August 12, 2013

Oprah: A victim of Shopping While Black or of Shopping While Fat?

Just about the biggest news story in the world in recent days has been how Oprah Winfrey was the victim of racism (conveniently enough, just when she needed to promote her return to movies in The Butler, about black White House servants). Oprah accused a store clerk in Switzerland of racism for not getting down a $38,000 handbag for her to inspect.

I'm always fascinated by how often Stalin is vindicated in his observation that something bad happening to one person is a tragedy while it happening to a million is a statistic. For example, 500,000 black and Latin young men getting stopped and frisked annually for the last decade in New York City is a statistic that has mildly troubled some of the more sensitive souls in the New York elite, but hasn't really been much of a story even locally, much less nationally, while Oprah not getting shown a $38,000 handbag is Breaking Global News. It's like the vast outpouring of sympathy that greets the President of the United States whenever he recounts how his grandmother wanted a ride to work one day. You might think that being black in America has, on net, been good for Obama or Oprah, but that's not a widespread impression. 

More generally, human beings feel sorrier for immensely privileged people than they do for nobodies like shopgirls and grandmas.

Little noted in the hubbub was that Oprah has a long history of complaining about being racially abused while shopping. From Wikipedia's article on Shopping While Black:
In 2001, Oprah Winfrey told Good Housekeeping magazine about how she and a black companion were turned away from a store while white people were being allowed in, allegedly because she and her friend reminded the clerks of black transsexuals who had earlier tried to rob it.[17]

Personally, if anybody thought I looked like a transsexual robber, I'd stay quiet about that, or at least leave out the detail about me looking like a transsexual. (But it's just that kind of prejudice I'm exhibiting that is the reason the media is gearing up for its post-gay marriage offensive for transgender rights.)
And in 2005, Winfrey was refused service at the Parisian luxury store Hermès as the store closed for the evening, in what her spokesperson described as "Oprah's 'Crash' moment", a reference to the 2004 movie about racial and social tensions in Los Angeles.[18]

Unlike the rest of the press, however, the Daily Mail went and asked the latest store clerk to be accused of racism by Oprah what she thought of Oprah's charge:
'Oprah's a liar': Sales assistant in Swiss racist handbag row denies telling TV host that she could not view item because she couldn't afford it 
Sale assistant said she feels 'powerless' after the racism accusations  
Oprah Winfrey claimed assistant refused to show her a handbag because it was 'too expensive'  
Speaking anonymously, shop worker said claims were 'absurd' 
By ALLAN HALL IN BERLIN

The sales assistant who refused to show U.S. talkshow billionaire Oprah Winfrey a luxury handbag costing nearly £25,000 claims the superstar lied about what happened in the luxury Swiss boutique where she works. 
Speaking anonymously to Sunday newspaper SonntagsBlick, the Italian bag lady said she felt 'powerless' and in the grip of a 'cyclone' after Winfrey went on TV in America to claim she had been the victim of racism. 
Winfrey was in Switzerland in July when she walked into the Trois Pommes boutique in Zurich looking for a handbag to match the outfit she was going to wear to old friend Tina Turner's wedding.  
She claims the sales assistant refused to show her the black crocodile leather bag because - seeing a black woman - she automatically assumed she would not be able to afford it. 
Now the saleslady has hit back, stating: 'I wasn't sure what I should present to her when she came in on the afternoon of Saturday July 20 so I showed her some bags from the Jennifer Aniston collection. 
'I explained to her the bags came in different sizes and materials, like I always do. 
'She looked at a frame behind me. Far above there was the 35,000 Swiss franc crocodile leather bag.   
'I simply told her that it was like the one I held in my hand, only much more expensive, and that I could show her similar bags. 
'It is absolutely not true that I declined to show her the bag on racist grounds. I even asked her if she wanted to look at the bag.

'She looked around the store again but didn't say anything else. Then she went with her companion to the lower floor. My colleague saw them to the door. They were not even in the store for five minutes.' 
She emphatically denied ever saying to Winfrey: 'You don't want to see this bag. It is too expensive.  You cannot afford it.'
The saleslady went on: 'This is not true. This is absurd. I would never say something like that to a customer. Really never. Good manners and politeness are the Alpha and the Omega in this business. 
'I don't know why she is making these accusations. She is so powerful and I am just a shop girl.   
'I didn't hurt anyone. I don't know why someone as great as her must cannibalize me on TV.   ...
'I didn't know who she was when she came into the store. That wouldn't have made any difference if I had."

Sounds like the clerk didn't want to go through the trouble of getting down a ridiculously overpriced bag that almost nobody ever buys, compounded with the sin of Not Recognizing Oprah.

If the clerk is telling the truth, Oprah is putting words in her mouth. On the other hand, the clerk doesn't claim to have gotten down the bag, so it's likely that something in her manner discouraged Oprah, who is not the world's most easily discourageable person. 

It's also possible that the clerk was unenthusiastic about going the extra mile for Oprah not because she is black, but because she is fat. Oprah has some of the world's best makeup and lighting people working for her, so she normally looks fine on TV and on the cover of her O magazine, but when she's too rushed for the full treatment, she definitely doesn't look like she can afford a $38,000 handbag. (My guess is that Zurich boutiques do occasionally see black women who can afford such things, typically the wives of African dictators in town to visit their money at their Swiss banks.)

At ultra-high end luxury boutiques, the greatest sin is Shopping While Fat. Handbags that cost $38,000 are bought, I would guess, almost exclusively by Social X-Rays, who look upon shopping alongside fat people as potentially contagious, in terms of social status and perhaps even biologically. Thus, shop clerks frequently give the cold shoulder to the fat to encourage them out the door.

But being prejudiced against the fat is a far frontier that will have to wait its turn for condemnation until after all the last bunkers of prejudice against gays and transgenders are finally routed. (And of course, the most virulently prejudiced against the fat are gay men, so it will require some tricky spinning to avoid mentioning that.)

For Oprah's self-esteem, being the victim of Shopping While Black is much better than being the victim of Shopping While Fat. In the U.S., she enjoys 100% facial recognition among the kind of people who work in boutiques, so here nobody ever does anything other than pander to her every wish. But in Europe, she's not all that widely known, so she occasionally gets treated like other 200-pound women get treated at luxury goods stores.

117 comments:

Sgt. Joe Friday said...

Of course, no one has yet mentioned that likely the only black women in Switzerland at all are either (a) entertainers or athletes, or (b) the wives of corrupt African politicians. In any of these cases, they would have the loot to buy whatever is in the store.

Anonymous said...

"More generally, human beings feel sorrier for immensely privileged people than they do for nobodies like shopgirls and grandmas."

did you mean privileged by birth or wealthy people in general? IN the later case, there was little sympathy for Michael Jackson by the media during his tribulations.

FredR said...

"But being prejudiced against the fat is a far frontier that will have to wait its turn for condemnation until after all the last bunkers of prejudice against gays and transgenders are finally routed."

Geoffrey Miller, the author of "The Mating Mind", is currently being forced to undergo obesity sensitivity training for saying the wrong thing on Twitter.

Anonymous said...

Is this Oprah's skittle moment?

Maybe the price of fame and success is people treat you too nice, and that means you can't be a victim anymore, and if you can't be a victim, you can't be authentically black.

