Oprah Winfrey is beautifully real and really beautiful inside and out .
    Robert Scheer and Bore Vidal are ugly inside and out . This blogsite has become a temple for pushing the ultra-left anti-values of Scheer and Vidal . A good number of comments posted on this site are more insightful and newsworthy than the unprofessional , politically motivated , racially motivated , unresearched , infantile EXCLUSIVES written by Scheer , Vidal and Company . Maybe Mr. Scheer shoud hire some of the comment posters , as we seem to really have our ear to the ground in contrast to Scheer and Vidal , who are partially deaf and the only voices they hear are each other’s . I am really beginning to wonder if they are not secretly married and Dennis Kucinich is their love-child .

I as a rule do not watch “talk” shows , but if I were to pick one I would watch , it would be Oprah Winfrey . I have watched her show and the distinct impression I took from watching her was (and still is) that she is honest , hard working , honest , hard working - she is not an ambulence chaser or pulp pusher like most of the hosts of “competing ” shows .Oprah , unlike Geraldo Rivera who gave us The Mystery of Al Capone’s Vault, which was broadcast live on April 21, 1986 has never stooped to such bogus “material”. The two hour special was greatly hyped as potentially revealing great riches or bodies on live television. This included the presence of a medical examiner should bodies be found and agents from the Internal Revenue Service to collect any of Capone’s money that may be discovered. When the vault was finally opened the only things found inside were dirt and several empty bottles including one Geraldo claimed was for moonshine bathtub gin. Go Geraldo !!!!!
    Whoever the guest or whatever the subject of a particular show may be , she reads and researches and expects her staff to only work as hard as she does . And - when The Oprah Winfrey Show gets the story wrong , Oprah makes it her mission to correct the error . When Oprah discovered that James Frey’s “memoir” was almost a total fabrication , she called him on the carpet to answer for his misleading of her and her viewers . Much better behavior than his publisher , which still prints and sells Mr. Frey’s garbage .
    People seem to hold a seething dislike for Dr. Phil , probably because unlike most experts in TV land , Dr. Phil can dole out some tough advice , telling people they have to work at or on whatever their problem is . The truth is that few people know how to Problem Solve and being told by a psychologist to work and problem solve is a foreign language in most of society today .
    So go ahead - dislike her all you want , but as far as I am concerned , most of the negative posts concerning her are at least partially rooted in racism - and if you cannot at least give her credit for being a self made success , you have also lost appreciation for the American Dream .

ABC, NBC, CBS, FoxNEWS?  Have any of you watched these pseudo networks lately?

Commercial TV is selling a product - itself. To industry/business/finace/millitary as such it is only concernded with ADVERTISING revenue, which is tied to viewership.  Thus TV of the commercial variety naturally oozes towards the LCD (lowest common denominator).  This is somewhat tempered by the demographics/income of the viewers. IE - networks seek the most viewers with the highest possible income as it is these viewers who can buy the crap the advertisers are selling.

Please don’t single out Ophra, she is much much less destructive to the american intelect than say David Letterman, or Conan, or Donald Trump (a perpetual bankrupt masquerading as a business genius), or Billy (I am a fucking liar) Oreilly.  In the months leading up to the Iraq war NBC and ABC demonstrated they were merely hacks in the employ of the government.  Infact all the networks spewed irrational, illogical, and straight up false news re Iraq and Sadam.

How anyone can claim Oprah has anything to do with the dumbing down of America is beyond me.  America has always been stupid - this is the only explanation for the perpetual fetish in america for religion.  Never mind that america has some of the highest levels of poverty, where again we find a great source of ignorace and stupidity.

Oprah is not at fault, it is our refusal to properly fund schools, lunch programs, and to provide state funded universal health care that is to blame.  America is dumb because we continue to allow the rich to avoid paying taxes, while we continue to subsidise the private schools their childeren attend.

Can you imagine what the public schools would be like if the rich kids had to got to them?

Mike:

I’d tell you to go to hell, but I’m also an atheist and don’t believe there is such a place. So….go to heck!

As for Oprah encouraging people to read. Sure. She does. But her reading choices are a) pablum, b) books every thinking person should have read already, or c) a magazine with her photo on it.

You say Oprah is the most successful woman in America. If by that you mean richest and best-know, you win. But I would put Anne Mulcahy, Patricia Russo, Condoleezza Rice, Dr. Julie Gerberding, Melinda Gates and many, many other women ahead of Oprah on that list.

Out of sincere curiosity, could you give some examples of how NPR and Jim Leherer have contributed to the dumbing down?

Or mostly.

I’m actually inclined to go much further, and agree wholeheartedly with Thomas Billis.

I sincerely believe that Oprah has been -in large part- responsible for the dumbing down of much of America.

I can only shake my head in utter sadness, that she has managed that so successfully. I don’t begrudge her the wealth she has accumulated, but simply the fact that she has psyched-out and dumbed-down such a large percentage of the American public, in order to do that.

The claim to her ‘intelligence’ is relative as well. One could hardly argue that she is NOT ‘intelligent’ since the average dummy could not have accumulated such wealth. Then again, look at GWB. So, it’s really hard to make an assessment on Oprah’s ‘intelligence’. If it’s the intelligence that any con artist must have in order to succeed, or otherwise sell their racket, then yes…she’s definitely got that. An intellectual however, she is NOT.

