First, a couple of disclaimers. I don’t watch the show, though I’m familiar with the format. And if for nothing else, she needs to be held accountable for unleashing Dr. Phil on an unsuspecting public. What I don’t get is how sometimes the mere mention of her name will have otherwise rational people foaming at the mouth. So what is it? Is it just an extension of a generalized loathing of celebrities as a species (something else I don’t quite understand), or is there something about Ms. Winfrey in particular that gives some people fits?
I don't know anyone that hates Oprah. I, in fact, admire her success. I don't know what the woman really stands for, but I will tell you one thing: I was angered by her support of Obama. That's really the only thing I have against her.
I think it's almost the "cultish" way that some of her viewers follow her that causes people to dislike the woman. I can take her or leave her myself. I can't say that I've ever watched an entire show.
Same reason people hate Wal*Mart: She's richer than they can ever dream of being, she's more successful than they'll ever be, and she drinks the blood of newborn puppies.
Because she gives a platform to the loathsome Jenny McCarthy to spout nonsensical antivaccination gibberish in an effort to watch children die. Do you really need more of a reason to hate someone than her efforts to leave a trail of dead kids? Ok, so that may not be Oprah's intention, but it's still the result of her action and something for which she must be held accountable.
Huh. Wasn't aware of any of that. If you actually know all those people, though, is it really name-dropping? Really? Why? So, jealousy and puppies. I think you're onto something. I can understand being jealous of somebody who's born into fame and fortune or just stumbles into it without any appreciable talent (let's call the latter the Brannon Braga Syndrome), but you'd think Oprah's would be the kind of success story anyone could get behind. Or maybe some people see it as a thumb in their eye. Homely little girl survives discrimination, desperate poverty, broken home, rape, just about every horror you can imagine, and parlays her ambition into becoming the richest woman in America. If she could do it, couldn't anyone? And if so, does that shine an unattractive light on other people's shortcomings? Thus the jealousy. Or maybe it's just the puppies.
Oprah is the Messiah, and Gail is her lover-- I mean, prophet. Oprah once got on a bus, went to the state of Missouri, and shouted "You are the fattest state ever, Missouri!" Oprah makes or breaks careers at a whim, from Dr. Phil to Obama. She is one of the richest, most successful women on the planet and for some reason controls the eating habits, reading patterns, and menstrual cycles of women across the globe.
She's a rich, anti-gun liberal who travels with armed bodyguards, which makes her a giant hypocrite about 2 or 3 different ways.
Again, look at Wal*Mart. You think Sam Walton was just born with a pile of money? Fuck no. He had a little fucking Ben Franklin in some hick town in the South in the 1940s. He worked his ass off for a half-century to get his company to where it is today. Shit. I don't think he even got a second store for 15-20 years. Nope, people hate someone who worked their way up even more, because then they have no excuse. You can look at some trust fund kid and say "If I'd had rich parents, I could be like that too." But if you don't become Oprah; if you don't become Wal*Mart it is because you were too stupid or lazy to get there. Or you didn't even have the balls to try. At least that's my theory.
He tells it like it is - no holds barred. As for the jokes ... I was sitting at a traffic light in downtown Chicago when Oprah's limo pulled up next to me. She rolled down her window and asked "How do I get to 294?" And I said "drop 50 pounds."
I remember watching Oprah on channel 13 in Baltimore back in the late 70s-early 80s when she did a few newscasts and co-hosted a morning talk show. She seemed like just another talking head back then and I wasn't too impressed with her. Her co-anchors, Al Saunders and Jerry Turner, completely dominated her on the air and her talk show co-host Richard Sher usually did as well. I still don't understand how she got so popular, unless she managed to find a void in the daytime talk-show market. Most talk shows were of the Mike Douglas type when she got started and even then, those kind of shows weren't really marketed directly toward the "bored housewives" who watched soaps all afternoon. I think she just came on the national scene at the right time, found an under-serviced TV niche and filled it.
I probably couldn't express why I hate her in any logical manner. It's a deep down in the gut hate. Hey, emotions are not objective. I just know that on the rare occasions I've been forced to see her show (like when visiting Mom), I want her to shut the fuck up, and I think most of her guests should be hidden away from society, rather than paraded before it.
Unfortunately, Bulldog, no. I can get away with posting on the internet, but my boss draws the line at plugging in a tv and putting my feet up for afternoon psychiatry.
It's hard to argue with her critics here, but you have to hand it to her: Back when Springer and Jenni Jones were descending into the inky depths of white-trash hell, Oprah turned out of the trailer park and took a higher road into the suburbs. She's done an admirable job of elevating the genre as opposed to exploiting the seedy underbelly of America's lowest common denominator.
I hate Sam Walton and Wal*Mart for what he did to all the other people trying to own a Ben Franklin in a hick town. I hate Oprah for her sense of self-importance.
Sell-outs are often angry due to their own guilt, leading them to transfer that guilt onto others - in this case, those who don't sell-out.
You've got these quotes backwards. I don't know how you managed that, but I said the first thing and Muad replied about sell-outs.
It seems you've watched a lot of Oprah. I think you're not telling us something. The only time I've ever seen her was in "The Color Purple." I think she spent most of that movie getting beaten up.
Like I said, once every two years I go visit Mom for a few days, and we end up watching Oprah at some point. Plus the occasional accidental viewing while channel surfing and stopping to see if she still makes me cringe.
Okay, there's a lot of stuff in this thread I want to get back to, but Forbin's comment jumps out at me. Not picking on you, but I've gotta ask what you mean by "self-importance." Is it just the tone of voice, the body language, something else? I mean, like her or loathe her, you say the name "Oprah" to anyone with a TV anywhere in the world, and they know who you mean. You've got to think anyone this side of Gandhi (and even he had a bit of an ego) would feel self-important under those circumstances. Of course, Dr. Phil would say it's just a mask for a lot of self-doubt, and she's really still just a frightened little girl inside...
^Definitely, Jenee! I guess by self-importance, I'm thinking that seems to think she's become some sort of holier-than-thou royalty thru her many acts of charity. I believe the truly charitous person should be happy to do it anonymously.
Definitely agree about the charity work. I think Rosie's undoing was ... I don't know, maybe just her tone of voice or her mannerisms, but she came across as 'I know more than you, so you better listen to me and do as I say'. Whereas Oprah's seems to be more ... condescending ... That 'burger' comment, while I was in philisophical agreement, it wasn't exactly the way I would have said it.
