Wellbeing
Published on January 11, 2018
Comments 35

World Wednesday: Oprah is trending because we need her to

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Tired but ready for a new path for the world! #TIMES UP #Oprah2020 #Australia #over50blogger @boneAndsilver @Oprah

Tired but ready for a new path for the world! #TIMES UP #Oprah2020 #Australia #over50blogger @boneAndsilver @Oprah

So you must have seen her Golden Globes speech? If not, go Google it now, and we’ll wait for ya…

‘H’ and I watched it with tears in our eyes- both usually a bit cynical about all that ‘celebrity stuff’, yet absolutely moved by her sincerity, power, and integrity.

Now I’m totally on the #Oprah2020 and #oprahforpresident movement!

The world needs a drastic change of direction: environmentally, economically, even emotionally. I’ve spent years watching Oprah consistently expanding and exploring both heart and mind; she taught me so much about marginalised communities, and most importantly, about all the positive, grassroots campaigns quietly going on in neighbourhoods to counteract huge problems.

Sure, sometimes she waffled on about the Top Ten fashion mistakes, but then she’d meet with the Dalai Lama and meditate for world peace, so she’s still got my loyalty.

In my opinion (and of course this is my blog, so you’re getting it), Donald Trump represents the last, atrocious, dying breath of the ‘Old Way’- the exploitative, corporate, consumerist-based, Patriarchally-focussed, ego-driven, narcissistic, sexist, racist, homophobic and ageist, blatantly cruel, unsustainable path. [Can you tell I don’t like him?]

We can’t do it any more. The planet can’t take it, and neither can all of us.

#TIMESUP indeed- on so many levels.

For multiple decades, women (and intelligent, sensitive, honest, supportive men) have been fighting for equal rights; hell, the battle goes back centuries of course! But we’re here Now, together, struggling on a very thin wedge, and Trump represents the last dragon we need to slay.

“If over the next five years we do not fundamentally change” and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions across all sectors, the world is “in danger of reaching a tipping point in the atmosphere that will have a direct negative and profound impact on health around the planet for many, many decades — an impact that many scientists believe could not be recovered…We have five years to make an extraordinary difference.” Christiana Figueres, head of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, June 2016

When Trump got voted in, I COULD NOT believe it- and I’m sure all my American readers couldn’t either. We’ve watched in dread and disgust as his ‘leadership’ has unfolded, making terrible decision after terrible decision, discriminating against everyone except his financial buddies, withdrawing America from the Paris climate change agreement, and leading the US to the brink of nuclear war with North Korea (via Twitter for god’s sake).

Artist Taran Singh Brar positioned this giant inflatable rooster behind the Whitehouse #TrumpChicken #art @boneAndsilver @realDonaldTrump

Artist Taran Singh Brar positioned this giant inflatable rooster behind the Whitehouse #TrumpChicken #art @boneAndsilver @realDonaldTrump

I admit it: in response, I got cynical. Real cynical.

I lost hope for any positive changes. Felt kinda doomed to be honest.

I began to apologise to ’17’ for the shitty world he was going to inherit…

Then suddenly #BlackLivesMatter and #MeToo kicked off. It was everywhere. Sportsmen began to kneel. All over America, good people took to the streets to protest against Trump and what he represents; THANK YOU.

The artists and the ordinary folk began to push back. And now a group of [admittedly mostly white] women launched #TIMESUP in a week, and transformed the Golden Globes to a sea of supportive black dresses, with activists instead of actors on the red carpet. Brilliant idea!

Oprah’s Cecil B DeMille Award for Lifetime Achievement reflects her unbelievable perseverance in the constant face of prejudice, as both a black person, and a woman; her speech honours all who have come before her, and the young ones who will follow; she embodies the transformative, positive power of Love.

I don’t care if that’s a soggy cliché: the whole planet needs more goddamn love.

Together, with a good, heartfelt leader, we can do anything. And most importantly, we need to.

In gratitude for a sense of common purpose, G xO 

35 Comments

  1. WaltPage says

    Oprah might very well make a good President, but please don’t think she can bring more goddamned love to the whole planet. Only God can do that and we need to wonder why He doesn’t and never has. President of the US is a thankless job. The only real reason anyone would want the job is for the prestige and power, regardless of what lofty ideals and platforms they spout. It’s an ego need. Just my humble old white man opinion.

