Posted on 03/03/2006 4:00:01 PM PST by qam1
There's a growing membership in the I Hate Oprah Club.
A nod from Oprah Winfrey moves best-seller lists. Stocks rise when her name is attached to a company or product. Millions listen when she speaks at Coretta Scott King's funeral, and millions more cheer when she loses 20 pounds.
Forget about her 49 million viewers each week. The real pinnacle of celebrity is attaining single-name status.
But there are Oprah-haters, too: those who speak out against America's most beloved talk show host. They accuse her of materialism, manipulation, power mongering, arrogance and generally being in love with herself.
As her media empire expands and her billions multiply, antiOprah people who resent her wealth and influence are wondering, hasn't America had enough?
"Oprah Winfrey is not quite one of those people that we love to hate, but there's a growing membership in the I Hate Oprah Club," said Dr. Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University. "She was so sanctimonious with the James Frey thing, she lost even some of her loyal followers. I think she skated through this one, but she's got to be careful."
Frey's book, "A Million Little Pieces," shot to the top of bestseller lists with an Oprah endorsement, but questions later arose about the truthfulness of his story, which was an account of his years of alcohol and drug abuse and his time in recovery. Oprah brought the author back on the show for a public scolding when it became clear that much of the "memoir" was fiction.
The anti-Oprah sentiment has been stirring, mostly online, for years. Shoppers wishing to show their solidarity can purchase "I Hate Oprah" stickers. Self-proclaimed "anti-Oprah" book clubs and reading lists offering alternatives to her selections proliferate on the Internet. David Letterman spent 16 years cracking jokes at Oprah's expense until the two talk show hosts finally resolved their feud last December.
"I think of her as the human embodiment of Wal-Mart," said Kevvy Schlaucher, a 25-year-old engineer from Calgary, Canada, who used to watch the show with his mother. "The Oprah Empire is everywhere. She makes sure you don't get out of the system. I think she's got more influence now than George W. Bush does."
In addition to the syndicated talk show, the cable after-show, the book club, the diet tips, the lifestyle magazines (with her image on every cover), the self-help online workbooks and Oxygen, the women's cable network she co-founded, fans can even download audio clips of Oprah reading her favorite inspirational quotes aloud at Oprah.com. XM Satellite Radio recently announced an Oprah and Friends channel for September, boosting the company's stock for a couple of days.
"It's the cult of Oprah," explained Thompson. "Anyone with that much power, who can make a best seller overnight, anybody who's achieved the cultural penetration she's achieved, you're naturally going to get resentment. One is going to inevitably produce the other."
Schlaucher was surprised by the number of fellow Oprah-haters who responded when he posted an online article titled "NOprah" in 2004. He continues to hear from fellow Oprah-haters who agree that, despite her noble charity work, Oprah has an alarming effect on public opinion, particularly among women. Schlaucher refers to her following as a "legion of Oprah clones."
The Oprah-haters abounding on the Internet are mostly young, and of a generation raised not only online, but on Oprah. For the 20-somethings, Oprah's been a cultural institution and a public figure since they were small children.
And she has plenty of fans in that age group. "If you don't like Oprah, there's got to be something wrong with you," said Kelly Cook, a 24-year-old from New York City who calls herself an "Oprah fanatic."
Cook recently purchased Oprah's 20th Anniversary DVD set.
"I just cried all the way through it," she said. "I rarely miss a show and if I do, I tape it," she wrote in an e-mail message. "I read her book club books; I read her magazine; I buy products she endorses on her `Favorite Things' show. She's like family to me. I view her as a moral and spiritual guider and as a model for the way a woman ought to be in the world."
Brandon Renken, a Harvard University graduate who wrote an anti-Oprah column for CampusNut.com, takes issue with this view.
"No matter who you are, Oprah is NOT like you," he said. "The fact that she can convince you that she is should make you even more afraid of her than I am."
The anti-Oprah contingent feels that Oprah's preaching from the tele-pulpit is what draws in viewers, show after show.
The last segment of the program, Schlaucher pointed out, tells her audience "how to get soul. It's like a church following. You don't really have to do anything, but it makes you feel better."
Many disdain Oprah for what they consider vapid celebrity chitchat and gossip.
