I mean, not like this stuff wasn’t expected. I’ve been talking about this kind of thing for years. But it does give us an idea of the kind of nonsense we’re in for: From the London Times: [1]
AMERICA’S favourite television presenter is paying a painful price for her intervention in the US presidential campaign last month. Oprah Winfrey has been dubbed a “traitor” by some of her female fans for supporting Barack Obama instead of Hillary Clinton.
Winfrey’s website, Oprah.com, has been flooded with a barrage of abuse since the queen of daytime chat shows joined Obama on a tour of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina in mid-December.
Her intervention was widely credited with broadening Obama’s national appeal – especially among women – and with helping him to an upset victory over Clinton in the first vote of the election year in Iowa.
Now look; It’s even money that what we’re seeing on Oprah’s site is orchestrated by the Hillary Clinton camp. That point aside, and for the moment, I’ll consider that what she’s getting is a genuine response. If that’s true, then what we have here is Identity politics in full cry. Oprah is a ‘traitor’ because she supports a candidate who isn’t a woman. Leaving aside for the moment, the obvious questions on that score about Hillary, that kind of response would seem to open the door to attacks on her had she SUPPORTED Clinton, with people calling her a traitor because she didn’t support the black in the race. Or any number of other, reasons even less connected with reality.
What this is, also, however, is an example of stars alienating their followings. I’ve noticed for years that stars of whatever caliber, when they start talking politics, tend to end their careers. The list is huge of people who have dropped off the superstardom map about the time they go political. I won’t even bother to create a list of them; I’m quite sure you can think of a healthy list of such people on your own.
Given the money she’s made over the years I suppose that with Oprah it’s somewhat less of an issue, than it is for some. But it still demonstrates the phenomena rather nicely.