What would be considered psychopathic among whites would be considered normal among many blacks.

Anonymous said...

Michelle Obama was offended by Oprah's fatness and made Oprah feel unwanted. If Michelle were white, I guess Oprah would have bitched about 'racism'.

So, could it be Oprah is really pissed off cuz she's fat and ugly, but since she can't admit it, she uses 'racism' as an excuse as to why people 'dissed' her?

If Detroit was destroyed by Sean Hannity cuz 'right' hated Motown, then I suppose Oprah could say some people are turned off by her fatness and ugliness because she's black.

But keep in mind.. this is the lady that National Review heaped so much praise on, not least because George W. Bush kissed her on the lips.

Anonymous said...

My money (what little there is, thank you white privilege) is on Okra making this up, it seems like black females are more likely than males to concoct rayciss incidents, see Gabby Douglas.

Anonymous said...

Steve,

I live in NYC. The NYPD's (life-saving) stop-and-frisk policy is a huge controversy here among the elites, the media, the legal profession and the activists; all of the Dem mayoral candidates (except maybe Weiner) have pledged to end it. The mindless and destructive campaign against stop-and-frisk just achieved a huge victory today, as the Clinton-appointed federal judge hearing the class action lawsuit challenging the policy has declared it unconstititional (on Equal Protection grounds, I think, NOT Fourth Amendment grounds). This is the biggest local news today. I wouldn't count on there being an appeal; there will be a new mayor in 4 and a half months, and the City almost never appeals adverse judgments on constitutional issues like this; they generally roll over and enter into a consent judgment.

Anonymous said...

There's also the fact that black consumers are famous for giving service personnel the runaround, and in the end, walking away empty-handed. I can't tell if this is a global phenom, but it wouldn't surprise me if she was reluctant to clamber all over the place for a demographic that has no qualms about ordering people around without any intention of making a purchase.

Geoff Matthews said...

I've gotten the impression that Oprah is trying to maximize the racist angle of late, what with the assertion of millions of blacks being lynched, and that Trayvon Martin is similar to Emmit Till.
With these irresponsible claims, I have a hard time taking her word for it.

AMac said...

"I spoke to Oprah Winfrey in English. My English is okay but not excellent, unfortunately."

That shopgirl sounds like a White Hispanic to me. As such, a big Thank You to big media for giving her what she no doubt deserves. Even if her actions were unremarkable and unoffensive, she could well have been secretly harboring wrong thoughts, and hiding them.

If ace journalists don't keep standing up for Oprah, who will?

Anonymous said...

It's a sad day when we have to turn to the Daily Mail to find stuff like this out.

When I was a kid, it was generally viewed as a low-brow rag.

To an extent it still is -- but what does that say about the middle- to high-brow media that only the Mail does investigative journalism?

helene edwards said...

Just another variation on the phantom noose gambit. Rich blacks are in constant need of reconnecting with the community, so she takes advantage of the "it could have happened" strain in black logic. Much more satisfying that actually having the bag.

Anonymous said...

Haha Malcolm Gladwell's really let himself go in the background there.

Derek Brown

Mike said...

Anonymous at 3:31...

Up until now I thought I was the only one who had that experience.

Puggg said...

Oprah, victim of white racism, worth $2,900,000,000

Puggg, white skin privilege, makes $4x,xxx a year.

JeremiahJohnbalaya said...

I don't know why someone as great as [Oprah] must cannibalize me on TV

Black person equals cannibal??? RACIST!!!

Harry Baldwin said...

Here is gay fashion designer Mugatu on the subject of fat women.

Anonymous said...

Sgt. Joe Friday said...
Of course, no one has yet mentioned that likely the only black women in Switzerland at all are either (a) entertainers or athletes, or (b) the wives of corrupt African politicians. In any of these cases, they would have the loot to buy whatever is in the store.

According to wikipedia, Switzerland's population is around 8 million. 1 million are foreign born and roughly 66,599 are from Africa.

Since very few black american athletes reside in Switzerland they'd have to be black athletes who play in Europe, which generally means footballers.

TIna Turner has lived in Switz for a couple decades but she's the unique exception and not the norm among black US celebrities deciding to reside there.

blogger said...

"(Stop and Frisk) is the biggest local news today. I wouldn't count on there being an appeal; there will be a new mayor in 4 and a half months, and the City almost never appeals adverse judgments on constitutional issues like this; they generally roll over and enter into a consent judgment."

Don't worry. NY will come up with 'holistic' ways to deal with the problem. Instead of stop and frisking 'black males', they'll stop and frisk 'people with odd attitude' or 'funny walk'.

Jason said...

Oprah is simply becoming a bore, in essence shooting fish in a barrel by complaining about such incidents as not being able to look at a $38,000 bag (I agree that anonymous 3:31 is probably right, that she was racially profiled; her weight probably also did not help). I can understand how that might be painful, but really Oprah is at a position in her life - financially and career-wise - in which she should be taking more daring stands rather than just constantly looking back into the injustices of the past (Good grief, who does not know that African Americans were often treated horribly in the past by white Americans?). For instance, if she were to strongly condemn the problem of out-of-wedlock pregnancy in the black community, that might lose her some friends but would do African-Americans a great deal of good.

Anonymous said...

Why is nobody mentioning that this is great publicity for "The Butler", Oprah's movie which opens next week? The Weinsteins' finger prints are all over this alleged incident. Last month there was the "controversy" over the film name dispute.

Anonymous said...

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-05-16/news/ct-met-kass-0516-20120516_1_oprah-winfrey-michelle-obama-hopium

blogger said...

Hattie McDaniel's looks + Naomi Campbell's personality = Oprah.

Anonymous said...

BUTLER sounds like HEP for the men.

Anonymous said...

The real victim here is the poor black crocodile cow who was Trayvonned by Swiss Hispanic poachers just for its scaly leather so that species-ist humans could vie with each other for outrageous tackiness while on vacation. Has anybody stopped to consider this cow's feelings? The one that became the bag, I mean.

Anonymous said...

http://rt.com/usa/bradley-manning-nobel-prize-410/

I have an idea. How about giving Oprah a Nobel Peace Prize like Obama got?

Anonymous said...

Nietzsche said Christianity is a slave religion.

It is a mammy religion now.

Anonymous said...

It's funny...

Usually the 'left' sides with European attitude about the 'Ugly American', i.e. Americans are rude, pushy, loud, and vulgar.

But when the Ugly and Fat American happens to be a billionaire Negress, get on your knees you European peasant!!!

PS. I guess this is the haute version of the black flash mob.
'Poor' blacks storm into convenience stores and steal skittles and candy, and 'rich' blacks thunder into rich boutiques and push their booties around and cry racism.

PSS. Didn't some black guy in Washington DC sue some Asian guy for millions of dollars over a pair of pants?

What would be considered psychopathic in any other race is just the norm among blacks.

Anonymous said...

There's a picture of the bag, and it's really ugly.

I don't think it was fat or black. It was "Why do you want this bag? It's so overpriced! Here...I will save you and me the trouble...these bags are reasonable and are the same quality."

Some people...even shopgirls...think spending 50K on a bag is ridiculous. Some people like saving money and getting a good deal.

