There has been much talk about the Tebow Effect because Jim Tebow has surprisingly accomplished unexpected results on the football field. So politicians, of all stripes are citing his accomplishments as an example of what they will do. But strangely, very few of these politicians are citing the Real accomplishments of Oprah Winfrey as an example that they can model themselves after. Of course this is not new-- Oprah is a black woman who has achieved exploits beyond all things which whites expected she would achieve. But inspite of that Oprah has done more than become a billionaire, she has achieve a place in America that very few people in this nation have achieved.
The Oprah Effect has been so dominant in this nation that she has transcended the he his historial divides that has plagued this nation for centuries. A black woman who has risen above sexual abuse, physical abuse, poverty, and other disadvantages so common to blacks in this nation that she has now become commonplace in the American society that she is viewed as a part of all the American fixture in every home. She has shattered the stereotypical landscape of what it means to be an American. No more can America think that it is all white without any variations of significant black and brown others. Consequently, when our politicians attempt to collect and categorize their votes on the right and on the left, they must consider the Oprah Effect.
The Oprah Effect is beyond money politics-- that she has much money to spend, that a sure-- but she has clout in the whole of every American who watches television. No politician will ever contemplate overlooking the Oprah effect ever again. She is all over the television, everywhere in the media, at the Academy Awards. She is ubiquitous! Who could have foreseen the effect that she would have on the lives of every American? Strangely, they allowed her in their homes via television and they became addicted to her and required a daily 1 to 2 hours of Oprah.
Even racist whites did not understand the effect that Oprah was having on society: she raised her children, socialized their parents into normalizing them into seeing as normal this black woman and people into their homes as though she were friends, She interviewed their children, the parents of those children, the politicians of those parents, and everyone in America had to acknowledge and know who Oprah Winfrey was and is; she, created personalities, she soul books for many people whose books would not sell, but for Oprah, making some rich and some famous. This was just a part of her effect.
She introduced an entire body of literature and a culture of society America had dismissed as being insignificant--movie stars, poets, dancers, etc. And America learned to love and respect them. If you were anybody, your face had to be seen and/or approved by Oprah!S he is more than an icon of society, she is a powerful force of nature in society and throughout the known world!
When it came to politics, few knew who Barack Obama was until Oprah brought him up on her show and touted him as a voice to be heard in this nation. Few who understood the power of Oprah with her billions of dollars until Barack Obama was supported and endorsed by Oprah. She gave money, she raised money, she spoke passionately for Barack Obama was presidential aspirations and when Oprah spoke the nation listened. That was and he is the power of the Oprah Effect.
When Oprah endorses a product or a candidate is more significant than all of the candidates put together. When President Barack Obama was elected president of the United States of America, everyone saw that the TV cameras panned to a crying and weeping Oprah! And the world saw that America had changed its stripes. That is the Oprah effect that has been wrought on America by a simple black woman who rose from nothing to become powerful force of nature.
If so many the wives and families we not comfortably watching Oprah religiously, the religious right and conservatives surely would have labeled her as the anti-Christ by now !
Beyond the personalities that Oprah Winfrey has made, she has introduced America to unknown faces, personalities, scholars, etc. Many of these scholars and personalities who have been known and unappreciated by most Americans, even though they have had a profound on this nation. That is the Oprah Effect. And because she has introduced many nonwhite faces to white America, they have become household names and American icons whom America no longer afraid to associate with. Black music, even the hip-hop and rap music are now used by all Americans.
Beyond Martin Luther King, Jr., who has also had a profound impact in shaping the destiny and thought of America, Oprah Winfrey has furthered the legacy and hopes of Martin Luther King Jr. She has transformed this nation, making most whites and nonwhites common place American life. The idea so long held by many whites that Blacks were limited in the things they could do has been devastated by the Oprah Effect. Now, even Southern whites running for political office must bow before the altar of the Oprah Effect.
They must respect her name, her finances, her standing in society, and they must respect the her very being. It was comedienne Chris Rock who stated, as he stood between President Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey, "I am happy to be standing before the most powerful person in America and the world , Oprah Winfrey!"
Beyond the personalities Oprah Winfrey has created and advanced to stardom, she has introduced faces, personalities, scholars, etc. this nation would never have known. Scholars and personalities whom America owes a great deal to but had gone unknown and never appreciated by America but for the Oprah Effect. Many have become household names
Beyond Martin Luther King, Jr., who has also had a profound impact in shaping the destiny and thought of America, Oprah Winfrey has carried on his legacy and hopes beyond King‘s dream in her own quiet way. She has transformed this nation and made common nonwhites in and whites together in almost all places. The nightmare of J.Edger Hoover and other fearful bigots have almost become reality in American life.
Of course, this is the Republicans’ worse nightmare: in spite of the large sums of money the right-tilted Supreme Court has allowed bigoted whites to infuse into presidential campaigns, Barak Obama will be re-elected. And that reelection will mean Blacks and other nonwhites can win the presidency regardless of how much money is spent to block a nonwhite from office!
Frank A. Jones