordinary degree of THAT, at least by our society's warped standards.
Witty, articulate, attractive, beloved by tens of millions, and fabulously
wealthy, she is the "I pulled myself up by my bootstraps" queen of a vast
media empire. Oprah is a living embodiment of the American Dream. What is
perhaps most inspiring to her genuflecting disciples is that Oprah rose to
her stratospheric position of wealth and influence from an impoverished
start in a socioeconomic hierarchy still largely dominated by white males.
Oprah Winfrey ostensibly possesses the mythical Midas Touch, a generous
spirit, deep spiritual wisdom, and, in the eyes of those blinded by their
adoration, the credentials of a saint. Yet despite appearing destined for
canonization, Oprah injects heavy doses of infectious pus into the already
deeply abscessed wound of the American psyche.
How could anyone who's noted for having said, "Let your light shine. Shine
within you so that it can shine on someone else. Let your light shine," have
such a pernicious effect on our culture?
Let's "count the ways.with a passion put to use."
To truly understand the depth of the damage Oprah inflicts on our society,
we need to step outside of our bourgeois indoctrination and see her for what
she truly represents. Manifesting the Horatio Alger Myth on steroids, Oprah
is a wet dream come true for our criminal class of ruling elites sometimes
referred to as the plutocracy. She provides them with "irrefutable" and
ubiquitous anecdotal evidence which "proves" the idiotic delusion that
America is a meritocracy where everyone has a realistic chance of getting
rich, if they just work hard enough. The reality is that the richest 20% of
US Americans own over 80% of the wealth and the long-term trend has been
toward an ever increasing concentration of treasure into a smaller number of
strong-boxes(1).
Comfortably administering her dominion from "The Promised Land," her 42 acre
estate near Santa Barbara, CA (which she purchased for a cool $50 million),
Oprah surpassed the $1.5 billion mark in net worth in 2006 while earning the
tidy sum of $260 million. See what happens when you devote yourself to
excellence (and narcissism) instead of "wasting your time" parading about in
a dashiki to pursue "ridiculous" ideals like civil rights and
egalitarianism? Others did that for her. And now Oprah's very existence
proves that economic inequalities and barriers to upward mobility have been
eliminated for all of us, right?
Well, not exactly. Consider that in the United States "the average
African-American family has about 60 percent of the income as the average
white family...[and] the average African-American family has only 18 percent
of the wealth of the average white family(2)." Meanwhile, in the most
affluent nation in the world (in which 12% of the population is black),
"Saint Oprah" is the only black billionaire and one of only two blacks to
make the Forbes 400.
Despite the innumerable exploitative workings of the capitalist pyramid
scheme which enable the obscene opulence of Oprah and her miniscule number
of peers (while concurrently damning billions of others to live in varying
degrees of economic misery), she certainly has no qualms. In fact, she
gushes about her unconscionable accumulation of treasures. From the 4/11/06
People Magazine article, Oprah Winfrey: Wealth Is 'A Good Thing:'
[Speaking in Baltimore on Monday at a fundraiser for Beth Tfiloh Dahan
Community School, Winfrey told the audience, "I have lots of things, like
all these Manolo Blahniks. I have all that and I think it's great. I'm not
one of those people like, 'Well, we must renounce ourselves.' No, I have a
closet full of shoes and it's a good thing."