But to Oprah...that is an insult...She doesn't Need A Good Deal. She Can Have Anything She Wants Whenever She Wants It! And dropping money on a god awful bag proves it! How dare you deny (or try to help) Oprah!



Anonymous said...

Didn't a school apologize for serving fried chicken on black history month or something?

Dontpunishmesha said...

I now completely believe Oprah. White folks be evil. And Oprah knows cuz she is black and knows all about oppression and poverty and lack of equality.

So, what was she doing getting ready to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a handbag in honkeyass Europe when there be so many black communities in America that be depressed and hurting? Just look at Detriot, ruined because of Sean Hannity. Ruined and punished by white 'racist' negleck.

So, Oprah needs to be told that when she finna spend 10,000s of bucks for a handbag and hand her money over to white Europeans, she is punishing her own kind. Folks of Detroit need investment, but Oprah would rather blow tens of thousands on a handbag than investing in business in Detroit.

If Oprah decides to keep a billion, she still has two billion to invest in Detroit. She could set up small shops, restaurants, health spas, work out centers, barbershops, factories, and etc with 2 billion dollars worth of investment. For the price of that handbag she was looking at, she could have opened up two small businesses for blacks to run. And she has so much more money to blow. But she be punishing the black folks by not investing in Detroit and rewarding them racist honkeys in Europe who be selling expensive purses for 10,000s of dollars. She be living like Imelda Marcos. She be making movies like Butler but be acking like Marie Antoinesha.

Why she be punishing Detriot? I wants to know!!! In fack, I demands to know!!!
Is it cuz she think black folks be poor investment for her dollars? She be thinking that her money is gonna be sucked up and looted by blacks in Detriot? If that be the reason, then she be a punkass bitch 'racist' herself, and she aint my friend.

Anonymous said...

But to Oprah...that is an insult...She doesn't Need A Good Deal. She Can Have Anything She Wants Whenever She Wants It! And dropping money on a god awful bag proves it! How dare you deny (or try to help) Oprah!


That's it! Steve wrote some time ago in response to Malcolm Gladwell's Blink. "Some blacks enjoy being seen as big spenders."

Here's the proof, Steve! Here's the proof. An actual concrete example. Oprah...IS who she is and how dare the peones tell her what she can and cannot buy? Probably rare in America any more that folks tell her "You can't do...."

So, here's an actual example.

Take that, Mr Gladwell!

Anonymous said...

http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2013/08/transgender_equality_law_signed_california.php

Yep, the next big thing. Whole culture and society turning into one big campy show.

Anonymous said...

I had no idea she was so wide like Humpty Dumpty. She has no children or marriage. Just a few billion dollars for a consolation prize. Of course she will be neurotic so she lied about this Swiss situation. The store owner said it took place in a different way.

Truth said...

"Puggg said...

Oprah, victim of white racism, worth $2,900,000,000

Puggg, white skin privilege, makes $4x,xxx a year."

I can name quite a few rich white guys...so maybe you're just weak.

"So, what was she doing getting ready to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a handbag in honkeyass Europe when there be so many black communities in America that be depressed and hurting?"

Shopping.

Anonymous said...

"I had no idea she was so wide like Humpty Dumpty."

Fried shrimp, honey.

TGGP said...

Speculation that "it's too expensive" could be a sales tactic. Reminds me of Sailer & Posner on car salesmen.

Choren said...

If you can cry discrimination and the MSM gnashes its teeth, the government changes a policy, and the schools teach about it, you're the group that is privileged.

Judo Five said...

Here's an interesting question- if the Swiss (and whites in general) are racist, why aren't we given benefits and privileges to help assuage our wicked ways? After all, that seems to be the liberal line of thinking. Blacks, Mexicans fuck up about something, rob, kill, whatever, its a sign that they must be suffering and we gotta do more for them, bend over backwards to bring them up to the norm. This should particularly be true if whites are indeed the racists, and racism is indeed the most evil thing ever on the planet.

If she's this concerned about racism is Switzerland, why doesn't she donate millions (and cry on tv to get millions more from viewers) to help the poor Swiss deal with this tragic social issue?

Big Bill said...

The problem with the Oprah situation is that ANY response by the shopgirl is racist.

If you don't show a brutha an expensive pimpmobile you are racist for assuming he can't buy it.

If you sell a brutha an expensive pimpmobile and he can't make the payments, you are racist for taking advantage of him. (Witness the bitching about racist mortgage bankers after the mortgage crisis.)

It truly is damned-if-you-do-and-damned-if-you-don't.

ScarletNumber said...

Hatred of fat people is Last Acceptable American Prejudice.

Anonymous said...

To Big Bill said:

You make some good points.

The U.N. was just about making Goy-countries dumping off grounds for "refugees". Its a Jewish insurance policy for a worst case future outcome. The U.N. has been nothing but an anti-white and anti-west institution since day one.

Your other point about eh pimpmobile is dead on. When you are dealing with blacks, you just can't win.

Bottledwater said...

Oprah's weight may have played a small role, but it's obvious she was racially profiled. Very few blacks can afford a purse like that so it's only naturall that based on experience, the clerk concluded that despite how well dressed oprah was that day (Donna Karen dress) odds are she couldn't afford it, and the clerk didn't want to waste valuable time.

Super rich blacks are extremely rare. According to Forbes oprah's currently the only black billionaire in north America. Had oprah been white; same weight and dressed in the same high fashion, the clerk would have leaped to show her the bag. Problem is racism is such a stigmatized word that whites are in deep denial about it.

Bottledwater said...

Michelle Obama was offended by Oprah's fatness and made Oprah feel unwanted

Actually oprah loves Michelle even more than she loves Barack. The alleged feud between them was fabricated to sell rightwing tabloids/book


So, could it be Oprah is really pissed off cuz she's fat and ugly, but since she can't admit it, she uses 'racism' as an excuse as to why people 'dissed' her?


Are you kidding? Oprah made billions of dollars commiserating about her weight problem, and very brilliantly used that common denominator to intimately bond with millions of white women she had nothing else in common with. It just so happens that race is the more likely reason for the diss (though weightism might have contributed too)

Anonymous said...

Calling a woman fat is on par with calling a black person the *n word*. For self esteem purposes, Oprah probably defaults all insults to the n category.

That said, if she's not on daily tv shucking this jive, well, what does she have to offer?

Be considerate Steve!

Anonymous said...

"Fried shrimp, honey"

You mean skrimps.

Bottledwater said...

I had no idea she was so wide like Humpty Dumpty.

Not at all; she carries her weight very well, and in addition to being a trailblazer for blacks and women, she paved the way for overweight people too boot. For a 59 year old woman she's absolutely gorgeous.


She has no children or marriage. Just a few billion dollars for a consolation prize.

Just a few billion dollars? That's probably a million times more than you have, and makes her the richest African American in history, in addition to being the world's most influential woman. She has children (many of her girls from her African school live with her, call her and are seeing her new movie with her this Friday) and she's lived with her partner steadman Graham for 27 years.

With her money, clout, brilliance, extraordinary talents and charisma, she could have any husband she wanted, but women need a man to look up, and there simply are no men more successful than she is. Even the president needed oprah to get elected and is only 0.1% as rich as her. Bill gates is richer than her, but nowhere near as beloved and influential; besides he's white.

