# Is there a herd mentality in OPRAH's show ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 14, 2009, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-herd-mentality-in-oprahs-show/481242 "2009-01-14T09:43:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-herd-mentality-in-oprahs-show/481242/1 "2009-01-14T09:43:18Z")
It is almost 3 years since I watched her shows, but when I did watch them I felt a lot of yes ma’m type of behaviour from the participants. I saw same opinion in another message board , and hence this question . What do fellow dopers feel ?? ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-herd-mentality-in-oprahs-show/481242/2 "2009-01-14T09:47:55Z")
> [@indian](#): > > It is almost 3 years since I watched her shows, but when I did watch them I felt a lot of yes ma’m type of behaviour from the participants. > > I saw same opinion in another message board , and hence this question . > > What do fellow dopers feel ?? Yes, there is a herd mentality in Oprah’s shows. That sort of question sort of begs itself really, doesn’t it? Moo. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-herd-mentality-in-oprahs-show/481242/3 "2009-01-14T10:17:36Z")
I can think of an example of a guest on her show who had a lot of misinformation that was spread around. But I’m not sure if that is what you meant. Could you be more specific? May give some examples yourself? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-herd-mentality-in-oprahs-show/481242/4 "2009-01-14T10:20:27Z")
Yes, and it really shows when she gets into her new-agey spirituality crap, which is simply religion, with the word “God” changed to the word “Universe.” And it also shows when she gets her audience to read \*The Bridges of Madison County, \*because it’s great literature. ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-herd-mentality-in-oprahs-show/481242/5 "2009-01-14T10:35:03Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > I can think of an example of a guest on her show who had a lot of misinformation that was spread around. But I’m not sure if that is what you meant. > > Could you be more specific? May give some examples yourself? Zoe, I stopped watching the show about 3 years ago, but I carried that impression with me ever since. I do not recollect a specific show now, but every body seemed to agree with her in her showin a general sense. There was no dissent . "Herd mentality " was used in another message board ,when posters were arguing about a Oprah introduced book, whose author later admitted that it was plagiarised / or he did not credit the sources / or something similar. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-herd-mentality-in-oprahs-show/481242/6 "2009-01-14T10:44:36Z")
Who else would buy tickets to her show? ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-herd-mentality-in-oprahs-show/481242/7 "2009-01-14T13:16:16Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > And it also shows when she gets her audience to read \*The Bridges of Madison County, \*because it’s great literature. Did she promote that one? It is not on the list for her [book club](http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahsbookclub/pastselections/20080701_orig_list). Isn’t there a herd mentality to some extent anytime an individual develops a following? A scan of this board also shows there there a reverse-herd where people want to be too cool for the popular. ---
**Author:** ![Ceejaytee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ceejaytee/32/2956_2.png) [@Ceejaytee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ceejaytee)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-herd-mentality-in-oprahs-show/481242/8 "2009-01-14T20:08:07Z")
There’s an interesting experiment on the web now. A blogger is [Living Oprah](http://www.livingoprah.com/) for a year, trying to follow all of Oprah’s advice. Her blog and the comments are interesting. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-herd-mentality-in-oprahs-show/481242/9 "2009-01-14T20:12:18Z")
> [@Nametag](#): > > Who else would buy tickets to her show? Exactly. Only Oprah fans who really like Oprah are going to go be in the audience. And it’s expected that they’ll love whatever is happening on stage and agree with Oprah. That’s the deal. I wouldn’t go to an Oprah show unless you paid me a lot of money, and I’d probably turn into a sullen teenager the second I got there (much as I do at Tupperware parties). People like me, people who don’t watch Oprah…aren’t there. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-herd-mentality-in-oprahs-show/481242/10 "2009-01-14T23:40:54Z")
