(Image via vanityfair.com) 

Volunteer Writer: Aliyah Santana 

Email: asantana5@umassd.edu

Whoopi Goldberg is an Academy Award-winning actress, comedian, and radio host with a large television presence. She is one of only ten people to hold an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony Award. She is also the first woman to be given the Mark Twain Prize for American humor. 

She is the author of three books and has done immense charitable work to fight poverty, homelessness, and HIV/AIDS. Goldberg was born on November 13th, 1955, in New York, New York. She is currently a co-host of the TV talk show The View. 

Goldberg is currently experiencing backlash due to controversy with Holtermann’s Bakery, a family-owned business in Staten Island. After she publicly claimed on The View that the bakery refused to fulfill her birthday order, Goldberg suggested that the rejection might be because of her outspoken political stance. 

It is noted that she did not mention the bakery by name, but viewers were able to identify it based on the packaging that was shown during the segment.

Holtermann’s bakery was established in 1878 and denied these accusations, explaining that they were struggling with a malfunction in their broiler that disrupted operations. Ultimately, the desserts were made and picked up by someone else for her celebration. The Bakery owner, Jill Holtermann, expressed shock at the accusations, emphasizing that the issue was purely logistical and unrelated to politics.

The bakery received overwhelming support from customers, both locally and nationwide. Staten Island borough President Vito Fosella and other officials criticized Goldberg’s comment, stating that the accusations unfairly tarnished the reputation of a long-standing family business. They also spoke out about how not everything is connected to politics. 

Now, this calls into question if this world is too politically crazy during the election years. 

If you remove your own political point of view for a moment and look at it from an unbiased angle, you will find problems with any candidate. 

Of course, no one is perfect, but blaming a bakery for holding merchandise from you due to your political views when no part of politics was involved makes it seem like we allow the election to play too large of a role in our lives. It suffocates us in social media, our personal lives, and our work/school lives. 

Being informed is important, but at what point is it too much? 

Zara Abrams, a freelance science writer with a BA in Neuroscience, wrote an article about the impact of election stress on the average American adult. “ In 2016, the presidential election caused significant stress for 52% of adults—this year, that number jumped to 69%.” 

Allowing politics to heavily affect our mental health can lead to stress, anxiety, and a sense of helplessness over things we cannot control. While staying informed is important, obsessing over politics can be unbelievably draining. 

Setting boundaries and focusing on what we can influence can help protect our mental health and maintain a balance. 

The Whoopi Goldberg bakery incident isn’t overly blown out of proportion, but it shows how much politics has taken over our lives. Instead of seeing the situation for what it was—a faulty broiler—people turned it into a political fight based on their opinions of Goldberg and the bakery. 

We often let politics control how we think and act, even in small things. This kind of thinking spreads everywhere, even into places like bakeries, where politics shouldn’t matter. It makes it harder for people to talk things out or see each other as regular people instead of enemies.