So who can be her knight in shining armor? Even the most successful men on earth are dwarfed by either her money or her status (and usually both)


Of course she will be neurotic so she lied about this Swiss situation. The store owner said it took place in a different way.

The store owner is full of it. Her story makes no sense...claims the clerk was embarrassed to sell such an expensive product

Bottledwater said...

Some people...even shopgirls...think spending 50K on a bag is ridiculous. Some people like saving money and getting a good deal.

Ridiculous. The clerk works on commission

David Davenport said...

Nietzsche said Christianity is a slave religion.

But ol' Fred couldn't free himself from it:

Nietzsche Is Dead

Fritz’s health had never been robust and his mania for work frequently left him spent and vulnerable to illness. His body was also slowly being consumed by syphilis, which he had contracted from a prostitute.

...


Not long after the Nietzsches took up residence in Villa Silberblick, Kessler stopped in. “The house lies on a hill above the city in a newly planted but still rather bare garden,” he wrote in his diary. Förster-Nietzsche told him that her brother liked the new house—upon arriving he had wandered from room to room chanting, “palazzo, palazzo.” That story and other tales of Nietzsche’s behavior unsettled Kessler. “She seems to have become so accustomed to treating her brother as a stammering child that she no longer seems to feel the horrible tragedy of it all.”

...

THE MASK OF DEATH

Kessler arrived home from reserve duty to find a telegram waiting. “This morning my deeply loved brother passed away unexpectedly,” wrote Förster-Nietzsche. “Monday afternoon at 5 p.m. the funeral in the Nietzsche Archive. Please come if possible.” There was no “if” about it. Kessler booked a train ticket to Weimar for the next day. When he arrived, he found that Förster-Nietzsche was “very upset.”

...

At five o’clock, mourners packed the archive, bodies crowding the coffin. Candles blazed and a women’s choir sang Brahms and “a magnificently tragic motet.” There was also a long eulogy by art historian Kurt Breysig, who offered a cultural-historical analysis of Nietzsche’s work. “Seldom have I experienced a grimmer moment,” wrote architect Fritz Schumacher, who attended the service. “Scholarship pursued this man to the grave. If he had revived he would have thrown the speaker out of the window and chased us out of the temple.”

The following day, Nietzsche was buried next to his parents in the graveyard of the church in Röcken, where his father had served as a pastor. It was contrary to his wishes—he had wanted to be buried in Switzerland on the Chasté peninsula in Sils-Maria, where he had spent so many pleasant summers. “What was Nietzschean in the service was the sunny stillness of this natural solitude: the light playing through the plum trees on the church wall and even in the grave; a large spider spinning her web over the grave from branch to branch in a sunbeam,” wrote Kessler. Otherwise, it was a Christian affair for a man who did not believe in God: the bells rang, a choir sang spirituals, and a silver cross lay on the coffin. In the running debate over religion between Förster-Nietzsche and her brother, she had the final word.

Prof. Woland said...

Watch for the MSM to flog the black outrage de jour nonstop as we get closer to the final days of the Obama Administration. Black's have hit their cultural, social, and economic high point and will slide back to irrelevance now that the country is thoroughly sick of them and remembers why everything they touch always turns to shit.

rho said...

Oprah ginning up controversy? The devil you say!

Tina Turner got married? Now that's what I call news. Tina Turner is famous for being a battered spouse and for being a bit past her prime back in 1985.

Unknown said...

Isn't it politically incorrect, or something, to use a handbag made out of alligators? Apparently some Swiss animal rights people think it is:

http://www.thelocal.ch/20130812/animal-rights-groups-blast-winfrey-over-crocodile-bag

Mr. Anon said...

I think it more likely that Ms. Winfrey was the victim of shopping while not having one's fame recognized. Did she pull a DYKWIA on the poor shopgirl? Do people really spend such ridiculous amounts on personal accessories? Hardly jibes with the "just plain folks" personna that she rode to wealth and fame.

As to her movie, I won't be seeing it or any other film of its ilk. I am sick of the whole poor oppressed black people narrative. They've been pushing it for fifty years now, and it's wearing thin. Why doesn't she instead make a film about Raymond Widstrand.

Anonymous said...

"Oprah's weight may have played a small role, but it's obvious she was racially profiled."

Maybe the clerk was afraid that Oprah would run away with it.

Steve in Greensboro said...

I've read the interview with the Swiss shop person and I believe her. Oprah is lying.

In 2008, Oprah publicly committed to a black racist president and in so doing killed much of her appeal to white folks. At this point in her (downward) career, she is struggling to generate publicity. Given this latest episode, she has apparently given up on the white demographic. I can't imagine that strident, whiney assertions about victimization at the hands of white racists is going to do much for her plummeting Q.

Anonymous said...

BottledWater said

"Ridiculous. The clerk works on commission"

No...It's Called Christianity and What Made Western Civilization the Greatest in the World.

Honest Christian Descended Shopkeepers...even if they work on commission...Are Honest First Money Second

Maybe the real problem is Oprah has never met one of those people...being that she hangs with the Hollywood Bunch.

Anonymous said...

Based on recent personal experience, I can assert that fat black women are all too ready to pull the victim card in particular nasty and dishonest ways.

Anonymous said...

The story is absolute crap. For this reason:

For an absurdly wealthy woman like Oprah Winfrey $25,000 is a trifling sum which can come and go, the equivalent of a $100 or so for the majority of us. If she was really, really that enraged over this perceived slight and insult to her honor then she could have done a very simple thing to put the clerk 'in her place'. She could simply have taken her gold American Express card or whatever she has, flashed it to the clerk, and bought the hand-bag, even if she didn't really want it. That's how most thin-skinned rich people react to perceived slights. Of course, the tougher, harder self-made rich usually couldn't ive a damn about anything or what other people think of them.

Anonymous said...

"For example, 500,000 black and Latin young men getting stopped and frisked annually for the last decade in New York City...while Oprah not getting shown a $38,000 handbag is Breaking Global News."

The disparate reporting pretty much proves the New York media supports the cleansing of black people from Manhattan.

Similarly the lack of reporting on Israel's various immigraion restriction measures - like the dna testing of potential Russian immigrants to make sure they're Jewish enough - shows the liberal media support ethno-nationalist policies for the majority population in Isreal while promoting the exact opposite for the majority population in America.

Anonymous said...

"It's a sad day when we have to turn to the Daily Mail to find stuff like this out."

The MSM self-censors whenever reality contradicts political correctness.

This is the single most important fact of modern times and it is driving the destruction of western civilization.

Anonymous said...

"And of course, the most virulently prejudiced against the fat are gay men"

Roissy's pretty virulent against "land whales".

Anonymous said...

"With her money, clout, brilliance, extraordinary talents and charisma, she could have any husband she wanted"

The money would be neat, if you were that kind of unprincipled scoundrel. But what kind of hound lives off his wife's money?

Are you female ? Because I'm not sure you get what men want in a wife. She may be a lovely person for all I know, but that's not the point.

dearieme said...

Who is Oprah?

Anonymous said...

In that photo, she and her companions look like something you'd see at Walmart, or maybe the Greyhound terminal. If that's what she looked like while shopping for luxury items I can see why the clerk might have been a bit frosty.

