Living on the edge

I'm a fence-sitting Oprah fan -- I teeter on the fence of her empire until I fall onto the "I hate Oprah" or "I love Oprah" side. I usually fall on each side several times per episode.\nSuch was the case when I watched Oprah's journey "through the looking glass." Perhaps the richest woman in America explored the "foreign" world of America's working poor -- the 30 million people working full-time at minimum wage and who still live in poverty (some examples: teachers' aides, emergency medical technicians, hospital aides, nursing home employees, school cafeteria workers).\nOprah's camera crews followed several workers whose wages fall well below the poverty line despite their long work hours. The audience watched these workers struggle to support spouses and/or children. We watched as the chance of illness and injury for these uninsured full-time laborers jeopardized their ability to pay rent, buy food or afford other basic necessities. We witnessed the psychological wages of depression, alienation, perceived failure and worthlessness that these humans felt because economic exploitation and barriers prevented them from attaining the most basic human dignity, from enjoying the safety and comfort of a home.\nOprah's special drew much needed attention to the economic disparities that the "land of opportunity" sustains and perpetuates, while its citizens largely turn their gaze from the problem.\nBut her educational efforts -- valiant as they may be -- cannot be left without a few critiques. Why did Oprah dedicate the most air time to a privileged, upper-class, white male -- Morgan Spurlock of "Super Size Me" fame? Spurlock decided to play poor for 30 days. He and his wife moved to Columbus, Ohio, with a few hundred dollars, no credit cards and a mission: find minimum wage jobs and survive for 30 days. The Spurlocks' account of their struggles -- of the difficult conditions of low wage labor, of being wiped out by a trip to the emergency room, of taking public transportation and walking to save money -- was the showcase segment of the episode. Furthermore, after Oprah showed segments of the real working poor, the Spurlocks remained on stage to validate and reinforce those experiences with their own comprehensive 30-day knowledge.\nAre the voices of the real victims not authentic enough for us to believe without Oprah and Spurlock assuring us that this really is a problem?\nOprah offered sound advice for addressing some of these problems: Write your elected officials to demand an increase in the minimum wage and universal health care. But the problem will not be solved by political avenues alone. I realize Oprah only had an hour to create a buzz over the issue and introduce some simple solutions, but she only scratched the surface -- and without understanding the full complexity of the issue (such as the many ways race, gender, family structures and education influence and impact economic opportunity), we will never do more than treat symptoms while the inequities persist.\nWe cannot be satisfied with simple explanations and solutions -- unless we are also satisfied with never-ending problems.