Oprah, Oprah, Oprah

Okay, maybe I just don't know all the facts, but why is Oprah kicking up such a fuss about the Hermes store not letting her in after it was closed? I can see, of course, being frustrated not to get in; I imagine that, when you're Oprah Winfrey, you're accustomed to getting what you want, store hours for regular folk be damned! The usual course of events, from what I know from celebrity gossip rags, is that if a big celeb does deign to enter a fancy store during peon hours, the store will just up and close itself to regular people so the celebrity can shop in peace.

So if Oprah is as all-about-the-little-people as she claims to be, where's her outrage on behalf of little people everywhere who want to get their niece a birthday gift at Kitson but can't because Lindsay Lohan needs privacy to find the perfect trucker hat?

But I digress; my point is that I understand Oprah's being personally -- and privately -- annoyed that her celebrity status didn't get her what she wanted in this instance, and I actually think she's got some displaced anger issues, lashing out at Hermes when secretly she's kicking herself for waiting until the last minute to get that watch for Tina Turner.

I just can't believe that she's making such a big freaking deal -- planning to do a whole show about it, for pete's sake -- about not being let into a store when it was closed, and making it into a race issue. I absolutely agree that horrendous racism and discrimination, both overt and unconscious, exist in the world, and as a white woman I can't ever quite know what it feels like to be discriminated against -- excluded from a club, not given opportunities in the workplace, been looked at suspiciously -- because of the color of my skin.

I'm also a rule-follower, which I realize sometimes clouds my vision and imagination, and the store was closed. The store is open and they turn you away a la Pretty Woman, all "I don't think we have anything for you here; you're obviously in the wrong place"? Stop the presses; boycott Hermes; stage a protest; whatever -- I'm with you. But this? I just don't buy it. Get over yourself; they'd have turned me away, too, if the store were closed, and I wouldn't be crying "anti-woman!" or "anti-American!" or even "anti-non-celebrity!" It's just absurd.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually think I liked Oprah better when she was abetting Tom Cruise's absurd declaration of love and insanity on her show. Yeesh.