Anonymous said...

"Speculation that 'it's too expensive' could be a sales tactic." [i.e. in Game parlance, a 'neg' that niggles at minority insecurities over whether they are in fact True Elites]

This is quite possible. But Oprah, being an avid shopper and twenty-plus year veteran of the jet set crowd, surely has ample awareness and experience in handling these games. It's unlikely to have fazed her.

She's no doubt cognizant of the fact that many of the social norms among the elites, things such as the self-segregation on Martha's Vineyard, vary from those of the mainstream, and her voluntary participation in this lifestyle, as indicated by her materialistic luxury good consumption habits, constitutes implicit acceptance of these non-PC norms.

Tina Turner's wedding was on July 21st-- nearly three weeks prior to Oprah's accusation. This delayed reaction screams publicity stunt.

Anonymous said...

As BBW Ebony chicks go, Oprah doesn't look half bad at that weight - her posterior isn't all that wide, and her rack is getting up around a EEEE [or whatever comes after that].

But can you imagine a Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Soetoro Dunham Marshall Davis Reggie Love at that weight?

She'd still have a tiny little B-cup rack up top, but down low, her posterior would be the size of the Titanic.

Yeesh.

PS: Speaking of the coming Transgender-rights movement, somebody over at The Chateau found this photo demonstrating a stunning sexual role reversal between the ostensible "Mr" and the ostensible "Mrs" Soetoro Dunham Marshall Davis Reggie Love.

Talk about transgendered...

Podsnap said...

Bottledwater said...

For a 59 year old woman she's absolutely gorgeous.

With her money, clout, brilliance, extraordinary talents and charisma, she could have any husband she wanted, but women need a man to look up, and there simply are no men more successful than she is

She has children (many of her girls from her African school live with her, call her and are seeing her new movie with her this Friday)...

Steve - you have hit the mainstream. Your commenters now include homosexual gossip columnists. Or is it Gore Vidal working through a medium ?

Chicago said...

It's not just what's wrong with her but what's wrong with the American public. Large numbers of people actually watched her show, got up to speed on the latest fashionable dysfunctions, listened to empty-headed celebrities speak, went out to buy books she recommended, followed dieting advice, acted as though what she thought was worthwhile. Her studio audiences, mostly white, looked like cult followers, always nodding their well coiffed heads and with transfixed looks on their faces as though in awe of being in the presence of greatness. This fed her ego, making her think she actually was an extraordinary being and brought out her own personal vanity publication where she could have endless pictures of herself in carefully posed glamour shots.
She recently said that "millions" of blacks were lynched in the US, showing her to be just another half-baked dope who now has reverted to type. She's made a huge fortune off of stupid people of whom there seems to be an endless supply.

DanJ said...

Why would anyone put a $38,000 handbag up on the top shelf? Remember, eye level is buy level!

Anonymous said...

I don't understand how everyone here can be so unfair to Oprah. Of course it was racism! We all know that in all the history of the world no dumpy middle-aged white woman has ever been treated rudely by a snooty sales clerk at an expensive boutique. That would be inconceivable! So what else could it be but racism? Huh? Answer that, you unholy bigots!

Mark said...

"Are you female? Because I'm not sure you get what men want in a wife."

Most women really don't get what men want in a wife. Their solipsism causes them to mistakenly assume that men want the same things in a woman that women want in a man. So it would be hard for a lot of women to see that an old fat rich woman like Oprah might be less desirable to males than an old fat rich guy might be to females. There is the male gigolo type who marries old rich women but it's much less common than the female trophy wife.

Pat Boyle said...

Black people never seem to be able to handle these kind of situations with grace. They are obsessed with being cool but are hopeless at bearing minor inconveniences with dignity. They lack the capacity to have perspective.

Here is an interaction between people of different social class and wealth. A decent human being would recognize that both parties would have feelings and the person with more resources should be careful to be gracious to the person with less. Not so with black celebrities.

We make fun of haughty English aristocrats. But Lord and Lady So-and-so would never stoop so low as to attack a shop girl - even if she had inadvertently offended them somehow. Bullying just isn't done among the civilized.

A few years back the ugly but not fat black celebrity Danny Glover was in the press because some New York cab driver didn't stop for him. He cried racism - and of course there was something to it. Cab drivers in New York and many other places won't stop for black men because they fear for their lives. But Glover's position was that the lives of the working class counted for nothing against his momentary inconvenience.

Most black women can't afford the kind of expensive baubles sold in that Swiss shop. Whose fault is that? The majority of black babies are bastards. Legitimate births are rare among blacks. Black girls and women condemn themselves to poverty by their own lack of discipline.

Winfrey has money but no class. And of course she is almost certainly feigning outrage. This smells of a manufactured incident. Winfrey really is an appalling character.

Albertosaurus

Svigor said...

As I heard it on the radio, Oprah left after the hatecrime and immediately called E! about it. If that's true, congratulations to Oprah on being the biggest **** in the Universe.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, sounds like a language barrier problem as well as a Swiss person not being hip to famous black Americans. Michael Schumacher, who in his heyday was the most recognizable athlete in Europe once remarked that he preferred to do his skiing/vacationing in the Rockies over the Alps because in the US no one recognized him, but in Europe everyone did. Oprah has to realize, or maybe she doesn't come to think about it, that she may be completely recognized in the US and Canada, but people in Europe and Asia are not swimming in the same pop culture rivers. They aren't going to instantly recognize her in Geneva or Milan or Paris the way she would be in New York, Chicago, and L.A. She has backed away a little by claiming that she didn't mean to insult Switzerland and that she was dressing down in the store. Too late, Time Magazine has already used the incident to highlight the fact that in Switzerland "racial profiling and discrimination has become rampant" Those last holdouts to open borders like Japan and Switzerland will be called evil, bad names until they relent and accept open borders.

Svigor said...

negleck...Marie Antoinesha...In fack

LOL

"Puggg said...

Oprah, victim of white racism, worth $2,900,000,000

Puggg, white skin privilege, makes $4x,xxx a year."

I can name quite a few rich white guys...so maybe you're just weak.


But the whole point of "White Privilege" is that all whites are guilty of it. Duh.

You mean skrimps.

LOL.

Anonymous said...

Looks like she's still hanging with the pigmented transsexual robber lookalike.

Rick said...

Her studio audiences, mostly white, looked like cult followers, always nodding their well coiffed heads and with transfixed looks on their faces as though in awe of being in the presence of greatness

They really were in the presence of greatness. She's the most self-made person in America and she's an extraordinary talent, entrepreneur and power broken (she put a black man in the white house for God's sake).

She got millions to read great literature, her willingness to discuss the sexual abuse she endured helped bring millions to recovery, and she's put 65,000 people through school.

She is insightful, charming and UNBELIEVABLY
INTELLIGENT

a woman said...


"Not at all; she carries her weight very well, and in addition to being a trailblazer for blacks and women, she paved the way for overweight people too boot. For a 59 year old woman she's absolutely gorgeous."
_______________

She has lovely clothes and a great make-up artist ; even she admits she's very plain looking. Why do you think women identify with her? ("Oh, IF ONLY I could have those clothes, that hair stylist, that make-up person.....")