Winfrey, 52, who is reportedly worth more than $1 billion, said she doesn't
feel guilty about her wealth. "I was coming back from Africa on one of my
trips," she said. "I had taken one of my wealthy friends with me. She said,
'Don't you just feel guilty? Don't you just feel terrible?' I said, 'No, I
don't. I do not know how me being destitute is going to help them.' Then I
said when we got home, 'I'm going home to sleep on my Pratesi sheets right
now and I'll feel good about it.' "(3)]
The Oprah mystique affords her and her fellow members of the opulent ruling
class a potent psychological weapon (which they wield like a cudgel) to
sustain their cultural hegemony, thus perpetuating their virtual monopoly on
the wealth and power of the US. And be it conscious or otherwise, Oprah has
betrayed her own race and class by shilling her core philosophy that "not
only are you responsible for your life, but doing the best at this moment
puts you in the best place for the next moment." While personal
responsibility is undeniably important and human beings do have the
potential to pull themselves out of difficult circumstances (i.e. abject
poverty), for every Oprah who "makes it," there are tens of millions,
regardless of race, who work tenaciously and are never able to overcome the
tremendous barriers erected by the ruling class. Yet Ms. Winfrey would have
us believe that if she can do it, anyone can. And if you don't, just what
the hell is wrong with you?
Aside from the significant impediments that face all US Americans (excepting
those who are born into our de facto aristocracy and can rise to the top
regardless of how lazy, depraved, and ignorant they may be-think George W.
Bush), many blacks face nearly overwhelming structural barriers which keep
them mired in chronic destitution.
Thanks to the courageous efforts of civil rights activists,
institutionalized and overt racism are fading in the United States. However,
Oprah's very existence as a black billionaire and the "you can do and be
anything you want if you work hard" pseudo-wisdom she so gleefully dispenses
to the masses would indicate that America's poor (and its impoverished
blacks in particular) no longer face incredibly long odds as they employ
vigorous efforts to improve their socioeconomic conditions.
Consider this excerpt from Paul Street's "Skipping Past Structural Racism"
(http://www.blackcommentator.com/85/85_think_street.html [2]):
".reflecting (via e-mail) on a commentary in which liberal New York Times
columnist Bob Herbert argued that inner-city blacks' material poverty
reflected their own poor values and behavior. "There is a need for" a
"values discussion" among "the poorest African-Americans," my correspondent
acknowledges. "But," he added:
"there are three points to add. One is that [the] hypersegregation [of urban
blacks into nearly all-black de-industrialized ghettoes] creates objective
conditions that incentivize (perhaps even require) certain anti-social
behaviors. The second is whether the values evidenced by the poorest are
actually anti-American values. If we consider that the norms of the
protestant work ethic have been devalued in American society - consider
conspicuous consumption, state gambling expansion, frightening
anti-intellectualism, Wall Street's shenanigans, sexual revolution, and that
recreational drug use knows no racial barrier - how different is the
"underclass" from the rest of America? The final point is the somewhat sad
notion that those who have been most disadvantaged by American society must
somehow quickly develop the values and norms necessary to overcome those
disadvantages, to "function," concomitant with undertaking political
struggle to dismantle structural barriers. What is more is that if we accept
that the values Herbert holds in high esteem are not reinforced generally
throughout American society, we are absurdly expecting one group of
super-disadvantaged people - without additional assistance and against the
mainstream of American society - to somehow morph into some kind of
ubervolk.
"As the great 'historical materialist' Karl Marx once wrote,'men make their
own history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make
it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances
directly encountered, given, and transmitted from the past.'"
Hard as it may be for Oprah and her fellow moneyed elites to fathom, Ronald
Reagan's "welfare queen" was a pernicious suburban legend, and that most
people, given an environment affording them reasonably accessible options,
wouldn't consciously choose to perpetually wallow in the misery, indignity
and self-destruction associated with chronic and inter-generational poverty.
Not everyone is blessed with exceptional talent, intellect, or drive, but
that doesn't mean they deserve a life of suffering so that a tiny fraction
of humanity can live as Croesus did.
With the vast numbers of people she influences, Ms. Winfrey plays an
instrumental role in sustaining the false consciousness that keeps us in the
poor and working classes pursuing the one in 20 million dream she projects,
staunchly opposing the creation of viable publicly funded social uplift
programs, and fighting amongst ourselves based in large part upon the
malevolent lie that personal responsibility is the ONLY reason so many
blacks remain "ghettoized," unemployed, drug-addicted, and imprisoned.
Man the barricades, Ms. Winfrey, here come the "barbarian hordes" to raid
our treasury!
