# I wish Oprah would do this, instead of some of the stuff she does **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 12, 2009, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wish-oprah-would-do-this-instead-of-some-of-the-stuff-she-does/496173 "2009-05-12T16:01:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wish-oprah-would-do-this-instead-of-some-of-the-stuff-she-does/496173/1 "2009-05-12T16:01:01Z")
[Washington Post columnist says it might really do some good if Oprah told her viewers to download and run free PC scanning tools.](http://voices.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2009/05/oprah_kfc_and_the_great_pc_cle.html?hpid=sec-tech) I wish she’d do something helpful like that, rather than cause chaos at KFC’s, promote Jenny McCarthy’s woo-woo BS about vaccines causing autism, or promote [other BS](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_(2006_film)) that blames people for every bad thing that happens to them and tells them they can have anything they want if they just think good thoughts. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wish-oprah-would-do-this-instead-of-some-of-the-stuff-she-does/496173/2 "2009-05-12T16:25:40Z")
Good idea! And while she’s at it, maybe she can tell her viewers about Snopes. If those 4 million people who wanted free chicken would stop telling their friends that Microsoft will send them $240 for every e-mail they forward, that’d be great. Kthx. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wish-oprah-would-do-this-instead-of-some-of-the-stuff-she-does/496173/3 "2009-05-12T17:15:12Z")
Sounds great, but who’s running a server strong enough to withstand such an assault? This woman caused near-riots and traffic jams across the country last week, just imagine what she’d do to a website! Actually we do know what she did to KFC’s site - darn near melted it. What she’d need to do is find a great honkin’ big website that can handle several thousand concurrent users. (Hmmm… wonder if Amazon or Google would be willing to lend some CPU cycles?) Then, she’d need to have someone bundle up those applications into a nice easy brain-dead _CLICK THIS BUTTON_ package. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wish-oprah-would-do-this-instead-of-some-of-the-stuff-she-does/496173/4 "2009-05-12T17:19:17Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Sounds great, but who’s running a server strong enough to withstand such an assault? Our web servers can’t withstand glurge of this magnitude! ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wish-oprah-would-do-this-instead-of-some-of-the-stuff-she-does/496173/5 "2009-05-12T17:34:05Z")
Frankly, I think it would do much more for the world if she’d point people to snopes and [factcheck.org](http://factcheck.org), as **AuntiePam** suggests. Older people seem to be much worse at distinguishing fact and fiction on the internet. ---
**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wish-oprah-would-do-this-instead-of-some-of-the-stuff-she-does/496173/6 "2009-05-12T17:42:41Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Our web servers can’t withstand glurge of this magnitude! I’m giving you all she’s got captain. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wish-oprah-would-do-this-instead-of-some-of-the-stuff-she-does/496173/7 "2009-05-12T17:51:10Z")
Like Oprah doesn’t do good stuff all the time. The columnist shouldn’t worry what philanthropic causes and audience enriching freebies Oprah decides to promote. They should worry about what they will do. My rule is don’t begrudge others something nice happening just because you didn’t get any or it wasn’t what you thought the giver should have given. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wish-oprah-would-do-this-instead-of-some-of-the-stuff-she-does/496173/8 "2009-05-12T18:05:13Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > Like Oprah doesn’t do good stuff all the time. The columnist shouldn’t worry what philanthropic causes and audience enriching freebies Oprah decides to promote. They should worry about what they will do. But that’s what the columnist is doing. The article is probably getting more attention just because he mentioned Oprah. 🙂 Oprah’s got power and influence. She needs to use it a bit more wisely. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wish-oprah-would-do-this-instead-of-some-of-the-stuff-she-does/496173/9 "2009-05-12T18:39:35Z")
Hmmm… If she could convince her flock to switch over to Macs, we could get a lot of bot-ridden PCs off the net. Or even do one of those shows where everyone in the studio was selected because their home PC was infected, and there’s a new PowerBook under everyone’s seat. Just let me buy some Apple stock before she does that, OK? ---