As for "paving the way for overweight people"? Are you kidding? So important is weight to Oprah that she has talked and written about it endlessly, one week saying all that counts is "what's on the inside of a woman," the next minute (or year or every six months or every three months) going on yet another of her 1000 and counting diets and once again spilling her guts in angst. Exercise, self-help books, special chefs, trainers, and on and on and on....weight means EVERYTHING to Oprah. Only the lowest of IQ viewers could sit there watching her and conclude that Oprah's message is that "Weight is unimportant to a woman's sense of self-worth."

As for being a "trailblazer?" One can only judge whether she has or hasn't effected change by looking around and seeing if there really are more billionaire black women out there...or billionaire women of any color out there.

Nope--not that it's her fault, just that there's been no trailblazing. You might want to consider other factors for the lack of oodles of billionaire (or millionaire) women or women corporate heads or women Nobel winners in math/science or....well, you get my point, don't you? And anyway, would we really be better off if there were? I mean, is the world a better place because Hilary is once again a prime contender for POTUS? Is the world really a better place because Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein are my senators?

Give me a rugged, vulgar-talking longshoreman from the Oakland docks as my senator and I'll bet I'd be much happier with my representation.

"Trailblazing" is overrated.

Anonymous said...

All articles made from crocodiles are prohibited entry into the U.S. by the Fish & Wildlife Service and the prohibition is enforced at the border by Customs.The shop girl should have refused to sell the bag to Oprah for that reason.

But would the U.S. customs inspector enforced the law against her?

Rick said...


Black people never seem to be able to handle these kind of situations with grace. They are obsessed with being cool but are hopeless at bearing minor inconveniences with dignity. They lack the capacity to have perspective.

But you haven't walked in their shoes?  You haven't experienced the subtle indignities a dark skinned black like Oprah had had to endure her whole life, even from light skinned members of her own race:

http://planetoprah.wordpress.com/2013/07/24/rae-dawn-chongs-racist-rant-against-oprah/

Here is an interaction between people of different social class and wealth. A decent human being would recognize that both parties would have feelings and the person with more resources should be careful to be gracious to the person with less. Not so with black celebrities.

Oprah was gracious.  She never publicly outed the clerk or even the store.  The store outed itself, probably to take advantage of the opportunity to advertise their handbag.  

Rick said...

As for "paving the way for overweight people"? Are you kidding? So important is weight to Oprah that she has talked and written about it endlessly, one week saying all that counts is "what's on the inside of a woman," the next minute (or year or every six months or every three months) going on yet another of her 1000 and counting diets and once again spilling her guts in angst. Exercise, self-help books, special chefs, trainers, and on and on and on....weight means EVERYTHING to Oprah. Only the lowest of IQ viewers could sit there watching her and conclude that Oprah's message is that "Weight is unimportant to a woman's sense of self-worth."

Her lack of self-acceptance is irrelevant. Her success broke down barriers for full figured women including Roseanne Barr, Rosie, star jones, sherry Shepard, candy crawly, etc

Anonymous said...

Mark,
You're right that a fat 59 year old male billionaire would have more prospective spouses to choose from than Oprah does but that doesn't mean that she has no options. If Barbra Streissand could marry at 56 and Gloria Steinam could marry at 66 Oprah could definitely be married to a man by now if she wanted to. The gossip suggests that the true love her life is her best friend Gayle King. But if she does prefer the ladies she will never come out.

Gloria

Anonymous said...


"She recently said that "millions" of blacks were lynched in the US"

Now, a lot of people will believe this since no one in the MSM has the guts to correct her cuz it will sound 'racist' to 'minimize' black suffering.
So, all those who heard 'millions' will think so.

It's like the stuff about Iranian president saying he wants to wipe Israel off the map is a total lie, but no one in the MSM had the guts to correct it. So, a lot of people still believe it.

When one side can lie with impunity but the other side keeps its mouth shut out of fear of offending blacks or Jews, there's a lot of bullshit going on.

If a Jew said 20 million Jews were killed by Nazis, I'll bet no one will bother correcting that number. It might be construed as defending Nazis.

a woman said...

"Her lack of self-acceptance is irrelevant. Her success broke down barriers for full figured women including Roseanne Barr, Rosie, star jones, sherry Shepard, candy crawly, etc"

Oh, for god's sakes, she's not the reason that Barr was cast as a working class, "ain't" using, working class loudmouth like Barr was cast in a sitcom about a working class, "ain't" using, working class loudmouth.

Rosie? Hell, if OW is responsible for Rosie, she should be shot right now.

Candy Crowley has been around a long time and the network can never figure out what weight she'll come in at. I wouldn't worry about her weight but about her lack of journalistic integrity. Again, if OW is responsible for her, let's take her to the gallows.

Maybe you'd like to suggest that the obesity epidemic among young women is, in large part, due to Oprah. After all, you seem to be suggesting she has made it just fine for women to be fat.

Try again. You are trivializing "trailblazing.

Truth said...

"But the whole point of "White Privilege" is that all whites are guilty of it. Duh.'

So all blacks benefit from affirmative action

Anonymous said...

"Why would anyone put a $38,000.00 handbag on the top shelf? Eye level is buy level."

Why would anyone buy a $38,000.00 handbag?

In any case, since such an item would be so very seldom sold, it would be foolish to take up valuable 'eye level' shelf space with such an extremely rarely sold item. You want the stuff that is going to move, occupying those spaces.

Anonymous said...

Anon at 4:26 PM;

"That's about forty blacks (lynched) per year."

I bet many times that number of blacks are killed each year on Chicago's south side alone, by OTHER BLACKS. Not to mention many OTHER places as well.

And the last recorded lynching was 45 years ago too....

Anonymous said...

Rick said

"....her willingness to discuss the sexual abuse she endured helped bring millions to recovery."

Millions? Gosh, is there anything this woman can't do?

You wouldn't happen to have an actual factual source for that claim of "millions", now would you Rick?

Bottledwater said...

Oprah's syndicated show reached tens of millions of people around the world everyday for 25 years.

She discussed her own abuse back in the mid 1980s when such topics were taboo, and she even blew the lid off male sexual abuse in this shocking video:

http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Full-Episode-200-Adult-Men-Who-Were-Molested-Come-Forward-Video

Bottledwater said...

Would a major network even given an overweight lady like Roseanne her own sitcom had it not been for the success of oprah?

Anonymous said...

Now the nation of Switzerland is getting the Zimmerman treatment from the US news media . The Oprah Winfrey crocodile handbag racism crisis is spawning accusations of racial profiling against Switzerland, everything from concentration camps for immigrants to labeling French workers as arrogant.

Silver said...

"Millions" of blacks lynched isn't just crap; it's specifically anti-white crap. Of course, millions upon millions of whites would fret at describing merely as crap, let alone specifically anti-white crap. And that's why they keep getting taken to the cleaners.

Silver said...

"But you haven't walked in their shoes? You haven't experienced the subtle indignities a dark skinned black like Oprah had had to endure her whole life, even from light skinned members of her own race:"

So how is hating whites supposed to help with that?

Silver said...

"As I heard it on the radio, Oprah left after the hatecrime and immediately called E! about it. If that's true, congratulations to Oprah on being the biggest **** in the Universe."