But Oprah didn't reach her perch atop the capitalist pyramid as one of its
chief apologists simply by virtue of her existence as an anomalous opulent
black woman (portrayed as what could be the "norm" if only more people
subscribed to her "wisdom"). She also plays a very active role in
contributing to the bourgeoisie cause.
A common lever of appeasement employed by our de facto aristocracy in the
United States is to exercise faux benevolence by making charitable
donations. After accumulating shameless affluence through abject
exploitation of the Earth and its sentient beings, they show the masses
their "humanity" by giving a mere fraction of their ill-gotten gains to a
pet cause or two.
Oprah is no exception. Despite being known for her "generosity," she remains
one of the wealthiest people on the planet, maintaining her sprawling estate
in California and, at last count, four other lavish abodes with high dollar
zip codes. Bear in mind that Forbes recently gauged Oprah's fortune to be
about $1.5 billion.
Meanwhile, her crowning philanthropic achievement is her Oprah Winfrey
Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa. This "charitable act" is
cynical and self-serving. Its chief beneficiaries are those with a strong
interest in maintaining the maleficent inequitable distribution of wealth.
Here's why:
1. Oprah invested $40 million in this school, a mere 2.67% of her net worth.
2. For those questioning the use of the word "invested," this was indeed a
shrewd and calculated investment for Oprah. By "donating" this relatively
paltry sum, she will reap huge dividends in terms of increased popularity,
goodwill, power, and influence. Her Harpo juggernaut will continue to gain
momentum.
3. In a world where 30,000 children die of starvation each day, Oprah has
elected to build a posh, luxurious academy equipped to educate a mere 152
girls. Winfrey's scheme was such an abuse of resources that the South
African government withdrew its support of the project.
4. In a vain quest to "make her childhood right", Oprah is "rescuing" the
poor black female attendees of her school by providing them with a regal,
lavish existence. Just what the world needs-152 more highly educated
elitists who are immersed in the paradigm that the suffering of the many to
ensure the comfort of the few is the "way of the world."
5. Oprah's principal lesson to her "girls"? Looking to her as their example,
they will learn that once they have attained their affluence and power they
will need to ease their conscience and help maintain the social order. The
lesson is that to do so they will simply need to donate a sliver of their
bounty in such a way that it enhances their public image and fulfills their
narcissistic needs.
As we prepare to examine Oprah's most deleterious effect on our society,
consider the depth and breadth of her impact as characterized by Vanity
Fair:
"Oprah Winfrey arguably has more influence on the culture than any
university president, politician, or religious leader, except perhaps the
Pope."
Biographer Kitty Kelly added:
"As a woman, she has wielded an unprecedented amount of influence over the
American culture and psyche.There has been no other person in the 20th
century whose convictions and values have impacted the American public in
such a significant way. . I see her as probably the most powerful woman in
our society. I think Oprah has influenced every medium that she's touched."
Now let's analyze one of Oprah's recent and most spiritually corrosive
"contributions" to the fetid cesspool we euphemistically call a culture in
the United States. In February of this year, Ms.Winfrey used her leviathan
media platform to introduce her minions to The Secret, a book that
characterizes Christ as a "prosperity teacher." Leave it to the high
priestess of Mammon to promote a means to overcome the seemingly
irreconcilable contradictions between the compassionate teachings of Jesus
and the avaricious selfishness of capitalism.
Here's what the Oprah Winfrey Show website had to say about The Secret:
"It's making headlines around the world-and buzz just keeps building. Some
say it's the secret to creating the life you truly want-losing weight,
making money, finding love. See why people everywhere are talking about The
Secret."
James Arthur Ray, whose "credentials" include, ".almost going bankrupt,
[which] forced him to focus on the life he truly wanted. Now he runs a
multimillion-dollar corporation dedicated to teaching people how to create
wealth in all areas of their lives," joined forces with Winfrey to plug The
Secret, a book rife with myriad inane mythologies the ruling class loves to
perpetuate.
