I can't think of another figure on television who's done more to encourage us as a culture to rise to the highest common denominator.
MacNeil and Lehrer come to mind, but they began as a team and their purview was and is limited to news, whereas Winfrey's platform is broader and the choice of subject matter completely under her control.
It upsets me that people commonly speak and write about her with dismissal in their tone, as if she were merely something soft and fluffy for inconsequential women who watch daytime TV. One take on that perspective is that it's an unconscious expression of our society's sexism and racism. Who cares what women feel, let alone this Black woman?
Fortunately for us, one of the things Winfrey has worked on is expanding our understanding that everyone is someone of consequence -- especially those who've felt the most marginalized. And she's done this by simply letting those people tell their stories.
She's created a human encyclopedia we can refer to to pull us out of our ignorance and into a place of empathy. Feel shame in believing no one would understand what it's like to be incested? Here are 25 years of stories to help the public understand so you can feel supported in your healing. Hate that fag down the street? Here are 25 years of stories that will help you see him as your neighbor. Feel like you're so impoverished and beaten down you can't have hope? Here are 25 years of stories to guide you and keep you company as you put one foot in front of the other.
Winfrey respects her content and her viewers. How many network shows of any genre can truly say that? She doesn't scream throughout her show, or pit people against each other for ratings, and she doesn't dumb down. She lets her guests speak, and -- here is what really sets her apart -- she listens.
I first remember starting to appreciate Oprah when she did her series on race in the '90s, bringing together in her studio angry members of communities affected by the LA race riots.
She continued to make affecting television, going on to produce her Random Acts of Kindness campaign; her Angel Network; her advocacy of children, especially those in danger; her championing of literacy; and her Pay It Forward challenge. She gave attention to international plights as well as domestic ones, and without preaching, encouraged viewers to be good citizens. In sharing her stage with experts she taught us how to take better care of our physical, mental, sexual and spiritual health; and in welcoming all kinds of families she made sure we saw love as their unifying feature. And at last, someone consistently used a public forum to give mothers and teachers the respect they've always been due.
This would have been enough to elevate television, but she went further and put her money and time where her mouth is. Even better, she challenged us to do the same, and we did.
We come from a history of disregarding feeling as frivolity, and prior to Oprah we hadn't paid attention to its heft. She understood that our emotional lives inform every single thing we do.
We think emotion has nothing to do with intelligence, business, commerce, religion or politics. But it's the foundation for all of it. It's emotional life that drives the need for a sense of safety and that need dictates everything, whether it gets played out in a huge arena like war or a small one like making sure your kid's shoes are tied. Emotional life is what creates a Bernie Madoff and it's also what creates an Elie Wiesel. Winfrey improved our culture by validating the meaning of feeling and how it connects us to each other.
The reason for our dismissal of Winfrey is exactly why we should value her: since emotional life has historically been seen as the domain of females, she represents the voice of women. What we should be grateful to her for is having become undeniable proof of the figurative and literal power those voices contain.
I, for one, will really miss the Oprah show, but I have to say also I'm excited to see what she does next.