# Someone finally takes on Oprah **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 31, 2009, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-finally-takes-on-oprah/498266 "2009-05-31T16:40:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-finally-takes-on-oprah/498266/101 "2009-06-02T07:28:15Z")
Actually, it’s not a pulpit, because Larry has no agenda to preach, not even “don’t come on here and feed me a line of lies”. He gets a very famous line of guests because publicity agents feel that even Paris Hilton can handle him with some quick coaching. I mean, seriously, David Letterman was tougher on Paris than Larry, and Dave likes to do things on his show like drive around with Richard Simmons and bother people at home for fun. “The Late Show” is not exactly built to be the hard-hitting political show. Oh, you mean it’s a pulpit for the GUEST. Yes. Yes it is. ---
**Author:** ![Birdmonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71e660/32.png) [@Birdmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birdmonster)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-finally-takes-on-oprah/498266/102 "2009-06-02T07:39:36Z")
> [@Cardinal](#): > > Oh, you mean it’s a pulpit for the GUEST. Yes. Yes it is. To use one of my favorite Simpsons lines (and, judging by your location, you’d approve): “Now you’re on the trolley.” ---
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-finally-takes-on-oprah/498266/103 "2009-06-02T09:39:51Z")
> [@Wakinyan](#): > > IIRC this is what happened to the King; his middle name on the birth certificate is “Aron”, but the gravestone says “Aaron”, which is how it was meant to be spelled. > [@Southern\_Yankee](#): > > Yeah… like Elvis is really _dead_. I hear you brother, and I didn’t say he was dead. How hard is it to put up a gravestone? “Oh, Elvis must be dead, there’s a gravestone with two A’s.” Sure. The King doesn’t die. Do you own research, don’t take it from me. He’s been working for the DEA, taking care of business. But I wouldn’t debate it on the SDMB, you know these guys shit their pants and repeat the goverment version endlessly, :smack:. Damn, the nanotechnology patch fell off smacking my head. I’m gaining weight. I gotta go. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-finally-takes-on-oprah/498266/104 "2009-06-02T10:03:09Z")
> [@Wakinyan](#): > > Do you own research, don’t take it from me. I’ll bring the shovel. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-finally-takes-on-oprah/498266/105 "2009-06-02T14:59:50Z")
> [@myriad](#): > > “I’m a huge believer in the law of attraction, but within very defined limits.” > What are your defined limits?? I’m honestly curious about this statement… To put it bluntly, I believe in it in situations where it actually works, and I disbelieve in it in situations where it can’t possibly. A little more specifically, I think it’s true in psychological situations and not physical ones. If you want to be happy and upbeat, surround yourself with happy and upbeat people. If you want to surround yourself with happy and upbeat people, be happy and upbeat yourself. Ever been around someone who is a real downer? Notice how they drag you down with them? It’s generally a good idea to evict someone like that from your life. Turn off your TV when there is junk on. Stop listening to depressing music. Hang out with successful people. Adopt an optimistic attitude, and your subconscious will figure out ways for you to find success and happiness. But to expect to cure cancer with mere thoughts? That’s just dumb. To avoid loved ones who are terminally sick? Dumb and cruel. I think that there are ways to affect your health with positive thoughts. If you feel sick and go see your doctor, even if he does nothing for you, often you’ll feel much better afterwards. This is a proven, measurable effect, though no one has found the mechanism by which it works. Think your fat away? Absolutely, think thin. But it works best if those thoughts lead you to put down the Twinkie and get up off the couch. If you hang out with fit people rather than obese people, you’re more likely to mirror their lifestyles and adopt healthy habits. But that’s a far cry from abandoning friends and loved ones because of their weight. Once again, that’s just dumb and cruel. I hope that makes sense. ---
**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:** [June 2, 2009, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-finally-takes-on-oprah/498266/106 "2009-06-02T15:11:52Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > On my birthday I buy a cake and my staff eat it. I’m in the wrong business. > > Re the OP, what do you think the level of crossover is between people who take Oprah seriously and people who read Newsweek? Do they make numbers that small? vBulletin doesn’t have a Venn diagramming feature… but if it did, not only would the two circles not overlap, but they’d be 46 miles apart on a 800x600 monitor. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-finally-takes-on-oprah/498266/107 "2009-06-02T15:22:24Z")
> [@kittenblue](#): > > I try not to paint her with a broad brush Well, you might have to - she’s quite large. ---
**Author:** ![Rascal\_s\_Mom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a698b9/32.png) [@Rascal\_s\_Mom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rascal_s_Mom)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-finally-takes-on-oprah/498266/108 "2009-06-02T15:52:14Z")
Huh. So guess what the cover of this week’s Newsweek says? “Crazy Talk: Oprah, Wacky Cures & You.” Who woulda thunk? Can’t wait to read it. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-finally-takes-on-oprah/498266/109 "2009-06-02T18:38:15Z")
