As long as we're talking handbags

[Bonobo]

Has anyone else considered the fact that there is an even uglier truth out there demonstrated by this incident than racism.

It is the sickening contempt for people without wealth.

People are expressing how offensive is that someone dared to think that Oprah was not uber-wealthy. Is it really so contemptible to be thought of as a person that can't afford a $38,000 bag?

Yes, that is the message underlying this conversation.That somehow having THAT much money is a virtue and NOT having that kind of money makes you a "lower" person.

Values. Sometimes you gotta examine them instead of always looking at the shiny thing.

[Warpy]

1. Yes, it's 100% a class issue.

People who aren't lily white are ASSumed to be in the lowest economic class. Even white folks who don't dress the part are ASSumed to be close to the lowest class.

My dad used to rub noses in this stuff. He'd dress down into the stuff he usually wore to clean out the gutters or change the oil in the car and go car shopping. There were several Ford dealerships in town and he'd wait for a sales person to treat him like a human being. That's the guy who got the commission off the wad of fifties he'd pull out of his pocket to buy the car in cash. He'd also tell them to call the competitors and tell them they needed to be nicer to people because you just never knew who was carrying a wad of cash around.

I always loved that he did this.

[Cleita]

2. You are in the zone here, I think.

Our society seems to value people by what they can afford to buy.

[Mnemosyne]

3. And taught to value themselves based on what they can buy.

[WinkyDink]

4. I would think that's the obvious conclusion to draw, no offense. "Black = Not rich" = Class issue.

[Bonobo]

5. That's an important point also about the "usefulness" of Oprah's existence.

She is the Horatio Alger wet-dream.

Hunter Thompson said it well:

“Myths and legends die hard in America. We love them for the extra dimension they provide, the illusion of near-infinite possibility to erase the narrow confines of most men's reality. Weird heroes and mould-breaking champions exist as living proof to those who need it that the tyranny of 'the rat race' is not yet final.”

[rhett o rick]

6. Exactly what I was trying, badly, to portray in earlier threads. It isnt racism, it's classism.

The fact that Ms. Oprah was snubbed is the risk she takes when dealing with the snoberish. If she went to Macy's she wouldnt have had the problem. Many of us average people run into snubs all the time. But Ms. Oprah is used to kowtowing and cant handle less.

[JI7]

7. no, it was that someone saw a black woman and made assumptions

[JI7]

8. what's with the need to deny racism ?

[Bonobo]

9. Whats with the need to pretend that I am denying racism?

[JI7]

10. trying to claim there is something uglier in this story than racism

it was about racism.

[Bonobo]

11. So in your mind, saying "there is something EVEN uglier than the racism"

is the same as DENYING racism?