I say we vote Oprah off the Island. Carrboro is watery – somewhat clear and clean. Oprah is oily – slick and defiling. They don’t mix, thank God. Do we really want our town to be known as the dumping ground for another exploitive, trashy reality TV farce?
I’m all for promoting the businesses of Carrboro. But I’m appalled and deeply wary of the notion that our town will benefit by becoming another titillative Kardashian train wreck. Who are we? For what do we stand? And can we stand to be known as the nexus of lonely hearts in the world of scripted reality? Does Carrboro want to be the next buffoon between the real and the forged worlds?
Oprah makes a living (a billion-dollar living) by exploiting people in need – those in need who are unable to pay the taxes on her noblesse oblige, and to those promoting their half-baked bunkum. Do the people of Carrboro want or need either? For once, this is the chance for Carrboro to take a principled stand instead of simulated posing. Are we Oprah people or not? Are we “The Paris of the Piedmont,†or are we grasping sycophants who will sell our souls for cheap notoriety?
To my mind, Oprah exemplifies much of what is wrong with American culture. Her show, which is now a “network,†panders to the empty, unfortunate among us who live vicariously in a vacant space. Her “fans†live, as George Hubert put it, “Betwixt this world and that of grace.â€
Are we real or are we fodder for what passes for yet another simulated and debasing reality show that is not real at all? If we should occupy anything, we should occupy Oprah and all her manufactured twaddle.
The choice is clear. Either we stoop to conquer or we sustain integrity. Either we choose cheap and dirty celebrity or we remain a community with the authenticity we claim to have. Make up your mind or let us become another Jersey Shore.
William Gargan
Chapel Hill