Again, from Oprah's website:
[According to James, there is scientific evidence to back up the spiritual
practices and laws defined in The Secret. "Science tells us that everything
is energy, and so your thoughts are energy. Your body, your cash, your
car-everything you think is solid, if you put it under a high-powered
microscope, it's just a field of energy and a rate of vibration," he says.
"And so are we. So if you think you're this meat suit running around, you
have to think again."
"One way to describe this energy is by comparing it radio waves, "The
frequency you give out through your thoughts and your emotions is what you
have a tendency to manifest in your life," Michael says. "Whether those
thoughts and emotions are conscious or unconscious, it doesn't matter."
This means that if you are sending out the same negative energy over an
over-whether thoughts or feelings-you will attract like energy back to you.
James says that when bad things happen people might ask, "Oh, God, why me?"
"Because it is you," he says(4).]
Forget the immediate insult of James's barrage of pseudo-scientific
gibberish. People have been using that technique to peddle their snake oil
for years. The core issue here is that in The Secret, James and company are
hawking a particularly toxic brew. Oprah, Secret author Rhonda Byrne, and
their fellow hucksters would have us believe that Tony Robbins or Gandhi
would be equally at home applying The Secret's "spiritual practices" based
on "scientific evidence" to create the life they "truly want."
At first blush its obvious remarketing of the shopworn "philosophies"
related to the power of positive thinking seems benign enough, but thanks to
its Oprah's validation sparking its wild popularity and wide acceptance, The
Secret is significantly reinforcing some very nasty strands of our cultural
DNA, which is no small blessing to the moneyed elites atop our economic
hierarchy.
While to a person who values critical thought and the pursuit of true
meaning in their life The Secret would serve little purpose beyond perhaps
kindling or toilet paper, future archaeologists may hail it as a Rosetta
Stone to unlock the mysteries of our perverse, mean-spirited, and jejune
society. Byrne was careful to incorporate nearly every revolting aspect of
American culture, including narcissism, self-absorption, victim-blaming,
hubris, consumerism, immediate gratification, acquisitiveness, Mammon
worship, hyper-individuality, selfishness, and an unwavering faith in any
belief that "forces" the world to conform to our desires.
In typical Oprah Book Club fashion, Winfrey's enthusiastic endorsement sent
the sales of Byrne's abomination soaring into orbit. Thank you, Oprah.
As the abundant evidence indicates, despite her impeccable image and the
ostensibly "positive influence" she has upon the untold millions who have
yet to shatter the intellectual shackles of their acculturation and
indoctrination, Oprah Winfrey is a member of our cynical pecunious ruling
class and acts as a highly effective shill for their agenda.
Forget the good and benevolent image she projects. Oprah ultimately serves
to distract, obfuscate, and lead us into the increasingly over-crowded
cul-de-sac of "**** thy neighbor; what's in it for thee" savage capitalism.
As a part of our filthy plutocracy, she is an enemy to the poor and working
class. We need to start viewing her through that lens.
Notes:
(1) http://multinationalmonitor.org/mm2003/03may/may03interviewswolff.html
[3]
(2) ibid
(3) http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,1182572,00.html [4]
(4)
http://www2.oprah.com/spiritself/slide/20070216/ss_20070216_284_102.jhtml
[5]
Jason Miller is a wage slave of the American Empire who has freed himself
intellectually and spiritually. He is Cyrano's Journal Online's associate
editor (http://www.bestcyrano.org/ [6]) and publishes Thomas Paine's Corner
within Cyrano's at http://www.bestcyrano.org/THOMASPAINE/ [7]. You can reach
him at
JMiller@bestcyrano.com
--
NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not
always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material
available to advance understanding of
political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. I
believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107
"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson
By Jason Miller
Created Sep 12 2007 - 11:02am
- from Thomas Paine's Corner [1]
"The other kids were all into black power," Oprah told the Tribune in the
mid-1980s. But "I wasn't a dashiki kind of woman . Excellence was the best
deterrent to racism and that became my philosophy."
