In case you haven't heard, Oprah Winfrey recently tried to do a little after hours shopping at a Hermes store in Paris, but was refused entry. Oprah believes she was denied admittance because she is African-American.

As accusations of racism fly about, one aspect of the "Hermes affair" that is consistently ignored by Oprah's army is the fact that the shop in question had already been closed for several minutes by the time Ms. Winfrey arrived. Perhaps, as has been reported, there were other shoppers inside the store at the time. But perhaps, unlike Oprah, those shoppers arrived before closing time. And perhaps the boutique's employees were doing their best to speed those shoppers along. The truth is, we know very little of the exact circumstances surrounding this event. Given the lack of information, perhaps inflammatory accusations don't make for the best resolution strategy.

I am white. As such, I don't have to deal with many of the ugly realities faced daily by minorities. But as white as I may be, I have never been granted access to a business 15 minutes after closing, nor have I ever expected that I would be granted such access.

I suspect that the current controversy has little to do with racism, but instead simply reflects the unquenchable sense of entitlement possessed by today's American celebrities. Completely incapable of relating to the workings of the everyday world, Oprah opts to assign random irrational motives in a wholly rational situation.

If Mel Gibson arrived on the set of Oprah's television show 15 minutes after the end of the day's taping and demanded that she and her crew shoot another episode just for him, would she oblige? What if she had other plans for the evening? If she refused, would it be safe to automatically assume that Ms. Winfrey is prejudiced against Aussies? Or Catholics?

In the end, we may come to discover that the store clerks were indeed racist. And if that occurs, I'll be the first to condemn their actions. But until Oprah can provide stronger evidence than that currently offered, bigotry simply isn't the logical conclusion. In the "real world," hours of business actually mean something, regardless of race. And logic should lead one to assume that if you arrive at a store outside of business hours, and you haven't made special arrangements with the store's manager, then you probably won't be allowed inside.

Maybe she wasn't admitted into the shop because (gasp!) she's American. After all, it's common knowledge in most of the world that the French-American relationship has been a bit strained in recent years. And stereotypes that pre-date the current struggles suggest that the French have never cared much for us Yanks, black or white.

None of this is intended to diminish the problem of racism in the world today. Minorities in America have to deal with unpleasantries on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis. From police behavior to employment decisions to general civility, bigotry seems to pervade every aspect of our nation.

Yet, all Oprah can think about is herself. For once, not everyone bent over backwards to provide her with special treatment, and as a result, she's describing the Paris incident as one of the most humiliating of her life. Forgive me if I fail to see her struggle to shop after hours in a Paris boutique as providing much of a contribution to the larger cause.

[Yahoo! News] Oprah Gets Empathy After Boutique Rebuff

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Some may claim that my stance on this issue disqualifies me from calling myself a progressive anymore. As a progressive, however, I feel that I have a duty to discredit those who seek to take advantage of liberal issues merely for personal gain. Fighting racism should be of paramount concern to every progressive, but when a rich celebrity attaches herself to that fight with specious claims, she only succeeds in weakening the cause. And when the fight for racial equality is defined by Oprah's desire to shop at Hermes after closing time, how can we really expect anyone to take it seriously?