Svigor, svigor, you have to admit, she is one incredibly strong black woman to recover so quickly from a traumatic hatecrime like that.

Evil Sandmich said...

Oprah: proof that the 'ugly American' is not dead.

Helion 5 said...

"I once thought thousands were lynched per year. Then I found out that the black-run Tuskegee Institute claimed that 3446 were lynched between 1882 and 1968, along with 1297 whites. That's about 40 blacks a year, along with 15 whites, well within the range you'd expect of summary executions for murder, horse thievery..."

- Of course, this begs the question of why we should even take the Tuskegee Institution's numbers at face value. I know these are the commonly cited figures, but it seems to me to be in the same vein as how the MSM always uses SPLC definitions of a racist, as though it was some unbiased reservoir of candid facts.

Blacks distort the hell out of anything relating to race relations and their liberal enablers encourage it. This article on Oprah is just one of the countless testimonies of that.


"Winfrey has money but no class. And of course she is almost certainly feigning outrage. This smells of a manufactured incident. Winfrey really is an appalling character."

- It seems very likely that it is a manufactured incident. Winfrey has an upcoming movie,"The Butler" coming out about evil white racism against good innocent black people in the past, and what better way to advertise and drive guilty whites and outraged blacks to support and watch the movie than to have an incident of racism in the present day to show it still is relevant, even if you have to manufacture the incident whole cloth? It is disgusting that she would choose to defame the innocent storeclerk this way when these days, a charge of racism is considered worse than a charge of murder.

Cail Corishev said...

Roseanne may be many things, but I'm not sure even she would have laid claim to the title of "lady."

But all this White Knighting for a woman who made billions from telling middle-class white women what they wanted to hear about everything, and is now in the news for "Do You Know Who I Am?" behavior, is quite amusing. Please continue.

Automatic_Wing said...

Love all the catty comments about how fabulous Oprah is, lol.

What's kind of interesting to me is how this whole thing started, with Larry King asking her a canned question about whether she still experienced racism and O giving that prepared answer about the racist Swiss shop girl. Obviously she felt obliged to come up with *something* and that's what she came up with, lame as it was. Answering negatively probably would've made her a race traitor or something.

JSM said...

"Would a major network even given an overweight lady like Roseanne her own sitcom had it not been for the success of oprah?"

Why not? They gave Esther Rolle, the "Florida" character from the 1970s "Maude" show, her own spinoff, "Good Times."

Again, this was in the '70s, and Oprah didn't show up till the mid '80s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_Evans

Camlost said...

We desperately need a comment from Sherry "Where da black people at?" Sheppard.

NOTA said...

So, are the Oprah friendly posts with the odd, flack-like quality to their writing from fans, or from an online "reputation protection" company?

Look, Oprah was immensely successful as a talk-show host, perhaps the best there has ever been. She made herself a billionaire thanks to some combination of talent, work, good choices, and luck, and is probably as exfraordinary in her own way as most other self-made billionaires. Her product isn't mycup of tea, but that's fine.

But this racial profiling/victimhood story sounds, to me, exactly like what happens when a very self-important powerful person fails to get the level of deference she believes she is entitled to. If I heard a similar story from, say, Elon Musk, I would think "Jesus, what a self-aborbed egotistical asshole." And that same thought comes to mind hearing this story.

When you are a self-made billionaire, a famous celebrity who gets to hobnob with the rich and famous and powerful all day long, who can get the president to return her phone calls, it's kind-of assumed that you can bear up under the weight of an occasional subsistence-wage store clerk failing to recognize your greatness. It may be that next week, Melinda Gates or Kate Middleton or Angeline Jolie will fail to be recognized in a store, and the clerk will think they can't afford something. or will be a little dismissive or rude for whatever reason. The right way to deal with that will simply never be to call a press conference, not only because it's a shitty thing to do (like a lion going around squashing ants for fun), but also because it will make them look like a self-important asshole with a lot more money than manners or class.

smartandwise said...

- It seems very likely that it is a manufactured incident. Winfrey has an upcoming movie,"The Butler" coming out about evil white racism against good innocent black people in the past, and what better way to advertise and drive guilty whites and outraged blacks to support and watch the movie than to have an incident of racism in the present day to show it still is relevant, even if you have to manufacture the incident whole cloth?

Oprah was specifically ASKED if she still experiences racism. She didn't just volunteer this. I think it's inevitable that a black looking black woman would experience racism in a high end store because, with the exception of Oprah, race is an excellent predictor of wealth, so any statistically rational sales clerk will guess they can't afford expensive goods.

And as Steve Sailer astutely pointed out, the clerk never did show Oprah the bag Oprah wanted to see.

It is disgusting that she would choose to defame the innocent storeclerk this way when these days, a charge of racism is considered worse than a charge of murder.

She didn't name the clerk or the store so she didn't defame anyone. The store appears to have outed itself, presumably to advertise the handbag. I bet this whole controversy has boosted sales for the store, and by extension, the clerk.

But I'm sure the situation freaked the clerk out since she's probably seldom seen anyone as black as Oprah except in documentaries about the cannibals she compared Oprah to. Imagine her shock upon discovering that this lowly looking black lady is the most powerful woman on the face of the planet. Whoops.

I'm looking forward to Steve Sailer's review of "Lee Daniel's The Butler"

smartandwise said...

So, are the Oprah friendly posts with the odd, flack-like quality to their writing from fans, or from an online "reputation protection" company?

I'm an Oprah fan who gained a TON of respect for Steve Sailer when he had the objective brilliance to declare this black woman the most self-made billionaire in America:

http://isteve.blogspot.ca/2011/11/earning-vs-owning-your-way-on-forbes.html

Look, Oprah was immensely successful as a talk-show host, perhaps the best there has ever been. She made herself a billionaire thanks to some combination of talent, work, good choices, and luck, and is probably as exfraordinary in her own way as most other self-made billionaires.

I actually think she's MORE extraordinary than most other self-made billionaires because she had so much going against her (poor, illegitimate, sexually abused, overweight, female, dark skinned very negroid looking black, not conventionally beautiful, illegitimate). Not only did she overcome great odds, but as Steve Sailer pointed out, unlike other billionaires who just OWN the hard work and innovation of others, Oprah actually EARNED her wealth herself by going out on TV everyday and competing in an extremely competitive and improvisational field:

http://isteve.blogspot.ca/2011/11/earning-vs-owning-your-way-on-forbes.html

But this racial profiling/victimhood story sounds, to me, exactly like what happens when a very self-important powerful person fails to get the level of deference she believes she is entitled to.

She failed to get the level of deference she believes an equally well dressed white would have got.

Anonymous said...

"She failed to get the level of deference she believes an equally well dressed white would have got."

Um, surely you heard Oprah back off the story yesterday when the sales clerk and store told their side. While she didn't apologize, she certainly backed off.

I've seen enough and listened to enough of Oprah in my youth to realize she is just as capable of hyperbole and just as capable of misreading a situation as anyone, and being black, probably more likely to misread something.

She misread Obama, momma.

Anonymous said...

No one promoted schlop pop psychology and Freudian idiocy (although she didn't mention "Freud") more than Oprah.

Science was the loser on her shows.

Her constant refrain? "I like to describe what you're feeling, what's wrong with you, by saying 'you have a hole in your soul.'"

