# Can Dr. Oz sink any lower? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 14, 2014, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dr-oz-sink-any-lower/688433 "2014-05-14T12:33:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dr-oz-sink-any-lower/688433/221 "2014-05-16T00:15:22Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > You appear to believe you understand my communication perfectly, so it seems my use of emphasis can’t be all that obfuscating after all. 😉 So, I’m curious— when you were in court, bereft of your colored fonts and underscores, how did you place emphasis? Lots of wild gesticulating, bugging your eyes, stamping your feet, shouting, that kind of thing? ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dr-oz-sink-any-lower/688433/222 "2014-05-16T00:24:18Z")
Going off of the “but she just presents whatever ‘side’ there is and let’s it speak for itself / the viewers make their own decisions” debate, I have a question… I’ve only ever watched a handful of Oprah segments, so has she ever had any white supremacists / Nazi sympathizer on there who positively portrayed they’re odious beliefs? Such that she didn’t really oppose what they were peddling? ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dr-oz-sink-any-lower/688433/223 "2014-05-16T00:34:29Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > So, I’m curious— when you were in court, bereft of your colored fonts and underscores, how did you place emphasis? Lots of wild gesticulating, bugging your eyes, stamping your feet, shouting, that kind of thing? How’d you know? ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dr-oz-sink-any-lower/688433/224 "2014-05-16T02:14:25Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Funniest part is, only you and one other poor thing thought I meant actual commercial while everyone else can see clearly what I meant, while disagreeing. Doh! I too thought you were talking about an actual commercial on his show. How stupid of me, I thought you’re comments were just stupid, it never even occurred to me that you were just blowing shit out your ass:smack: One more person I can skim by when reading on the dope. ---
**Author:** ![Not\_Carlson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc79bd/32.png) [@Not\_Carlson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_Carlson)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dr-oz-sink-any-lower/688433/225 "2014-05-16T02:21:41Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > The chain of blame goes back to the inventor of television. Don’t blame the inventor, blame the _Creator_. Blame God. > [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > This response is hard to condemn. Now that’s a funny way to like a post. (_I_ liked your post, **Sarahfeena**.) > [@Stoid](#): > > How’d you know? He was the court stenographer. (And what a job _that_ was!) ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dr-oz-sink-any-lower/688433/226 "2014-05-16T03:30:19Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > Yeah, I know, criticizing the invisible white guys in the room amounts to recreational outrage of the most mundane kind, but they have more to do with Dr. Oz at this point than some popular black lady. Y’know, playing the race card when absolutely none of this has been about race is cheap and nasty. Oprah is beyond race and was a pioneer of that. It was fascinating to watch how she, and her honky puppetmasters ;), transformed race in daytime TV and popular culture. 1985 doesn’t seem that long ago, but in some ways it was. OTOH, I’ve never seen Oprah’s so-called brilliance. She always strikes me as being of average intelligence, though with a lot of drive. Right person, right place, right time, right predecessor I guess. I recall her reaction when she saw a re-release of _The Exorcist._ She was still shook two days later and talked as if it were a documentary because devil possession is real. :smack: Populism will always earn you an audience, and I guess it says something about her viewership, and that of all of the judge shows and crap that clog the daytime airwaves. > [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > It just seems like a stretch to blame her for Oz’s detour down snakeoil lane to the extent that we’re supposed to see her as a cuntiest cunts of all cunts. Nah, just a plain ol’ cunt with a lot of clout. > [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > And Oprah wouldn’t be on TV if some guy didn’t give her show back in the 80’s. Well, he didn’t GIVE her _AM Chicago,_ but if Jay Levine had been a better talk show host we wouldn’t be having this conversation. (It was Jay Levine, wasn’t it? Or was it that other moron with dead eyes and horse cheeks? Oh, that was my home room teacher sophomore year? Must’ve been Levine, then.) ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dr-oz-sink-any-lower/688433/227 "2014-05-16T04:04:58Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Hahaha. Yeah. There’s no difference [between placing an ad on your show and sitting someone down ON the show to endorse it while you nod along and smile]. One is just slicker than the other. There really is, though. If you don’t understand the difference between an 8-10 minute interview on a show and a 20 second spot between a Taco Bell commercial and a trailer for this summer’s superhero movie, then I don’t think there’s any reasoning with you. And curse you for making me agree with **Czarcasm**. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dr-oz-sink-any-lower/688433/228 "2014-05-16T04:07:23Z")
> [@Lord\_Ashtar](#): > > There really is, though. If you don’t understand the difference between an 8-10 minute interview on a show and a 20 second spot between a Taco Bell commercial and a trailer for this summer’s superhero movie, then I don’t think there’s any reasoning with you. > > And curse you for making me agree with **Czarcasm**. Well, it’s not just one commercial, is it? It’s lots of them. Over and over. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dr-oz-sink-any-lower/688433/229 "2014-05-16T06:53:39Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Yeah. Seriously. Now defend John Stewart for his fucking Oil of Olay commercials and shit. > > I know you were all cozy in your “we are all right because we agree and only crazy stoid with her lawsuits will defend oprah” but surprise. Actually, I think the sniping at the foibles and misadventures of our fellow Doper is kinda crappy, and I don’t support it being a part of this conversation at all. That said, I fnd that I can have contempt for the people who read, say, _Us_ Magazine, and also have contempt for _Us_ Magazine for existing in the first place. Just to put a wildly out-of-proportion analogy out there. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dr-oz-sink-any-lower/688433/230 "2014-05-16T12:14:28Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Well, it’s not just one commercial, is it? It’s lots of them. Over and over. That the show has no control over. Did you miss this important point? ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dr-oz-sink-any-lower/688433/231 "2014-05-16T13:02:13Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Y’know, playing the race card when absolutely none of this has been about race is cheap and nasty. Wah wah. The board regularly makes off the cuff remarks about rich white men. But suddenly folks wanna catch the vapors when it shows up here. It’s not that serious, hon. > [@Sam Lowry](#): > > I definitely don’t hold Oprah responsible for eradicating woo. But I also don’t expect her to encourage its spread, which is what she did by allowing McCarthy on her show, and producing Oz’s show. This is like getting upset that Trader Joes shamelessly sells junk food like Cookie Butter despite marketing itself as a wholesome-minded company. Contrary to whatever expectations consumers may have, Trader Joe’s will always be more concerned about its bottom line than public health. Oprah and anyone else in the entertainment industry is no different. I have no problem objecting to Dr. Oz on the basis of what he’s promoting. That’s why I don’t watch the show. But faulting Oprah because she’s failed to live up to some standard of goodness that you’ve arbitrarily chosen to apply to her just looks dumb. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dr-oz-sink-any-lower/688433/232 "2014-05-16T13:11:32Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > This is like getting upset that Trader Joes shamelessly sells junk food like Cookie Butter despite marketing itself as a wholesome-minded company. Contrary to whatever expectations consumers may have, Trader Joe’s will always be more concerned about its bottom line than public health. Oprah and anyone else in the entertainment industry is no different. Rather than selling junk food with dubious nutritional content, the better analogy would be selling food containing unlabeled known carcinogens or shards of glass. At some point a store or TV show takes responsibility for their product. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dr-oz-sink-any-lower/688433/233 "2014-05-16T13:35:23Z")