Excellence indeed. Few would deny that Oprah Winfrey has achieved an
extraordinary degree of THAT, at least by our society's warped standards.
Witty, articulate, attractive, beloved by tens of millions, and fabulously
wealthy, she is the "I pulled myself up by my bootstraps" queen of a vast
media empire. Oprah is a living embodiment of the American Dream. What is
perhaps most inspiring to her genuflecting disciples is that Oprah rose to
her stratospheric position of wealth and influence from an impoverished
start in a socioeconomic hierarchy still largely dominated by white males.
Oprah Winfrey ostensibly possesses the mythical Midas Touch, a generous
spirit, deep spiritual wisdom, and, in the eyes of those blinded by their
adoration, the credentials of a saint. Yet despite appearing destined for
canonization, Oprah injects heavy doses of infectious pus into the already
deeply abscessed wound of the American psyche.
How could anyone who's noted for having said, "Let your light shine. Shine
within you so that it can shine on someone else. Let your light shine," have
such a pernicious effect on our culture?
Let's "count the ways.with a passion put to use."
To truly understand the depth of the damage Oprah inflicts on our society,
we need to step outside of our bourgeois indoctrination and see her for what
she truly represents. Manifesting the Horatio Alger Myth on steroids, Oprah
is a wet dream come true for our criminal class of ruling elites sometimes
referred to as the plutocracy. She provides them with "irrefutable" and
ubiquitous anecdotal evidence which "proves" the idiotic delusion that
America is a meritocracy where everyone has a realistic chance of getting
rich, if they just work hard enough. The reality is that the richest 20% of
US Americans own over 80% of the wealth and the long-term trend has been
toward an ever increasing concentration of treasure into a smaller number of
strong-boxes(1).
Comfortably administering her dominion from "The Promised Land," her 42 acre
estate near Santa Barbara, CA (which she purchased for a cool $50 million),
Oprah surpassed the $1.5 billion mark in net worth in 2006 while earning the
tidy sum of $260 million. See what happens when you devote yourself to
excellence (and narcissism) instead of "wasting your time" parading about in
a dashiki to pursue "ridiculous" ideals like civil rights and
egalitarianism? Others did that for her. And now Oprah's very existence
proves that economic inequalities and barriers to upward mobility have been
eliminated for all of us, right?
Well, not exactly. Consider that in the United States "the average
African-American family has about 60 percent of the income as the average
white family...[and] the average African-American family has only 18 percent
of the wealth of the average white family(2)." Meanwhile, in the most
affluent nation in the world (in which 12% of the population is black),
"Saint Oprah" is the only black billionaire and one of only two blacks to
make the Forbes 400.
Despite the innumerable exploitative workings of the capitalist pyramid
scheme which enable the obscene opulence of Oprah and her miniscule number
of peers (while concurrently damning billions of others to live in varying
degrees of economic misery), she certainly has no qualms. In fact, she
gushes about her unconscionable accumulation of treasures. From the 4/11/06
People Magazine article, Oprah Winfrey: Wealth Is 'A Good Thing:'
[Speaking in Baltimore on Monday at a fundraiser for Beth Tfiloh Dahan
Community School, Winfrey told the audience, "I have lots of things, like
all these Manolo Blahniks. I have all that and I think it's great. I'm not
one of those people like, 'Well, we must renounce ourselves.' No, I have a
closet full of shoes and it's a good thing."
