Tom Henihan
It appears that wealth and celebrity are the most valued attributes in America.
Value is assigned only to achievements that make people rich. Meaningful, constructive work done in relative obscurity is relegated to the province of a life unfulfilled.
Even now, knowing only too well that financial success and celebrity do not qualify someone for the American Presidency, Americans or at least the media and Hollywood are once again proposing to put a billionaire reality TV personality in the White House.
No one can take away from Oprah’s enormous success, remarkable in itself but especially so for an African-American woman in an industry and a time that set enormous limitations on both women and African-Americans.
But fame and financial success are nebulous as neither are the direct result or character, courage, talent or innovation.
Wealth and celebrity are so often acquired by relying on the most base of instincts and employing the lowest of means.
Cunning should not be confused with intelligence. Cunning usually functions in the same measure as intellect and moral judgment are lacking.
Animals are cunning because they know what they want and their means of acquiring what they want is unmitigated by conscience or empathy.
Oprah Winfrey is a cunning, shameless opportunist who, over the course of her career as a talk show host, has championed the most facile and spurious of causes and given credence to the most ridiculous fads.
The speech she delivered at the Golden Globe Awards, a speech touted by the media as “cathartic” was a litany of hackneyed, stock phrases bereft of insight or any semblance of moral engagement.
In reference to the “#me-too” movement, Oprah declared “a new day is on the horizon,” as if she had in some manner made a meaningful contribution to that cause and earned the mantle to make such an affirmation.
Oprah went on to say that women lived “in a culture broken by brutally powerful men. For too long, women have not been heard or believed if they dared to speak their truth to the power of those men, but their time is up.”
No one should allow Oprah to forget that she associated and socialized with Harvey Weinstein, Hollywood’s most “brutally powerful” man.
During the time of Oprah’s association with Weinstein, his predatory behaviour was common knowledge. .
It is a mockery of the #MeToo movement that Oprah is allowed to be so duplicitous and make such insincere statements without immediate censure from other women.
Over paid celebrities often suffer the delusion that they have what it takes to lead others because they are the personification of what the masses aspire to be.
Of course, the sad truth is that they are at least half-right and because they are feted and wealthy, an increasing number of celebrities now have their eye on the American Presidency, seeing the office as the obvious next tier in their entertainment careers.
Like Donald Trump, Oprah Winfrey knows that even running for the presidency or having her name thrown about as a possible candidate is good for business.
Winfrey will play the game, to ensure that the speculation about her candidacy benefits the Oprah brand.