> [@Cardinal](#): > > Would that be the Larry King whom Paris Hilton told “I’ve never done drugs”? He let that one go, despite the fact that there were already pictures on the net of her toking out, at Coachella, I think it was. Larry’s simply a bland, impartial platform for whatever guest he has, and even though he no longer does anything investigative or critical, he doesn’t endorse and promote his guest based on his “Larry King” fame or identity. He simply lets the guest blather. The Oprah approach to the interview would have been to celebrate Paris for her ideological committment to a drug free life, sympathize with her struggles with the temptations of celebrity, empathically include her as an “everywoman” with the audience, and fawn over any philosophical “deep truths” she discovered in her book. See the difference? ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-finally-takes-on-oprah/498266/110 "2009-06-02T22:03:14Z")
> [@Birdmonster](#): > > They may have covered the doctor in question in the Newsweek article. Does [this lady](http://www.drnorthrup.com/wisdomcircle/index.php) look familiar? That’s her. I find this whole Secret thing to be moronic as all get out–so, I’m to avoid sick people, eh? As a nurse, that would work out how, exactly? Or do I get some compensation or special dispensation to do my JOB? Oprah takes stupid to a whole new level–and then The View compounds it. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-finally-takes-on-oprah/498266/111 "2009-06-02T23:15:43Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > I thought her mother was a three stooges fan and went with harpo spelled backwards 🙂 You mean Marx Brothers, right? ---
**Author:** ![Birdmonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71e660/32.png) [@Birdmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birdmonster)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-finally-takes-on-oprah/498266/112 "2009-06-02T23:27:04Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > That’s her. I find this whole Secret thing to be moronic as all get out–so, I’m to avoid sick people, eh? As a nurse, that would work out how, exactly? Or do I get some compensation or special dispensation to do my JOB? Of course not. When you get sick, that’ll teach you to care for other people. Tangential to this is: doesn’t human contact with friends and family members during times of serious illness and/or personal trauma speed recovery? From as simple as Mom making chicken noodle soup to a somebody visiting a friend recovering from surgery in the hospital. These things _actively_ improve the sick person’s disposition and recovery, right? When you break it down, that whole idea’s really disturbing. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-finally-takes-on-oprah/498266/113 "2009-06-02T23:27:59Z")
I’m pretty sure **billfish678** means Duran Duran. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-finally-takes-on-oprah/498266/114 "2009-06-02T23:46:43Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > I’m pretty sure **billfish678** means Duran Duran. The resistance leaked a documentary staring Jane Fonda many moons ago regarding this… ---
**Author:** ![Yumblie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/76d3ee/32.png) [@Yumblie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yumblie)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-finally-takes-on-oprah/498266/115 "2009-06-03T02:06:16Z")
Ah! They’re 1920s style comedy trios! ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-finally-takes-on-oprah/498266/116 "2009-06-03T13:08:47Z")
> [@Birdmonster](#): > > Tangential to this is: doesn’t human contact with friends and family members during times of serious illness and/or personal trauma speed recovery? From as simple as Mom making chicken noodle soup to a somebody visiting a friend recovering from surgery in the hospital. These things _actively_ improve the sick person’s disposition and recovery, right? When you break it down, that whole idea’s really disturbing. Excellent point, but I think it sort of underscores a basic truth of Law of Attraction. If someone you love is sick and dying, wouldn’t the compassionate thing be to spend time with them to lend them your own healing power? If that sort of thing actually works, I mean? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-finally-takes-on-oprah/498266/117 "2009-06-03T13:43:37Z")
I hear that robots have recently repeated [this feat](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8080324.stm). ---
**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:** [June 3, 2009, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-finally-takes-on-oprah/498266/118 "2009-06-03T14:03:25Z")
But for how long? ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-finally-takes-on-oprah/498266/119 "2009-06-03T14:08:41Z")
I’m trying to think of something that epitomises the intersection of ‘cretinous’ and ‘evil’ better than those quotes from _The Secret_. I can think of a few politicians who are up there, but that’s it. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-finally-takes-on-oprah/498266/120 "2009-06-03T14:33:12Z")
> [@Birdmonster](#): > > It’s “The Secret” and Jenny McCarthy pimping that moved me from tolerating/ignoring Oprah to openly disdaining her. The latter could do serious, serious damage. Your disdain is that powerful? :dubious: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-finally-takes-on-oprah/498266.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-finally-takes-on-oprah/498266.md?page=7)