    Liked by 1 person

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    • bone&silver says

      Thanks for commenting Walt, and I definitely agree US President is a thankless job. However, it’s the most powerful country on earth, and we need to start making urgent changes to the status quo on many practical levels, such as renewable energy, consumerism, and equal rights. Having watched Oprah many many times over the years, exploring her ego and intellect with luminaries such as the Dalai Lama or Deepak Chopra, I do believe she would bring a humanitarianism to the task. And that’s what we need. Plus she’s a woman of colour, and goodness knows they’re an underrepresented minority.

      I don’t believe in the Christian God myself, so can’t relate to that part of your comment; I’m very interested in the Here and Now, and to me, Oprah represents a very viable alternative to Trump, who has consistently shown himself to be a heartless, ignorant, aggressive and incredibly divisive old white man. I appreciate your engagement with my post, blessings, G

      Liked by 2 people

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  2. Matt Berger says

    There are certainly good reasons to root for a President Winfrey…

    …however…

    Trump’s election confirms that persons with zero experience in governing/elected office have no business being president of the United States (sorry Mark Zuckerberg, Marc Cuban, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson). Eisenhower was an exception given his WWII experience and presidency of Columbia University. Even Hoover had served in the Cabinet (and his presidency was still historically awful).

    I read Oprah’s remarks as a clarion call for the *rest of us* to get involved. Let us not rely on a single charismatic leader (I miss Obama, but the Democratic Party got walloped during his presidency), but rather support favored candidates at every level of government while also getting more involved ourselves.

    There are remarkably talented women already serving in high elected office who I would prefer to see run for president, including four U.S. Senators: Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren (though I love having her as one of my two Senators). Even Republican Nikki Haley would be an improvement if freed from serving Trump.

    What most encourages me about the likely Democratic wave in 2018 is not its partisanship, but its gender. Women are running for office in record numbers, the vast majority of them as Democrats…and women (particularly women of color) drive the Democratic Party right now. The Democratic Party bench needs replenishing, most notably in governor’s mansions and state legislatures, and we need more women in elected office at every level.

    Winfrey could potentially serve eight years, and it would be easy to see her doing so with distinction–but that would be the end of it.

    Dozens, even hundreds, of women elected this year to the state house could fundamentally transform our politics for decades.

    Liked by 4 people

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    • bone&silver says

      YES! I knew you would make a fantastic contribution to this post Matt, because you are such an informed member of the ‘Twitter Resistance’, thank you. You are utterly right, and way more qualified than I to comment on American politics. I just had to express my enthusiastic response to the concept that yes, the times’ they are a changin’.

      I hope everyone who visits this post READS THIS COMMENT, as Matt is working to make a difference every day, and is worth following on Twitter: @drnoir33

      Liked by 1 person

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  3. Coyote from Orion says

    Male or female, would anyone any good have the physical and spiritual health to do the job pro bono? Or the sense of humor.

    Liked by 1 person

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  5. Annie C says

    “I don’t care if that’s a soggy cliché: the whole planet needs more goddamn love”. Amen! Oprah’s speech teared me up too, right past the crunchy shell. I agree we need to support qualified candidates at every level and the tide of qualified women currently running is very encouraging during some quite dark days occurring in my country. It gives me hope that I thought was lost a year ago.

    Liked by 2 people

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    • bone&silver says

      Yes, exactly! Her speech represents a massive movement of women coming together, and bringing a light of new possibility into a shitty dark world… I am celebrating the return of Hope in me. But yes, the hard-working, on-the-ground, properly-qualified female candidates are also an essential ingredient for the fuel of change…

      Liked by 3 people

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  6. DFMGhost says

    The speech was beautiful. It took me a while to find all of it, not just the parts shown in the news.
    I am hopeful. Something has started. As a woman, who had to battle my way through a land if men, I am hopeful. And proud.

    Liked by 3 people

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  7. Donnalee says

    I am most encouraged by people themselves taking action, as we all have this past year, and so a leader is only some part of it, but the people themselves, ourselves, have to keep doing the good things, no matter what sort of person is at the top of the pile. I think politics should not be a saviour religion but a cooperative effort. Best wishes to all of us!