I thought that was the default assumption, that her followers were sheep. I had the funniest conversation with a friend’s uncle over the holidays– he didn’t like his wife watching the show because she’d cut down on beef one week and made him get his prostate checked the next because she’d been ‘told to by Oprah.’ Certainly she has superfans, but I find it a bit condescending when people, including posters, characterize her fans as brainwashed, overprivileged yes women who gobble up everything she says (and, Og forbid, read a book a week) without a second thought. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-herd-mentality-in-oprahs-show/481242/11 "2009-01-15T00:06:39Z")
(Of course, this had to be posted today, when Oprah’s got her vague spiritual gobbledygook going full-force. Dr. Phil had a cool show on cults, though!) ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-herd-mentality-in-oprahs-show/481242/12 "2009-01-15T02:31:21Z")
_“You get a car! And you get a car! And you get a car!”_ Need I say more? ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-herd-mentality-in-oprahs-show/481242/13 "2009-01-15T04:48:11Z")
When Oprah first came out she was great, the problem was Oprah stopped being a person and became a celebrity. Oprah used to be like “wow I’m a nobody and I get to interview famous people.” Now she is one of the people she used to be awed at interviewing. She would ask “normal things” first then go into details. For instance, she did a story on women in prisons and one of the ladies had a beard. The first question she asked was “OK now you’re a woman with a beard why is that?” Obviously that has nothing to do with the story of women in prison, but let’s face it we all wanted to know. (It seems the woman said she always had problem with facial hair and she used to wax it and shave it but now that she was in jail she said “Why bother, who do I have to look good for?”) At some point Oprah ceased to be real and that’s when the herd mentality started. People started thinking her AS a celebrity instead of a person who got to be next to celbrities. Basically Oprah got too fancy and the plainfolk of Mainstreet USA love to follow celebrities be they Paris Hilton or Britney Spears or Donald Trump. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-herd-mentality-in-oprahs-show/481242/14 "2009-01-15T10:41:52Z")
> [@Nametag](#): > > Who else would buy tickets to her show? [QUOTE=dangermom] Exactly. Only Oprah fans who really like Oprah are going to go be in the audience. And it’s expected that they’ll love whatever is happening on stage and agree with Oprah. That’s the deal. [/QUOTE] [Tickets are free](http://www.oprah.com/audience), as is (I believe) universally the case for T.V. show tapings. Selling tickets isn’t where they make their money- and they _need_ a packed house, empty seats would look bad. As to the suggestion that everyone in the crowd is a major fan, for Oprah this is probably almost 100% true. Oprah is so popular that reservations are always fully booked, and very difficult to get in the first place- anyone who isn’t a superfan isn’t going to bother. The only non-fans ever in the audience would, I assume, be friends with a superfan who _really really_ wants to see Oprah and “_please please please_ go with me! I’ll buy your ticket to Chicago and I’ll pay for the hotel. I just _really_ want you to go with me! _Please_!” Although, I do believe that almost 100% of Oprah’s audience is almost 100% of the time made up of major fans, I just wanted to point out that this is not always the case for T.V. shows in general. In L.A., and to a lesser extent in New York, free tickets are given out at popular tourist attractions. Tourists who think “it would just be really neat” to attend a T.V. taping accept free tickets as just a “fun different kinda thing” to do that they can’t do back home. T.V. audiences often include quite a few people who are not major fans of the show- indeed often some people who have never even heard of the show. _typo_ ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-herd-mentality-in-oprahs-show/481242/15 "2009-01-15T11:29:57Z")
Link from _The Onion_: [Oprah Viewers Patiently Awaiting Instructions](http://www.theonion.com/content/news/oprah_viewers_patiently_awaiting). ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-herd-mentality-in-oprahs-show/481242/16 "2009-01-15T14:00:59Z")
> [@Cat\_Fight](#): > > (Of course, this had to be posted today, when Oprah’s got her vague spiritual gobbledygook going full-force. Dr. Phil had a cool show on cults, though!) Ooh…did he cover the Oprah Cult? 😛