Posted on 02/22/2011 8:26:31 AM PST by lbryce
Oprah's Long History Of Sketchy "Experts" And EndorsementsWith the news that Dr. Melvin Levine—who appeared on Oprah repeatedly over the course of several years as a childhood education expert—committed suicide on Friday, the same day that 40 of his former patients filed a medical malpractice and sexual abuse suit against him, it raises the question of whether O is doing enough vetting of the authors and experts to whom she chooses to lend her credibility.
The number of recent scandals that have emerged — and we're talking about scandals that go beyond Dr. Phil not being a "real doctor," or Rachael Ray not having any formal culinary training, or her own falling-out with Iyanla Vanzant, or even the whole James Frey debacle — is troubling. Seeing as how Oprah's most successful "product" these days is cultivating and grooming personalities into credible and trusted sources, a great deal of responsibility comes with that task.
Oprah's Long History Of Sketchy "Experts" And Endorsements Charges of pedophilia first emerged against Dr. Levine, who was the Professor of Pediatrics at the University of North Carolina Medical School in Chapel Hill, in 2008. His most recent appearance on Oprah was in 2006. Carmen Durso, the attorney representing the Levine's former patients, had approached the show to discuss Levine, but Oprah wanted nothing to do with topic. In fact, aside from one article in 2006, her entire website has basically been scrubbed clean of Levine and his former contributions to her show. In the clip on the left, Dr. Levine is interviewed by Katie Couric on Today about his book Ready or Not, Here Life Comes, and for someone who had sat on Oprah's stage numerous times before, he seems completely uncomfortable and shifty-eyed.
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However, according to Wiki: “McGraw graduated in 1975 from Midwestern State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology. He went on to earn a master's degree in experimental psychology in 1976, and a Ph.D in clinical psychology in 1979 at the University of North Texas,[6] where his dissertation was titled “Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Psychological Intervention”.”
When you have an ego that’s as big as your bank balance, you don’t have time for vetting anyone; that includes Kenyan Marxists posing as President.
30-min was more of a revolution that people realize. Until her show, TV cooking was just dumping "mises en place" into a skillet, without any acknowledgement of the time spent in chopping onions, etc.
Her meal prep is a long stream of unedited shots, convincingly "real time"--all the while keeping up a run of instructional chatter that repeats the recipe three or four times throughout the show. I've made a lot of these meals, bought a knife like hers, and keep two "garbage bowls" handy while I prep.
They are good, fresh, tasty--but her portions are huge and the meal is often high in calories.
The only thing she does off-camera to prep for the show is to wash the greens and buy the groceries.
People make fun of her like they did Martha Stewart, but people waste way too much money eating out. I see young couples eating out more than once a week, which has to be a real budget-buster. Cook for yourself, save the money. RR showed that you can put together a solid, satisfying meal in the time it takes to wait for a table, and then wait for the food.
I thought scurrying about the kitchen gathering the necessary items to cook a meal was the normal way to do it. Having ingredients all on a tray in little measuring cups is no fun.
I saw an ad for a show on her network called something like transgender America. If an adult wants to do it, at least they’re an adult and responsible for their decisions but I saw them interviewing a little kid I would say was less than 10 years old whose parents from what I could tell were letting the boy change into a girl. At less than 10. How is this possible? What doctor would consent to this? Where is CPS in this case? What are the parents thinking?
I think the kid that was mutilated during a botched circumcision and was turned into a girl ended up committing suicide.
Oprah is just a self-indulgent cow with delusions of he presumed importance.
Years ago, Oprah committed a sacrilege when the front of TV Guide had a picture of Oprah’s head photoshopped onto Ann Margaret’s dark tinted body.
WQhat has been seen, cannot be unseen.
Oprah is just a self-indulgent cow with delusions of he presumed importance.
Years ago, Oprah committed a sacrilege when the front of TV Guide had a picture of Oprah’s head photoshopped onto Ann Margaret’s dark tinted body.
What has been seen, cannot be unseen.
I also notice the dead baby story at her school has had a lid put on it.
I find the knock in the article against Rachel Ray because she doesn’t have any formal culinary training to be a real cheap shot. I don’t have any formal training either but I am a damn good cook.
Judge a cook by the quality and taste of the meals they produce and not by the ‘training’ they may or may not have received.”
Isn’t Paula Dean in that same category? No ‘formal training’, but very successful???
Hell- Bill Gates quit college & had no ‘formal training’ in running a business—so how is Microsoft so successful?
I am not a cook, either— I am a life long bookkeeper.
I have been volunteering with a riding club to help prepare the main dish for meals for as many as 80 people at a time. So far- we have never run out of food, no matter how many riders & crews showed up, nor has anyone not liked what I prepared.
I would never try to get a job as a cook- but the hardest part of doing this cooking is thinking of a main dish that I can prepare mostly in advance & I can also ride my horses. I have missed a number of rides because I was ‘cooking’ & preparing the items for the others.
She pushed that "beef-is-bad" and was sued by Texas-sumptin-sumptin for $$damage to their cattle industry. She is one of the best examples of 1st.Amendment Abuse in the private sector.
Rachel Ray is adorable, and she can cook. That’s all I need to know about any woman.
The article highlights various awful human beings, who nonetheless may or may not have given good advice — it completely skips over the quacks and snake oil salesmen, Jenny McCarthy, Suzanne Sommers, Dr. Oz’s questionable (but profitable) “supplement” business, “The Secret,” the “Bible Code,” and all manner of pseudoscience and woo.
Rachel Ray does not belong in the litany at all.
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