I just have to add that yes, you can be a great American success story, a kind and generous person, great friend, great husband, kind to stray dogs, take in the bum you pass on the street, all that, and still be a megalomaniac, and egotistical, etc. Just because you point out that the woman in your opinion may be going overboard with the books and the magazine and the network doesn’t mean you think they are a bad person, and they aren’t above criticism because they give billions to charity or whatever, either- if she kills someone tomorrow, some here will write “well its ok, becasue she gives to charity…”.
FTR, I can’t watch more than 2 minutes of Oprah without my eyes rolling back in my head and I can choose my own reading material, thankyouverymuch, but I think the vitriol expressed towards her here is over the top and I doubt any post in this thread could legitimately be interpreted as saying she should be able to get away with murder. :dubious:
So having a high opinion of oneself and having the desire to promote books and other products that one likes is comparable to murder … how exactly?
Yes, that’s how most of us feel about it. The reason we don’t like OJ isn’t that he stabbed Nicole to death; it’s that he’s so damn stingy.
You’re smarter than that- you know the murder comment was hyperbole.
My point was the OP said nothing about she’s an evil person, just that the amount of shit she puts out and the self promotion seems a bit much to some people- no one besmirched her name. Somehow this got back to how much she donates, which had nothing to do with the OP. Her benevloence isn’t being questioned. As with most topics, some agree with the OP, some don’t, such is life.
Oprah store? Seems like a better business decision and probably less ego driven than the Prince store that used to be in Minneapolis.
No. I’m not kidding…though I wish I was.
(See, Shirley, not all stores are named after white guys - some of them are named after short black men with symbols as names - it was during that period, as I recall, that there was a Prince store.)
Hyperbole isn’t just talk. You use it to make a point. What is the point? If you compare something to murder, there has to be some analogy there. What is it?
Yeah, apparently she believes she’s god. I haven’t figured out whether that would be better or worse than being a murderer.
I haven’t actually seen any evidence that Winfrey thinks she’s god. All the stuff cited by the OP are commercial products that Winfrey is offering for sale. Presumably, if people don’t buy her products, she’ll stop offering them. That’s how commerce is supposed to work.
“The amount of shit she puts out” – If it weren’t profitable, why would she be putting it out?
I still don’t understand how Winfrey’s commercial success is in and of itself evidence of moral failing.
If anything, the pittable party here is the American public, who keeps buying all this stuff.
No argument there.
I just feel she suffers from what many famous people suffer from and get blasted for- she thinks her opinion on real life stuff is more important, or important at all, just because she’s famous- and famous for hosting a talk show at that. Sure she has magazines, and clothes and all that stuff, but so does Rosie O’Donnell and Paris Hilton, and no one claims their opinion on anything matters as a result. Telling the housefraus what they should read to me is the height of pomposity, and yes, its their fault for making every book club choice a million seller, but they’re stupid and don’t know any better.
And no, sometimes hyperbole is just hyperbole.
How is it different from anyone with an opinion recommending reading material? Anybody who reads does it. Her audience happens to be … uh … hausfraus. :dubious: If she reads something and likes it, how is it pompous to recommend it? How is it pompous to promote a work that you like and perhaps help it attain commercial success?
That’s just stupid. When you say something in an argument, you should have a point. That’s like saying “sometimes analogies are just analogies.”
I wonder if this well-suited print is available @ The Oprah Store.
Oprah has a book club. Isn’t the purpose of a book club to get people to read a particular book? It’s like, the inherent nature of a book club. I haven’t ever heard her say “You should only read the books I say to read.”
Her crime apparently is that she’s using her popularity to encourage people to read the books she wants to discuss on her show. It’s horrible, I know. While we’re ranting about Oprah’s voodoo mind tricks, let’s also gripe about Lavar Burton doing the same thing with his evil, sheeple-controlling show entitled Reading Rainbow. I used to watch that show all the time as a kid and to think of all the bad values I picked up as a result! I’m a reading fool now because Burton and his egomaniacal ways. The nerve of him, telling me what to read.
The hyperbole had a purpose- “some people would defend her, no matter what”.