Winfrey, 52, who is reportedly worth more than $1 billion, said she doesn't
feel guilty about her wealth. "I was coming back from Africa on one of my
trips," she said. "I had taken one of my wealthy friends with me. She said,
'Don't you just feel guilty? Don't you just feel terrible?' I said, 'No, I
don't. I do not know how me being destitute is going to help them.' Then I
said when we got home, 'I'm going home to sleep on my Pratesi sheets right
now and I'll feel good about it.' "(3)]
The Oprah mystique affords her and her fellow members of the opulent ruling
class a potent psychological weapon (which they wield like a cudgel) to
sustain their cultural hegemony, thus perpetuating their virtual monopoly on
the wealth and power of the US. And be it conscious or otherwise, Oprah has
betrayed her own race and class by shilling her core philosophy that "not
only are you responsible for your life, but doing the best at this moment
puts you in the best place for the next moment." While personal
responsibility is undeniably important and human beings do have the
potential to pull themselves out of difficult circumstances (i.e. abject
poverty), for every Oprah who "makes it," there are tens of millions,
regardless of race, who work tenaciously and are never able to overcome the
tremendous barriers erected by the ruling class. Yet Ms. Winfrey would have
us believe that if she can do it, anyone can. And if you don't, just what
the hell is wrong with you?
Aside from the significant impediments that face all US Americans (excepting
those who are born into our de facto aristocracy and can rise to the top
regardless of how lazy, depraved, and ignorant they may be-think George W.
Bush), many blacks face nearly overwhelming structural barriers which keep
them mired in chronic destitution.
Thanks to the courageous efforts of civil rights activists,
institutionalized and overt racism are fading in the United States. However,
Oprah's very existence as a black billionaire and the "you can do and be
anything you want if you work hard" pseudo-wisdom she so gleefully dispenses
to the masses would indicate that America's poor (and its impoverished
blacks in particular) no longer face incredibly long odds as they employ
vigorous efforts to improve their socioeconomic conditions.
Consider this excerpt from Paul Street's "Skipping Past Structural Racism"
(http://www.blackcommentator.com/85/85_think_street.html [2]):
".reflecting (via e-mail) on a commentary in which liberal New York Times
columnist Bob Herbert argued that inner-city blacks' material poverty
reflected their own poor values and behavior. "There is a need for" a
"values discussion" among "the poorest African-Americans," my correspondent
acknowledges. "But," he added:
"there are three points to add. One is that [the] hypersegregation [of urban
blacks into nearly all-black de-industrialized ghettoes] creates objective
conditions that incentivize (perhaps even require) certain anti-social
behaviors. The second is whether the values evidenced by the poorest are
actually anti-American values. If we consider that the norms of the
protestant work ethic have been devalued in American society - consider
conspicuous consumption, state gambling expansion, frightening
anti-intellectualism, Wall Street's shenanigans, sexual revolution, and that
recreational drug use knows no racial barrier - how different is the
"underclass" from the rest of America? The final point is the somewhat sad
notion that those who have been most disadvantaged by American society must
somehow quickly develop the values and norms necessary to overcome those
disadvantages, to "function," concomitant with undertaking political
struggle to dismantle structural barriers. What is more is that if we accept
that the values Herbert holds in high esteem are not reinforced generally
throughout American society, we are absurdly expecting one group of
super-disadvantaged people - without additional assistance and against the
mainstream of American society - to somehow morph into some kind of
ubervolk.
"As the great 'historical materialist' Karl Marx once wrote,'men make their
own history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make
it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances
directly encountered, given, and transmitted from the past.'"
Hard as it may be for Oprah and her fellow moneyed elites to fathom, Ronald
Reagan's "welfare queen" was a pernicious suburban legend, and that most
people, given an environment affording them reasonably accessible options,
wouldn't consciously choose to perpetually wallow in the misery, indignity
and self-destruction associated with chronic and inter-generational poverty.
Not everyone is blessed with exceptional talent, intellect, or drive, but
that doesn't mean they deserve a life of suffering so that a tiny fraction
of humanity can live as Croesus did.
With the vast numbers of people she influences, Ms. Winfrey plays an
instrumental role in sustaining the false consciousness that keeps us in the
poor and working classes pursuing the one in 20 million dream she projects,
staunchly opposing the creation of viable publicly funded social uplift
programs, and fighting amongst ourselves based in large part upon the
malevolent lie that personal responsibility is the ONLY reason so many
blacks remain "ghettoized," unemployed, drug-addicted, and imprisoned.
