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You go, girlfriend... |
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."
I do get the occasional dirty look at the dog park. (Oprah you black bitch come!)
That's my personal motto. I admit I'm not perfect in certain ways. My definition of perfect is slightly different than the next person. As long as I am happy, I'm living a perfect life, despite the disabilities I was born with. It's the cross I carry in life. If it becomes too unbearable, I give all the depression, heartache, and pessimism and all the things the bring me down unto Him.
LOL! That is what turned me off of her magazine when I had a gift subscription.
I watched Oprah once a year or so ago. She had Osama Obama on. I've never seen any host gush all over a guest like that before. She said that when her contract expired in 2011 she would spend all her time making sure he was elected president in 2012.
So put me down as a charter member of the he-man Oprah haters club.
You nailed it. Well said.
My daughters worked with Rachel's mom, who used to manage the local HoJo's.
Oprah hides behind the guise that her program is "educational" to exploit topics and people for maximum profits and marketability. She gets away with murder and the FCC never dares investigate her.
During sweeps week for tv last week, Oprah had a woman on her show that was a self-confessed sex addict and Oprah kept vocally bringing it up that this woman liked to have strangers ejaculate on her face and do all kinds of nasty crap. Oprah kept using the word penis and other terms over and over again. But ofcourse, Queen Oprah is doing this all just so she can educate her viewers........
The fering from star trek would envy Oprah.
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You go, girlfriend... |
Then you need a dose of Doctor Phil!
...Dr. Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television...
How do I get a gig like that?
You get letterhead, a computer addy and start churning out press releases. Then you get nonprofit status and start sending out beg-letters.
Thanks for the kind words!
May explain her cooking.
;0)
Dr. Phil is another one of her products. Can't stand him either.
With her influence why is she not telling her viewers
1.Get married and stay married
2.No babies out of wed lock
3.If he isn't going to marry you, don't sleep with him
4.Don't get divorced
5.Say no to sex!!!!
DITTO!
You have a great attitude! I need to take a page from your book.
Hardly. I caught her show every once in awhile. I liked her a long time ago until she started with the New Age One Religion spirituality garbage. That was it for me. Watching the hynotized faces of her audience nauseated me.
I agree with pollyannish. You're A-OK! :)
I loved your post and I can relate. I've recently been going through a very stressful time--returning to work full time, at a stressful, deadline filled job (journalism) after being home with my kids for years (plus some other things) has raised the stress level in the home considerably. All the things we can't take out in public, gets done under our roof. Well, he woke me up, and being a ten year-old boy, he didn't do it by coming up and gently saying, "I don't want to be late, Mom." :)
No, instead, he remained in his chair in front of the cartoons and screamed up, "MOM! TIME TO WAKE UP!" (he does this all the time).
I tried not to get upset. I tried.... but I got angry. And he got sad.
And I felt so bad because I knew that there was so much more behind my reaction than just his waking me up.
So as we pulled out, I stopped & got out of the car to close the garage. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and begged for the strength to be calm, to be a good role model. I opened my eyes and looked at the pine trees in my yard (thinking, how beautiful Creation is), and I felt strengthened.
When I got back in the car, my daughter said, "Were you praying, Mom?"
I said yes ... thanks to Him, we managed to change a negative, energy-draining, stressful morning into a happy, positive start.
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