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."
Really disgusting.
BTT
BTTT from a member of the "never watch Oprah" and "avoid the books on her list like the plague" club.
In this, she's a lot like a televangelist.
I did too. But I'm a guy. What she does today for the most part is harmless.
Oh you could probably chastize her for not approaching the obstacles and issues she discusses from a biblical or conservative position, but that's not the intent of her show. And she could probably never reach anywhere close to the audience she reaches by doing that. Hers is a secular show and slightly to the left approach and not a conservative show or religious in nature.
You could pin the same criticisms on Rush or Hannity, because they aren't always true to being conservative or biblical in their shows or personal conduct.
There are a number of talk shows, especially on the radio that are conservative in nature. Hugh Hewitt, Medved, Tony Snow, Dennis Prager, Janet Parshall and more. None come close to reaching a fraction of the audience Oprah does using a conservative message and some with definite religious overtones and moraltiy. Even Rush has a fraction of the listeners to Oprah's viewers.
Oprah is programmed to the masses. Each of the mentioned conservative shows are programmed for a niche.
Again, as a guy, the show doesn't connect. But I'm simply not into "chick sh*t" talk.
"Had Enough of Oprah?"
I never had any Oprah to begin with, but I have heard of her, and that is more then I want.
One positive thing I'll give her is her opposition to pedophilia, and those forces in society that would legitimize it.
I don't watch it.
Never saw more than 2 minutes of any one show, maybe about 10 minutes altogether. Managed to survive, somehow.
Have I had enough of her?
No.
I don’t watch her show, I don’t really care what she has to say – but as my book should be hitting the shelves next month, does anyone know how to get a good word from her?
You have to give the lady credit-she is an astute businesswoman and incredible self promoter.
Yet deep inside she is still the poor little dark skinned black girl who had a hellish childhood and is beset with deep insecurities.She tries to compensate with her riches,ebullient persona and hyper inflated ego.
Yet like Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes said back in 1972
"How can she be so gay and carefree
When money and bright fancy clothes
Can never stop her,never stop her cares and woes"
Ebony Woman,1972
Oprah a CONSERVATIVE?
Now I've heard everything!
Camus once said about Marxism-"It is absolutely false because it claims to be absolutely true"
Your post marks the thousandth time I've seen "ALOT" on the Internet, so lucky you. Here's a clue. "ALOT" is not a word, anymore than "ABIG" or "AHANDFUL" or "ACALENDAR" are actual words.
When you, or anyone else for that matter, actually type "alot" (or in your case, "ALOT"), what you're (not "your") saying to the world, is, I'm a functional illiterate.
How true!
Thank you.
Answer me one question, will you? Has Oprah, in her long career ever embellished any of her stories that got her where she is today?
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