First and foremost, Oprah is in the entertainment business. Not the “Fighting Ignorance since 1973” business. There must be a line around the block outside her producers’ door of every kind of woo charlatan that one can imagine. It’s an unlimited supply of entertainment for her audience. Which, by the way, are not necessarily the sharpest or most critical thinkers to ever fill a seat. If she were to change direction and only host guests that put forward scientifically sound information, imagine what would happen to her current audience and how much less “sensational” her content would become. Also imagine how quickly her advertisers would head for the door once she started having her guests critically analyze what’s in those nutrition bars and anti-aging creams being peddled in the commercial breaks. Oprah is the product of her own success formula. Suddenly turning on the woo she’s been promoting all these years would be admirable, but also the end of the Harpo money making machine. And she has plausable deniability: She is not an expert on anything but being an entertainer. Having said that, I still believe she’s doing more harm than good and I have nothing but contempt for her irresponsible promotion of woo. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dr-oz-sink-any-lower/688433/234 "2014-05-16T13:49:06Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Rather than selling junk food with dubious nutritional content, the better analogy would be selling food containing unlabeled known carcinogens or shards of glass. At some point a store or TV show takes responsibility for their product. No that’s not a better analogy. Unless Dr. Oz has explicitly used his medical degree to encourage cancer-causing behaviors and other Bad Things, then I disagree his actions are akin to selling food clandestinely contaminated with carcinogens and glass. His show is no more deceptive than your typical commercial for weight loss supplements featuring endorsements by so-called real life doctors. Most people have the good sense not to put faith in these commercials, and I expect them to be just as skeptical with Dr. Oz. ---
**Author:** ![Chicagojeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@Chicagojeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicagojeff)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dr-oz-sink-any-lower/688433/235 "2014-05-16T14:00:32Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Bull shit! > > If That stupid bitch hadn’t given those fucking insane wackos a pedestal and then fucking applauded them the damage would never have been done. > She’s a complicit fucking cunt and you personally suck as a person for defending her. > > Stoid, you are a piece of shit. So… if ESPN airs point spreads their responsible for addicts who pawn the kids XBOX players? At what point do people take responsibility for what they see on TV? She airs a lot of shit… some good… some meh… some complete b.s. Ive never had an problem discerning which is which… Even a dumbass like Jenny Mccarthy is allowed to express her views… people who endanger they kids subsequently bear their own brunt. ---
**Author:** ![Chicagojeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@Chicagojeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicagojeff)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dr-oz-sink-any-lower/688433/236 "2014-05-16T14:03:14Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > I’m wondering how Oprah has become the subject of this thread when it presumably should be Dr. Oz. Wasn’t he relatively sane when he first appeared on her show anyway? He didn’t start going woo until years into his own show. So how is Oprah responsible for this? > > The network execs and the corporate sponsors who keep him funded are who keep this guy on the air. Yeah, I know, criticizing the invisible white guys in the room amounts to recreational outrage of the most mundane kind, but they have more to do with Dr. Oz at this point than some popular black lady. Ohh quit your logical thinking their dammit… better to call the rich black lady a disgusting term because…it’s gotta be her… Not the dude the thread was originally about… …dumbasses like you make me want to subscribe to her magazine… ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dr-oz-sink-any-lower/688433/237 "2014-05-16T14:12:21Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > But faulting Oprah because she’s failed to live up to some standard of goodness that you’ve arbitrarily chosen to apply to her just looks dumb. Jesus fucking Christ. You just don’t get it, do you? Junk food is not contagious. You won’t be forced to eat a fucking cookie because the idiot next door watched a Trader Joe’s commercial and ate thirty of them. Measles is one of the world’s most contagious diseases. That asshole Jenny McCarthy asserts that it was vaccines, specifically the vaccine against measles that caused her son’s autism. That asshole Oprah not only provides McCarthy with a platform to lie about this shit but actively endorses her as someone credible. If the idiot next door neighbor gets measles, you have a huge chance of getting measles because your own MMR shot did not work or you have cancer or you are a baby too young to get the shot. This isn’t an arbitrary standard of goodness where the nasty mean white people are hating on the poor sweet black lady because they’re nothing but a bunch of goddamned racists. This is asking someone with power and money not to be a public asshole. It is shameful that Oprah fails this test so badly. ---
