An Insult to Women and the African-American Communities

A recent article from the New York Times raised a couple of alarming arguments. The author, Katharine Q. Seelye, postulates that because Oprah Winfrey officially endorsed Democratic Presidential Nominee Barack Obama, voting women and African-Americans would follow suit and place their trust in Obama as well. To assume that Oprah's audience and fans would so blindly vote for a candidate that she approves of is purely insulting. True, some of Oprah's audience may blindly follow her anywhere due to some blind obedience, but another assumption would prove that many of her fans are smart enough to choose their own President. Instead of just presenting the facts of the story, Seelye presents these broad and false assumptions either because she vainly hopes them to be true or she is trying to convince her audience that overlaps with Oprah's audience to choose Obama on their ballots.

To assume that women and African-Americans would blindly fall into line and follow Oprah is hurtful and demeaning. Both groups of people faught for, and are still fighting, the equality and rights that they now enjoy. By simplifying their thought processes so thoroughly, Seelye actually sets women and African-Americans back in their fight for equality in today's world. Such assumptions about Oprah and Obama have been made in many facets of mass media and every time it is irresponsible journalistically and harmful culturally.