Egads.

Silver said...

Look, Oprah was immensely successful as a talk-show host, perhaps the best there has ever been.

I wonder if you'd be saying that if she wasn't black. She was competent and she knew how to make her audience feel good about itself - and knew how to use her blackness to do it (even "racists" get tired of feeling negative about blacks all the time). But she was in over her head dealing with more complex ideas. That's not necessarily a mark against a talk show, but she was glaringly deficient in this respect compared to a Geraldo or a Donahue.

Engineer Dad said...

So why would Oprah Winfrey, who was PETA's 2008 Person of the Year, be shopping for a crocodile bag?

Did Ms Winfrey confuse the shopgirl because she recognized Oprah as a PETA award recipient?

Will PETA criticize Oprah for desiring a $38,000 crocodile bag? Well ...probably not since protecting animals is not really what PETA is about.

Reference: http://oprah.about.com/b/2008/12/19/oprah-is-petas-person-of-the-year-for-2008.htm

Svigor said...

I actually think she's MORE extraordinary than most other self-made billionaires because she had so much going against her (poor, illegitimate, sexually abused, overweight, female, dark skinned very negroid looking black, not conventionally beautiful, illegitimate). Not only did she overcome great odds, but as Steve Sailer pointed out, unlike other billionaires who just OWN the hard work and innovation of others, Oprah actually EARNED her wealth herself by going out on TV everyday and competing in an extremely competitive and improvisational field:

I think "Truth" would categorize you as "sensing." Do I have that right, T? The term for the kind of idiots who only believe in what they've seen?

Svigor said...

"Oprah works harder than anyone, cuz I see her do it on teevee. Well, harder than anyone but me, cuz I've been there every day I went to work my whole life."

LOL.

smartandwise said...

Um, surely you heard Oprah back off the story yesterday when the sales clerk and store told their side. While she didn't apologize, she certainly backed off.

Oprah shrewdly backed off because she knows there's little sympathy for a billionaire whining about not being able to buy a purse now revealed to be $38,000 (especially when Oprah is an icon for the masses, not the elite), and the non-black public is no longer sympathetic about racism especially from someone who made billions off of white fans. Part of her genius was she made whites feel racially comfortable and this story was doing the opposite.

I've seen enough and listened to enough of Oprah in my youth to realize she is just as capable of hyperbole and just as capable of misreading a situation as anyone, and being black, probably more likely to misread something.

I disagree. She made billions off of being able to read the audience, especially suburban white women.

As for Oprah being hyperbolic, the store could have released the surveillance video and debunked Oprah's account, but they didn't because it would likely reveal the lady refusing to get the handbag.

She misread Obama, momma.

Not only did she not misread Obama, but she correctly read the mood in the country and sensed that this particular "black" man could beat Hillary (who the media thought was inevitable), and thus invested her phenomenal influence into making it happen, changing the trajectory of history. That's true influence.

Bottledwater said...


I wonder if you'd be saying that if she wasn't black. She was competent and she knew how to make her audience feel good about itself - and knew how to use her blackness to do it (even "racists" get tired of feeling negative about blacks all the time).

She's vastly more than just competent.  She's a one in a million talent:

http://m.youtube.com/index?&desktop_uri=%2F#/watch?v=er-fi8mX1kc

I recall Steve Sailer once writing about how early in her career, he got to witness Oprah firsthand interacting with fans and she was the most socially skilled person he had ever seen.


But she was in over her head dealing with more complex ideas. That's not necessarily a mark against a talk show, but she was glaringly deficient in this respect compared to a Geraldo or a Donahue.

Geraldo and Donahue were more news oriented, but Oprah can handle complex ideas with the best of them.  She knows how to take multifaceted thoughts and articulate them succinctly and efficiently.  This is a woman who can get to the point, get straight to the heart of the issue:

http://planetoprah.wordpress.com/2013/07/26/oprah-is-briliant/

Truth said...

"I think "Truth" would categorize you as "sensing." Do I have that right, T? The term for the kind of idiots who only believe in what they've seen?"

No, just the opposite. It's a small sample size but I would characterize this person as a definite "intuitive" based upon a few factors:

1) This is a REACTION TO what he/she has seen not a simple narration.

2) Intuitives generally prefer to naval-graze and draw conclusions from given data whereas a sensor will simply take the data and give a personal opinion.

3) There's an idealism there (Not only did she overcome great odds, but as Steve Sailer pointed out, unlike other billionaires who just OWN the hard work and innovation of others, Oprah actually EARNED her wealth herself...) that generally implies intuition rather than sensation which takes information in the 4-d, here and now world.

Sorry Svig, this person is an intuitive, as is, I would estimate 80% of the board (again, sensates don't spend their spare time mulling over ideas), and you and I.

You are confusing the S-N function with the T-F and S-J functions which are where you and this person are fundamentally different. You are an INTJ and this person is probably either probably an ENFJ or possible an ENFP. The level of personal feeling and capital letters indicates and "F" function, whereas the drawing of a strong conclusion at the end, probably a "J". ENFJ's are known as pedantics, professors and lecturers.

BTW, the guy from the FBI who keeps contacting me to do profiling, I'm still not interested but I appreciate the offer.

Wez said...

I think if Oprah generally cared, she would have gone back and had a word with the shop assistant and explained to her why she felt she had been racially profiled by her'. You know, go and talk with her, person to person. However, it seems easier for Oprah to let the press know and leave a shop assistant's life in disarray than for her to deal with it like a mature adult. This incident makes a complete mockery of Oprah's alleged values and instead says more about the passive-aggressive power of opinion she (Oprah) wields.

NOTA said...

Silver:

Well, it's possible that my description of her being super successful as a talk show host was colored by wanting to say something nice about a black woman. And it's possible that my description of her as acting like a self-absorbed asshole was colored by my wanting to say something mean about a black woman.

But perhaps it's also possible that I was just saying what I thought was true--I can't think of anyone who has been as successful as a ralk show host as her, and her story of being racially profiled made her sound exactly like a rich, famous TV star who makes a scene when some clerk doesn't give her the deference she expects.

Silver said...

"http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=er-fi8mX1kc"

If that was supposed to impress me it had the opposite effect, I assure you. I can honestly say I have a ton more respect for an evangelical speaking in tongues than I do for the average white Oprah fan. Mind you, I don't blame Oprah for milking this crowd. I blame the social values that made milking them possible.

Talking about talk shows, racial realism could do with a talk show format. Although racial realism often seems a dour affair, an endless stream of bad news, the truth is it can also be a ton of fun (and I don't just mean in the crude sense of telling n-word jokes). Craig Bodeker, of "Conversation About Race" fame, has done some of this with a news format/late show trial balloon and I think it showed promise. Something like this would be a tremendous development, which of course means TPTB would do all they could do kill it. If anyone reading is thinking along these lines, stay strong!

Silver said...

"Truth," Svigor doesn't strike me as an INTJ. Is this something he revealed or is it just your analysis?

Svigor seems quite extroverted to me. I could easily imagine hoisting a cold one with him (provided he was willing to hit the pause button on his race hatred for the duration of our get together).

Opfer Winfried said...

We need a name for the new breed of iStevers that has magically arisen on this thread. Oprahsbaranik?