**Author:** ![Chicagojeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@Chicagojeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicagojeff)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dr-oz-sink-any-lower/688433/238 "2014-05-16T14:16:05Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > My thoughts on Ms Winfrey’s responsibilities: She is surely aware of the influence she wields, and has been for some time. > > It may be “infantilizing” her fanbase to assert that, on the whole, they uncritically accept as an unalloyed good anything that she mentions ashaving given her a favorable first impression; however, it is arguably a fact that they do, as unflattering as that fact may be. I would consider it the height of disingenuousness were I to learn that she claims to be unaware of this state of affairs. She did, after all, start her OWN\* television network on the strength of it, after all. > > Personally, I would be horrified to find that I had this level of influence. She apparently is okay with it, and more power to her, AS LONG AS SHE IS RESPONSIBLE ABOUT IT. As much of a pain in the ass as it may be, she does have a responsibility to vet the more consequential of the movements that she graces with her Midas touch attention. Gourmet cupcakes? A silly concept, and one that cannot ruin lives simply by virtue of having received her imprimatur. > > _The Secret_, OTOH, is something that she really should have made her disclaimers BEFORE giving it her endorsement. As for anointing any individual as a guru for any field at all, whether it’s personal self-fulfillment or health and fitness, she has no way of ensuring that they don’t go off the rails one day, so she really shouldn’t be getting into that sort of thing at all. The irony here is rich… RICH i say… Let’s look at Dana White… the very successful exboxer now UFC promoter… He and the Fertita’s (0wner’s) put two guys in the ring and the essentially beat the shit out of each other in many interesting ways. White and the owner’s own the fight… the options on any future fights… this isn’t some Oscar De La Hoya/Mayweather situation. The fighters… even the main ones… aren’t entitled to any PPV points and rarely make a million. Is White responsible for the well being of his fighters. probably not. is he or Vince McMahon responsible for what they put out on their shows/networks? No… not really. And few would argue that they should… But the sassy black lady is the scourge because ultimately she’s responsible for whatever actions people take after watching her shows and reading her magazines. Nobody said this same shit to Joe Weider… Is it that Oprah’s audience is so mentally handicapped that they need some special societal protection… or is it that guys… HATE her shit and have something to say on it. I don’t read the mag and haven’t watched the tv show in years… but I do find the double standard pretty apparent… It’s racism… it’s sexism… it’s misogyn all wrapped up into one shit sandwich… ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dr-oz-sink-any-lower/688433/239 "2014-05-16T14:28:50Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > No that’s not a better analogy. Unless Dr. Oz has explicitly used his medical degree to encourage cancer-causing behaviors and other Bad Things, then I disagree his actions are akin to selling food clandestinely contaminated with carcinogens and glass. I contend that is exactly what he is doing. By booking quacks like on his show and giving them an imprimatur based solely on his medical license and NOT exposing them for the frauds that he must know they are, he takes on some measure of responsibility for the next measles outbreak or the next person who decides to treat their child’s cancer with quackery. It’s not illegal, but it’s morally bankrupt. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dr-oz-sink-any-lower/688433/240 "2014-05-16T14:44:22Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > Measles is one of the world’s most contagious diseases. Really? Getta here! I’m an epidemiologist who used to work for the CDC–spending a lot of time educating, I might add, physicians about rabies PEP–but somehow it escaped my attention that vaccines rank as one of the more important public health breakthroughs in the 20th century. I thank thee for showing me the light. Still wondering if you even so much as signed an online petition after Oprah featured McCarthy. I’m guessing not, since you ignored me when I asked about that. Well, that’s okay. Jenny McCarthy made almost 20 appearances on The View before being hired as a co-host, and has been publically lauded by Barbara Walters as intelligent and brave. The horror, I know. Larry King interviewed her as well, and so did Howard Stern. Woo isn’t something Oprah invented and she ain’t the only one out there profiting from it. I’m a need yall to get a grip already. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dr-oz-sink-any-lower/688433.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-dr-oz-sink-any-lower/688433.md?page=13)