Oprah Struggles

White Chocolate? Probably the favorite of the racist Swiss.

I haven't found an address for the inevitable support group that will spring up to ease Oprah's pain. I'll post details when they become available. But I did find details on the obvious case of racial purse denial that became Oprah's nightmare. This seems to be something of a rationalization; we know what went down:

It seems there was a language barrier: The clerk's English isn't great, and Winfrey probably doesn't speak Swiss. "This is an absolute classic misunderstanding," the store's owner, Trude Goetz, told Reuters, which paraphrases her explanation: "The sales assistant had wanted to show Winfrey that the bag was also available in other materials, which may have given the TV host the impression the shop did not want to sell it to her, Goetz said." The News reports that Goetz apologized to Winfrey via a Swiss newspaper, but in her Reuters interview she implied that the celeb's account didn't make sense: "Who wouldn't want to sell a purse for 35,000 francs?"

Thirty-five thousand Swiss francs is equivalent to some $38,000, or 72% of the median U.S. household income. If most women spent that kind of sum on a handbag, all they'd have is an empty handbag. That's not true of moneybags Winfrey, but even she was put off when she eventually learned the price tag: "Turns out that store clerk did me a favor. Just found out that bag was $38K!!! She was right I was NOT going to buy."

Oh, well, never mind then...

...What Winfrey construes as a racial episode is actually a story about class--a wealthy, privileged celebrity aggrieved by a lowly saleswoman's lack of deference...

Let me take this opportunity to confess: to my everlasting shame, I admit that when I heard someone say that Oprah was too fat for that purse, I chuckled and thought it funny. Can you imagine? Me, a privileged white man, laughing at what surely must be a low point in this poor oppressed woman's life. I hide my face behind my axe in shame.  

Who knows why this Swiss woman felt obliged to pick up the pitchfork and persecute this gentle soul. We can be thankful that Oprah's entourage was large enough to discourage any thoughts of a lynching, but just because Oprah escaped this time doesn't mean we should let the Swiss off the hook.

I'm thinking that maybe a few low flying drones would put the fear of God into those Swiss racists. We can only hope the president looks into this when he returns from his much needed vacation. Let them contemplate their archaic Jonas Crow institutionalized racism over the ashes of a smoldering Toblerone factory.