**Author:** ![Qwisp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qwisp/32/397_2.png) [@Qwisp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwisp)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wish-oprah-would-do-this-instead-of-some-of-the-stuff-she-does/496173/10 "2009-05-12T19:41:06Z")
The minute everyone started buying and using Macs, the virus writers would wise up and would start writing for Macs. The only reason they are safer is because if you are going to write a virus you are going to write it to do the most damage. Right now that is Window based machines. I would love to see how cocky Mac users would be if they were the dominant OS ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wish-oprah-would-do-this-instead-of-some-of-the-stuff-she-does/496173/11 "2009-05-12T20:39:17Z")
I didn’t know Oprah was pushing KFC. Doesn’t that sort of go against her whole pro weight-loss/health-consciousness image? ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wish-oprah-would-do-this-instead-of-some-of-the-stuff-she-does/496173/12 "2009-05-12T20:49:20Z")
She was pushing the new grilled chicken they have. Which is supposedly more healthy, but if it came from KFC, I’d raise an eyebrow at such a claim. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wish-oprah-would-do-this-instead-of-some-of-the-stuff-she-does/496173/13 "2009-05-12T20:56:40Z")
I went for the free 2-piece meal giveaway (in fact, through the miracle of office PCs, I was able to print out 14 of the coupons instead of just one) and it was awful. Each piece of chicken was two small bites of chicken wrapped in a delightful package of bone and gristle. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wish-oprah-would-do-this-instead-of-some-of-the-stuff-she-does/496173/14 "2009-05-12T21:01:47Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > [Washington Post columnist says it might really do some good if Oprah told her viewers to download and run free PC scanning tools.](http://voices.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2009/05/oprah_kfc_and_the_great_pc_cle.html?hpid=sec-tech) > > I wish she’d do something helpful like that, rather than cause chaos at KFC’s, promote Jenny McCarthy’s woo-woo BS about vaccines causing autism, or promote [other BS](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_(2006_film)) that blames people for every bad thing that happens to them and tells them they can have anything they want if they just think good thoughts. You seem to be operating under the misapprehension that Oprah Winfrey intends to be a force to disseminate knowledge & virtue and to minimize suffering. To the contrary, she only wishes to SEEM to be a force for good, because such is good for her media ratings & other parts of the media empire. Now, while her wish to seem to be saintly does, in fact, require her to do a number of somewhat flashy good things, it does not require her to avoid doing things that may increase the spread of idiocy and mysticism. To the contrary: she rather has to spread those things. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wish-oprah-would-do-this-instead-of-some-of-the-stuff-she-does/496173/15 "2009-05-12T21:03:55Z")
That’s a pretty good point. I mean, if you got keys to a BRAND NEW CAR!!!1!!! by going on Oprah, maybe you will get $130 from Microsoft for forwarding that e-mail of cat pictures. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wish-oprah-would-do-this-instead-of-some-of-the-stuff-she-does/496173/16 "2009-05-12T21:54:18Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > You seem to be operating under the misapprehension that Oprah Winfrey intends to be a force to disseminate knowledge & virtue and to minimize suffering. To the contrary, she only wishes to SEEM to be a force for good, because such is good for her media ratings & other parts of the media empire. Now, while her wish to seem to be saintly does, in fact, require her to do a number of somewhat flashy good things, it does not require her to avoid doing things that may increase the spread of idiocy and mysticism. To the contrary: she rather has to spread those things. This is true. Here’s the hint: she didn’t build up the following she has today by talking about sound ways to protect the security of your PC. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wish-oprah-would-do-this-instead-of-some-of-the-stuff-she-does/496173/17 "2009-05-12T22:02:46Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > This is true. Here’s the hint: she didn’t build up the following she has today by talking about sound ways to protect the security of your PC. I could actually give a crap about that. But I’m vexed by her touting of the dangerous nincompoop McCarthy and the ridiculous, woo-woo doctrines of The Secret.