I can’t imagine if given the chance that I would do this if I had a TV show- it just seems so egotistical. I, an average schmo, like this item, therefore everyone should run out and buy it, even people I don’t know, and who don’t have similar tastes, especially if you aren’t any sort of authority on the subject? Why does her opinion on what is a good book matter, just becasue she hosts a talk show? Do any other show hosts do this? Its like the idiot teen clerk at the video store raving about Police Academy 5. The types in Hi Fidelity did this, which I also find repugnant, but they’re characters in a movie.
I want to tell my mates that Love’s Forever Changes is the best album ever and they need to check it out, fine. I specifically do this all the time, as we have similar tastes. I wouldn’t tell someone who never gets passed the back wall at Blockbuster to rent The Passenger, though.
Reading Rainbow is a great comparison though- getting kids who just want to play interested in reading for the first time, and getting Sally Housecoat to go out and but a copy of The Reivers- very similar. (and no, The Reivers is not a book club choice to my knowledge)
And there was no support offered for such conclusion.
People watch her show, among other things, because they are interested in her suggestions regarding books. You know there are people who review books for a living, don’t you? There are people who run book clubs. There are people who post “The 100 best books ever written (in my opinion)” on the Web. You think these are all exercises is megalomania?
Other talk show hosts and their audiences might not be interested in discussing books. Oprah and her audience apparently are.
Presumably if they came to the Blockbuster because they were interested in hearing what you had to say about movies, you might though, right?
Is it your position that people who enjoy and have opinions about works of literature, cinema, music, art, entertainment, etc., are engaging in some kind of act of extreme self absorption when they endeavour to share their opinions with a mass audience?
No, but are As I Lay Dying, The Sound and The Fury and Light In August good enough for you?
Do you understand the nature of a book club? The books aren’t promoted just for the heck of it. They are promoted based on the idea that they will be discussed on the show. If the audience hasn’t read the book, then they won’t be able to enjoy and participate in the discussion. So the books are “promoted” so they can do so.
Does any of this pad Oprah’s pockets? Of course, I’m sure agents woo Oprah all kinds of crazy to get their books in the spotlight. But this is the American way at work. I think its great, as someone who doesn’t ever want novels to go out of style.
I frankly think Oprah generates hate because her audience is mostly women. That must be a bad thing! And of course, they all have to be housewives who are dumb and can’t think for themselves. Of course. Television that caters to women who stay home to watch the kids has to be intellectually light, stupid, and worthy of ridicule. I mean, isn’t that obvious? And of course her audience isn’t going out and buying these books because that what’s they want to do. It’s only because Oprah is telling them that they have to. Duh.
Do you have a cite that the housefraus were hungry for literary guidance, and thus she provided it? Do you know if the ratings for book club shows compare well with the regular shows? Do you know if given a choice of eliminating one type of show, where book club would rank? I don’t.
And most best album/book/movie lists are pretty much wankoffs- Ebert’s opinion on which films are “the best” is important why- because he’s seen thousands of films? So have I. The Emperor has no clothes in most cases. These are OK though, when they are fashioned as starting points for those who are interested in such, but do not know where to begin- primers if you will, or guides for people wishing to seek out a certain genre they are unfamiliar with. “My 10 fav movies” is one thing, “The 10 best movies ever made” is annoying.
And like the good Bill O., I’ll give you the last word. 
Oy vey :rolleyes:
Wouldn’t it have been “The Artist Formerly Known as Prince” store? Or TAFKAP store…it’s catchy!
Why does it matter? Are book critics or movie critics or professional opinionists of any kind required to offer this kind of rigorous scientific justification? Is any entertainment content?
Indeed, “I liked this book and you might like it too” carries with it much less arrogance than “I wrote this book and I want everyone to buy it.” Are authors of fictional works required to do rigorous surveys before they dare to let loose their creations on the public?
Oh, give yourself the easy way out then.
:rolleyes: :rolleyes: Right back atcha.
Neither Winfrey nor Rehm is my personal cup of tea but their interest in reading books and discussing them with their audience seems to me pretty much one of the most inoffensive things a media star can get involved with.
Oh, and I tried to be subtle about this the first time … but if you’re going to show off your knowledge of fancy foreign words, you should learn to spell them. It’s hausfrau. And something about the way you say it gives me the feeling that you don’t think they’re all that smart.