    Liked by 3 people

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      • Donnalee says

        Thanks–I will probably use it in my upcoming book too, about my view of tarot after having gotten electrocuted and various insights into reading cards. I’m glad you find value in it!

        Liked by 1 person

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  8. Widdershins says

    No Democratic candidate is going to make any significant changes as President if they don’t have a strong majority in both houses, and throughout all levels of elected government. Hopefully that will happen this year, and build on the successes the Dems achieved at the end of last year.

    Unfortunately the ‘ascendancy’ of the orange cheeto has set a precedent for blatantly turning the presidential campaign into a game show. There will be others who will follow in his footsteps.

    But … I can see Oprah becoming a major force for that change, along with all the other women who have come forth and stood in their power over the last couple of years. 🙂

    Liked by 3 people

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    • bone&silver says

      Absolutely Widds. I don’t claim to have any in-depth understanding of the American political system, although I was a complete Bernie fan of course; but as you so perfectly put it, Oprah represents women standing up as one, and saying No More, which I am echoing far away here in Oz. What’s that quote: ‘The Future is Female’. Fuck yeah! G xx

      Liked by 2 people

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  10. RhapsodyBoheme says

    Beautifully written and full of passion. I agree and we are in need of dire changes. It has nothing to do with ego and who is more powerful, but is a matter of humanity, common sense and protecting Mother Earth. Thank you for sharing this my friend

    Liked by 2 people

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  11. Sue hird says

    Cant say Ive listened to opra (tho i did this dpeech and it did move me to tears) but it seems that womens position is certinaly changing now and not before time

    Liked by 1 person

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  12. Jean Cross says

    It is one hundred years since women fought their way into the political system in the UK and the US. One hundred years and we remain underrepresented, underpaid, we endure sexism everywhere, every day, we are continually fighting to control our own bodies and we are still doing the housework. I would say that system has failed us utterly.

    But there is change in the air. Oprah’s speech was part of the outrage that is bustin’ out all over the place. We have found our voice and it is ripping through the status quo and now it is up to all of us to see that the change through. Blogs like this are part of the revolution, fair paly to you, G. We have to listen to each other’s stories and support each other’s actions.

    Change has to come from the bottom, whoever we elect, they better believe we are serious. We have to stay the course and support each other and get out there, the future is there for the taking and we can still do right by the kids and hand it to them.

    Liked by 1 person

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  13. bone&silver says

    Yes indeed Jean. I’d actually just read your post about women getting the vote, so was a bit fired up to do a ‘political’ rant; Oprah’s speech was the perfect final ingredient. Having been brought up a Feminist in the UK by a Mum who was a Feminist, who’d been to the Greenham Common Peace camps, I am profoundly frustrated and disgusted that we are still fighting for equality, especially over our bodies, and on a global level, our planet. It makes me so mad I do see red. The explosion of the #MeToo campaign was a result of those hundred years of repression and abuse, passed down from grandmother to mother to daughter, and I am determined to play whatever tiny part I can in fuelling that fire.

    I’m also acutely aware of how privileged I am: a white-skinned, blue-eyed, educated and literate Western woman, who has traveled the world, owns her own [small] home, and eats organic food every day- Oprah is such an inspiration for the black community, female and male, and could inspire ten thousand young women to enter politics- indeed, she has championed education programs and literacy projects for decades in black communities in the US (and Africa). Bring on the revolution indeed! Every woman who’s ever stood her ground, found her voice, supported a sister, or joined others in advocating for change deserves a shout out, and that’s what Oprah’s speech symbolised for me. As I said in another comment above, “The Future Is Female”.

    And it’s about feckin’ time!

    Power and love to you, G

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  14. Jad says

    My feelings on the first ever election that I was eligible to vote in America is that most of the country was voting on not who they wanted to win but who they did NOT want to win. What a terrible situation for voting for a president. I hope they never end up in a situation like that again.
    I also agree that Trump being president of America is important to the rest of the world too, people asked me if I left America because of Trump, no, why would I? Any major decisions he makes are going to have an effect on the rest of the world anyway? I will be affected where ever I am!

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