Man the barricades, Ms. Winfrey, here come the "barbarian hordes" to raid
our treasury!
But Oprah didn't reach her perch atop the capitalist pyramid as one of its
chief apologists simply by virtue of her existence as an anomalous opulent
black woman (portrayed as what could be the "norm" if only more people
subscribed to her "wisdom"). She also plays a very active role in
contributing to the bourgeoisie cause.
A common lever of appeasement employed by our de facto aristocracy in the
United States is to exercise faux benevolence by making charitable
donations. After accumulating shameless affluence through abject
exploitation of the Earth and its sentient beings, they show the masses
their "humanity" by giving a mere fraction of their ill-gotten gains to a
pet cause or two.
Oprah is no exception. Despite being known for her "generosity," she remains
one of the wealthiest people on the planet, maintaining her sprawling estate
in California and, at last count, four other lavish abodes with high dollar
zip codes. Bear in mind that Forbes recently gauged Oprah's fortune to be
about $1.5 billion.
Meanwhile, her crowning philanthropic achievement is her Oprah Winfrey
Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa. This "charitable act" is
cynical and self-serving. Its chief beneficiaries are those with a strong
interest in maintaining the maleficent inequitable distribution of wealth.
Here's why:
1. Oprah invested $40 million in this school, a mere 2.67% of her net worth.
2. For those questioning the use of the word "invested," this was indeed a
shrewd and calculated investment for Oprah. By "donating" this relatively
paltry sum, she will reap huge dividends in terms of increased popularity,
goodwill, power, and influence. Her Harpo juggernaut will continue to gain
momentum.
3. In a world where 30,000 children die of starvation each day, Oprah has
elected to build a posh, luxurious academy equipped to educate a mere 152
girls. Winfrey's scheme was such an abuse of resources that the South
African government withdrew its support of the project.
4. In a vain quest to "make her childhood right", Oprah is "rescuing" the
poor black female attendees of her school by providing them with a regal,
lavish existence. Just what the world needs-152 more highly educated
elitists who are immersed in the paradigm that the suffering of the many to
ensure the comfort of the few is the "way of the world."
5. Oprah's principal lesson to her "girls"? Looking to her as their example,
they will learn that once they have attained their affluence and power they
will need to ease their conscience and help maintain the social order. The
lesson is that to do so they will simply need to donate a sliver of their
bounty in such a way that it enhances their public image and fulfills their
narcissistic needs.
As we prepare to examine Oprah's most deleterious effect on our society,
consider the depth and breadth of her impact as characterized by Vanity
Fair:
"Oprah Winfrey arguably has more influence on the culture than any
university president, politician, or religious leader, except perhaps the
Pope."
Biographer Kitty Kelly added:
"As a woman, she has wielded an unprecedented amount of influence over the
American culture and psyche.There has been no other person in the 20th
century whose convictions and values have impacted the American public in
such a significant way. . I see her as probably the most powerful woman in
our society. I think Oprah has influenced every medium that she's touched."
Now let's analyze one of Oprah's recent and most spiritually corrosive
"contributions" to the fetid cesspool we euphemistically call a culture in
the United States. In February of this year, Ms.Winfrey used her leviathan
media platform to introduce her minions to The Secret, a book that
characterizes Christ as a "prosperity teacher." Leave it to the high
priestess of Mammon to promote a means to overcome the seemingly
irreconcilable contradictions between the compassionate teachings of Jesus
and the avaricious selfishness of capitalism.
Here's what the Oprah Winfrey Show website had to say about The Secret:
"It's making headlines around the world-and buzz just keeps building. Some
say it's the secret to creating the life you truly want-losing weight,
making money, finding love. See why people everywhere are talking about The
Secret."