And, I don’t even find her particularly likeable, if only because she’s just so damn NEEDY (psychologically speaking of course).

Besides that, Americans can no longer afford the drug that she sells, if they ever could, the consumption of this fantasy like existence hasn’t done anybody a damn bit of good. So, it’s really a shame that she’s acquired the wealth and the power to actually start ‘HER VERY OWN” network, (it’s ALWAYS about ‘her’ and what is hers) and that we cannot look forward to her using it to a greater advantage.

I say that because common sense has dictated to any who might pay attention, that even with her enormous wealth and power, she would NEVER have achieved any of it, had she not been selling/spinning the product of her own masters in the mainstream media. This is why she’s never taken any real political stand or position before, and why she’s made it so clear this time around, that she’s using her ‘personal’ resources to back Obama, and NOT her media engines. (the TV show and the Magazine). Now of course we all know that they cannot be separated, but it sounds good on paper, and in her interview with Hollywood Entertainment, (or whomever published that statement).

Still, my point is only that with her power and wealth, and with ‘her very own’ network, she COULD, if she chose to, break away from her own pimps, and actually use it to accomplish some good. I don’t expect that to happen. I expect just a more independent version of the same NeverNever land that Michael Jackson constructed, that has since fallen apart. (as fantasies always do, when reality steps in to rear it’s ugly head).

I doubt seriously that she is supporting Barak just because he’s black. No doubt she would prefer to be President herself. Maybe she thinks this is as close as she might get.

Quite honestly, I don’t see her endorsement as a help to him, but I won’t necessarily hold it against him either.

And, the selling of the Oprah brand is no different than the selling of anything else. Her hard luck background is certainly no HARDER than millions of others, from the same day and time, and no different from what millions of young women and children experience today, from across the racial and class spectrum. Young girls suffer the same abuse, no different from her own. She just happened to sell her own hard luck story better than any of the others that might have considered it.

So, it’s dishonest of her (in my opinion) to sell herself based on that, when she does NOTHING to address the fact that it is an ongoing problem, that thousands of young girls and young women continue to live with, and be damaged by. Instead, she sells cosmetic and entertainment gurus, who are supposed to act as an all purpose “Calgon” to just take one away from it all.  Just indulge in “The Secret” and everything will be just fine.

I’m more inclined to think that the occassional shot of brandy does a far better job, and it’s cheaper besides.

Let me be the first to say that Oprah is the truest indication of the dumbing down of America.Her and her protege bullshitter the venerable Dr Phil must have a patent on useless conversation that only someone who has to put down their fingerpaints to listen to could think is in the least bit useful.HL Menken said"no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people”.I do not think even he could have fathomed how rich you can get playing on it.Next up for Oprah her own country.Oprahland will be a place where all the colors are bright and everybody sings and dances everyday and laughs .The laughter of course will be provided by the court jester Steadman the clown.

Oprah and her money is scary. Can she buy the course of history?  Maybe so !

I believe Oprah is a good person with a kind heart, her employees may say she’s demanding but they are there of their own free will.

She represents the American dream of rags to riches, whether being in the right place at the right time helps, drive is the determining factor.

I hope she (Oprah) is endorsing Obama in his candidacy because of his views being the closest to hers and what she believes in and not because he is Black.

Sharon/MMC:

Just because some of us don’t buy into Oprah’s quasi-sainthood does not equate with “hate” or even lack of admiration for what she has accomplished as a black woman from a bad background.  To suggest this is overreactive.

As noted, some of us know a little more about the REAL Oprah than others, eithe from direct interaction or knowing many who have interacted with her, and seen her “off camera.”  As well, while she is certainly to be admired, is obviously intelligent, and can be inspirational does NOT make her any better than others with a billion-dollar business, who can be just as intelligent and inspiration as she is.

The bottom line is that too many people have put Oprah on some kind of pedestal, as some sort of prophetess or absolute role model.  Yet, as noted, they see ONLY what the television shows them, and NOT whether that “persona” is as true as it appears.

Peace.

Oprah was taken in by James Frey. Oprah believes in “The Secret.” Oprah believes John Edward speaks with the dead. Oprah shines a light in the world? I’d rather be in the dark, thanks.

I would add that anyone who feels the need to put their OWN picture on the cover of EVERY SINGLE ISSUE of their magazine is a hopeless monomaniac.

I have also heard from people who used to work for her that she is a Tyrant-with-a-capital-T, and brooks no criticism or contradiction.  (And no, these are not all “disgruntled” ex-employees.)

I, too, give her credit for what she has achieved.  But, as you say, that in itself does not make her any better a person than anyone else, nor “any more insightful…or intelligent.”

Peace.

Oprah seems like a fine person and has a lot of insight about what is going on in American society and the world today.

However, many people wondered about her much-publicized decision to delete the book “The Education of Little Tree” from her famous book list.

This decision may give some insight into Oprah’s inner emotions ... and that maybe she, too, can make mistakes.

More on this in the article ...

“Oprah bumps book ‘Education of Little Tree’ from list; readers can explore many factors involved”

AmericanChronicle.com
November 9, 2007

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=42576

Do you think Obama will get favorable press?