"The only difference is that her guests jump on the chairs," said Schlaucher, referring to the now-infamous Tom Cruise interview, "and on Jerry Springer they throw the chairs."
Heather Weller, a stay-at-home mom from Worcester, Mass., expressed her views on an Internet message board discussing Oprah's Book Club. "Does Oprah have some sort of mind-control device we don't know about?" she asked. "But I have to say anything that gets people to read is a good thing. It would just be nice if it also got them to think."
Isn't that a figurine of Yaphet Kotto in drag?
Fried Oprah isn't.
Wonder how eager she would be to give all of her wealth to the
poor? No, not just a donation here an there but all of her wealth down to the last penny. I am guessing that she wouldn't want to.
She believes in Socialism, right?
The problem with most socialists is they believe the hype of the rich bolsheviks who end up with all the power and even more wealth then they had before the "revolution". Socialism is proof of evolution. Because socialism allows the most motivated, smartest, and most cunning to garner the power and wealth. Just take a look a China today. 90% of the wealth is in about 2% of the populations hands.
I just ha.......
Nevermind.
I may watch Oprah once every 6 months and don't read her magazine, but she is a true American success story. I'd rather have a conversation with her than any of the other loud mouth celebrity libs who are all talk and no action. At least she is of service - she walks the walk.
Yep, all of those and then some.
Did see a few of her shows years ago. Now we do not watch her show and have no intention of ever watching her show.
"No matter who you are, Oprah is NOT like you."
Brandon Renken, we who are about to rock salute you.
"There are so many lemmings following behind her, she'll depopulate the country if she ever runs into the sea. It wouldn't be much of a loss."
Preach it, Doctor!
When you really come down to it, Oprah is not very bright.
Some of her book choices have been good; her political pronouncements , and candidates she has chosen to say a good word about have been abysmal. I give her credit for one influential show with Dr. Mehmet Oz, where diseased organs were uncovered onstage next to healthy organs, as the Dr. explained what had happened to lungs, hearts, kidneys,etc.
when their owners abused them.
That show, buttressed by my daughter's habit of crying whenever she smelled smoke coming from the basement, goaded me to QUIT smoking for the SECOND AND FINAL TIME 25 months ago. I DO give her credit for that. HOWEVER, it IS a bit much, month after month, to pass through the supermarket checkout line, and see O Magazine with ONLY HER picture on the cover every month, to watch the transparently sadistic crucifixion of an author who she apparently thinks "crossed her" and make her feel foolish for having supported him, (but made him a millionaire anyway), and having to watch her overenthusiastic , crazy-eyed followers int the audience ( I call them the Oprahaniacs )get so hyped up over every word from their Queen that I could swear they were all transfused with speed while they waited in line to get in.I knew this day would come: the Frey thing was the tipping point that ushered in the Age of I Hate Oprah, and I doubt she has the self-awareness to feel the need even from an image standpoint of owning up to the lack of judgemen shown in the staged flogging of James Frey.
I always thought she was basically slick from Day One, and can think of a dozen examples of it from over the years, and hell, I don't even watch her show.
Good article.
Okra Windbag needs to get off the tv.
That's very sad, but typical of Oprah's agenda. Religion is taboo, especially christianity, and completely censored to be able to appeal to to the widest audience. Doesn't fit with the new-agey format.
I won't completely diss Oprah as a person because as she's grown older, she does some quality charity work, but she's a sellout for ratings and censors religious subjects all in the name of the making a buck. Her show is very orchestrated and she doesn't take any risks.
What's an oprah?
Is that one of them flash elitist black and white minstrel type shows in which overweight people wabble about warbling to one another in Wop?
[With apologies to all our Italian FRiends for the poetic license]
<< I loathe Okra. >>
I can take the Nashville one in small doses.
bump
Every time I come home and find my wife watching Oprah, I shudder.......
OK. What horrible perceived transgression am I now going to be accused of/blamed for......
All because of Oprah.
I'm a man. I freely admit it. Guilty as charged.
When I'm not thinking about either the Army, Scuba diving, or organizing the family finances, the cricket's are chirping in the back-ground.
When Oprah went to Katrina and made those racist toned statements you know it was obviously aimed at FEMA and Bush, it made me gag.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