James Arthur Ray, whose "credentials" include, ".almost going bankrupt,
[which] forced him to focus on the life he truly wanted. Now he runs a
multimillion-dollar corporation dedicated to teaching people how to create
wealth in all areas of their lives," joined forces with Winfrey to plug The
Secret, a book rife with myriad inane mythologies the ruling class loves to
perpetuate.
Again, from Oprah's website:
[According to James, there is scientific evidence to back up the spiritual
practices and laws defined in The Secret. "Science tells us that everything
is energy, and so your thoughts are energy. Your body, your cash, your
car-everything you think is solid, if you put it under a high-powered
microscope, it's just a field of energy and a rate of vibration," he says.
"And so are we. So if you think you're this meat suit running around, you
have to think again."
"One way to describe this energy is by comparing it radio waves, "The
frequency you give out through your thoughts and your emotions is what you
have a tendency to manifest in your life," Michael says. "Whether those
thoughts and emotions are conscious or unconscious, it doesn't matter."
This means that if you are sending out the same negative energy over an
over-whether thoughts or feelings-you will attract like energy back to you.
James says that when bad things happen people might ask, "Oh, God, why me?"
"Because it is you," he says(4).]
Forget the immediate insult of James's barrage of pseudo-scientific
gibberish. People have been using that technique to peddle their snake oil
for years. The core issue here is that in The Secret, James and company are
hawking a particularly toxic brew. Oprah, Secret author Rhonda Byrne, and
their fellow hucksters would have us believe that Tony Robbins or Gandhi
would be equally at home applying The Secret's "spiritual practices" based
on "scientific evidence" to create the life they "truly want."
At first blush its obvious remarketing of the shopworn "philosophies"
related to the power of positive thinking seems benign enough, but thanks to
its Oprah's validation sparking its wild popularity and wide acceptance, The
Secret is significantly reinforcing some very nasty strands of our cultural
DNA, which is no small blessing to the moneyed elites atop our economic
hierarchy.
While to a person who values critical thought and the pursuit of true
meaning in their life The Secret would serve little purpose beyond perhaps
kindling or toilet paper, future archaeologists may hail it as a Rosetta
Stone to unlock the mysteries of our perverse, mean-spirited, and jejune
society. Byrne was careful to incorporate nearly every revolting aspect of
American culture, including narcissism, self-absorption, victim-blaming,
hubris, consumerism, immediate gratification, acquisitiveness, Mammon
worship, hyper-individuality, selfishness, and an unwavering faith in any
belief that "forces" the world to conform to our desires.
In typical Oprah Book Club fashion, Winfrey's enthusiastic endorsement sent
the sales of Byrne's abomination soaring into orbit. Thank you, Oprah.
As the abundant evidence indicates, despite her impeccable image and the
ostensibly "positive influence" she has upon the untold millions who have
yet to shatter the intellectual shackles of their acculturation and
indoctrination, Oprah Winfrey is a member of our cynical pecunious ruling
class and acts as a highly effective shill for their agenda.
Forget the good and benevolent image she projects. Oprah ultimately serves
to distract, obfuscate, and lead us into the increasingly over-crowded
cul-de-sac of "**** thy neighbor; what's in it for thee" savage capitalism.
As a part of our filthy plutocracy, she is an enemy to the poor and working
class. We need to start viewing her through that lens.
Notes:
(1) http://multinationalmonitor.org/mm2003/03may/may03interviewswolff.html
[3]
(2) ibid
(3) http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,1182572,00.html [4]
(4)
http://www2.oprah.com/spiritself/slide/20070216/ss_20070216_284_102.jhtml
[5]
Jason Miller is a wage slave of the American Empire who has freed himself
intellectually and spiritually. He is Cyrano's Journal Online's associate
editor (http://www.bestcyrano.org/ [6]) and publishes Thomas Paine's Corner
within Cyrano's at http://www.bestcyrano.org/THOMASPAINE/ [7]. You can reach
him at
JMiller@bestcyrano.com
--
NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not
always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material
available to advance understanding of
political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. I
believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107
"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson