Has the Oprah culture sucked in anybody you know?

-- Anonymous, May 30, 2001

Answers

my mom watches Oprah like everyday, i personaly think the show sucks big ass. I read a book from her book club once and it also sucked big ass.

-- Anonymous, May 30, 2001

I've read books that happened to be in her book club that I like (Where the Heart Is was great. I read it because I wanted to though, not because Oprah said to) But I think she is extremely annoying to a degree of large exponential value.

-- Anonymous, May 30, 2001

My mom loves Dr. Phil. And it's driving me nuts. They did this thing on the local news about Dr. Phil, and this reporter actually went to Dr. Phil's house, and it's insane how much money he's making and what he's spending on. He has a bronze statue in his LIVING ROOM.

-- Anonymous, May 30, 2001

I did enjoy reading Where The Heart Is...and I didn't read it because Oprah reccomended it, at least not directly. I read it because my mom reccomended it, and it was reccomended to my mom by Oprah. *Sigh*

-- Anonymous, May 30, 2001

Oprah's magazine shouldn't be called 'O'....it should be called ZERO!

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

Or
"O.....GET YOUR BIG ASS OFF ME YOU WENCH!"
or
"O MY FUCKING GOD, THIS BITCH IS GONNA SQUASH ME"
or
"O SHIT, SOMEONE LEFT SOME BUFFALO WINGS ON THE SET"
or my personal favorite
"O QUIT BUTTING INTO MY LIFE YOU MIND ALTERING COW"
Ok, the last one sucked...
And there is one thing that Oprah teaches......
The man is always f'n wrong. Jesus H. Christ (blasphemy! WOO HOO!) A woman can be cheating with like five dudes.....the crowd will cheer. A guy bones one chick at the office on the copy machine, and he's a dog? What gives?


-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

I like light-entertainment Oprah. The Oprah who interviews big stars or has guests with "the best jobs in the world", stuff like that. Make-over Oprah! I don't think she exists anymore, though. Pity. Because as phat as Ricki is, she can't hold a candle to Oprah's make- overs, because Oprah's got class. Oprah's make-over girls belong on Vogue covers, while Ricki's belong on street corners. Ha. Anyway, her man-bashing is pretty funny. Remember that Simpsons episode? 'Afternoon Yak'? "So... men. BOOOOOO!" I think that pretty much sums up all so-called "TV for women".

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

my cousin. poor child is OBSESSED with the damn woman. i, on the ohter hand, believe oprah and martha stewart are trying to take over the world.

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

My former roommate was into it. She tried to be all nonchalant about her love for Oprah, but it was obvious nonetheless. During freshman year, we had this very intricate TV schedule during the afternoons: Oprah at four, local news at five, Golden Girls at five-thirty (her choice again), then, finally, two episodes of The Simpsons.

She doesn't read much (when she's asked her favorite books, she lists the four or five novels she was assigned to read in high school), but when she does, it's almost always an Oprah book. She knows that I, Geeky English Major Extraordinaire, don't go for Oprah books at all (except for the Toni Morrison ones, and I read those long before Oprah's Book Club). Again, she tries to be all nonchalant about them: "My cousin bought this for me and said I'd really like it, so I figure I'd better read it for her," etc.

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

I think the Rosie O'Donnell culture is even scarier than the Oprah culture. Especially dangerous to youth is the teen pop culture with its gods being Britney, Christina, Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync, etc. I think I'm going to start calling it the "Carson Daly culture". Yeah, that fits. =)

(Dammit. Must stop rambling off-topic...)

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

Sad to say, my mom loves O magazine...she was all hunting it down when the first issue was scheduled to come out, and now she subscribes to it. It totally cracks me up, when the new issue comes in the mail, and there's Oprah on the cover...again...totally made up and trying to look casual, but not quite pulling it off.

I've read some of Oprah's Book Club list, but it was because I liked certain books, not because I felt "omigod, OPRAH said I should read this!!" My reading tastes are rather eclectic, as any good English major's should be.

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

Oprah's not all bad. She's not as cool as she used to be but she's ok. When she has shows on karma and stuff, It's neat. That one little advice dude is cool. Not dr. phill but the other one.. umm, maybe I've been brainwashed?

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

Stop bashing the Oprah book club, dammit. At least they're reading. You sound like indie rock snobs who won't listen to a band if they have released a platinum record, regardless of their artistic viability. Maybe the Oprah Book Club actually has good books, I really have no idea, but how the hell would any of you know if you stay 500 miles away from them? Sure, getting book reccomendations from Oprah is kind of lame, but old ladies tend to be that way.

-dan

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001

Why so down on people who benefit from Oprah? What's wrong with being grateful to her for recommending good books (and yes, I have a degree in English and some of them really are _good books_)? Or feeling empowered by Dr. Phil's advice to not take shit from people and to stand up for yourself? It's all a matter of opinion...you don't have to be so harsh to those who genuinely find some value in what she does. It makes you sound like a real snob.

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2001

You have a degree in English, eh? I had no idea that whether a book was good was an objective matter. I guess that's what you learn when getting an English degree. Funny, but one of the things I figured out while getting my Philosophy degree, so you must believe that I am Correct here (and this is deep, so watch out,) is that my opinion of what makes a good book is different from yours and I'm sure it's different from anyone else's here. In my opinion, Oprah is an ignorant, unthinking person (or at least presents that persona on her show.) I don't say this out of malice, it is simply my opinion, nor out of ignorance, as I have watched her show on several occasions. It *is* better to have lonely housewives (or *whomever*) reading if they wouldn't be reading otherwise, but it would be even better if they'd be reading books that will make them think and expand their perspective. I'll take Ishmael over Martha Stuart's "Good Things for Organizing" any day. And if they really won't read anything other than Oprah's recommended books, that is a serious problem, IMO.

I don't know who Dr. Phil is, though, so I can't comment on that.

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2001

"...is that my opinion of what makes a good book is different from yours and I'm sure it's different from anyone else's here."

Right. Exactly what I said. Everyone has a different opinion as to what is "good"--so why make blanket statements like "all of the books Oprah picks suck"? Unless, of course, you are trying to make yourself sound lofty.

The key here, people, are the words "In my opinion..." Everyone's opinion is valid. You can hate Oprah, you can love her, you can think she's a cult figure, you can see her as a tool of enlightenment. But whatever you think, it's your opinion. Unless you want to make people feel stupid or defensive, it would be in your best interest to preface your opinion with those words. Especially when you're being really harsh to people you don't even know. The Internet may be anonymous, this message board may be anonymous, but people do have feelings.

"It *is* better to have lonely housewives (or *whomever*) reading if they wouldn't be reading otherwise, but it would be even better if they'd be reading books that will make them think and expand their perspective."

"Lonely housewives"--ha! That outdated concept of who is the target for Oprah's show makes me laugh. Plenty of professionals, students, homemakers, and everyone else in the world read the books she recommends. "Lonely housewives" is so insulting to those who choose to check out what she has to offer.

Oh, and again--whether or not some of the novels she chooses make people think or expand their perspective is relative to the person reading. Different for everyone, huh? I know that I learned a lot more about Tourette's Syndrome after reading _Icy Sparks_ than I did when I read articles about it from medical journals (I taught a student with the disease).

So you can keep _Ishmael_ and whatever else sounds good to you, and I'll continue to choose my own books...some that I notice because Oprah features shows on them, some I hear about from colleagues, some that catch my eye in the bookstore...and if you think that's being like a lonely housewife, that's your opinion.

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2001

Icy Sparks....hmm...learning alot about TS...you know, i *tried* to read that book, not because of Oprah but because of the subject matter..and, well, since I was diagnosed with TS 15 years ago, I can sorta call myself an expert on the subject(if not the actual chemical imbalance parts, at least the actual living with it part.),and where it did seem to *try* in many places, much of it seemed to be stereotypes that ppl have been throwing at me for years.

I dunno, I think its cool that she may be trying to broaden ppls horizons and whatnot, but, personally I'm sick of her book club. As I've stated many times before, I work in a bookstore, and I tell you-- You would think we've committed a great sin against our holy god if we don't have her new book the day its aired. Honestly, in most cases, a book that appears on Oprah's show usually doesn't hit the shelve en masse until 3 or 4 days later. If its an older book, we'll have, 1 or 2 copies when it airs. A new book will probably be street dated for some time later. But we can always tell when a new book has aired by the plethora of phone calls and walk-ins that come up right after the show finished. Oh well, maybe I'm just sick of retail.

-- Anonymous, June 03, 2001

Oprah Culture? Um... Drop the "ure" from that. It's an Oprah Cult!! Think I'm kidding? I have the displeasure of seeing Oprah sometimes on the TV at the gym, but I'm always litening to my headphones, so I get an interesting perspective on it. Watch the beginning of the show closely. When she makes her entrance, the look on the faces of the women in the crowd is akin to... no not akin, it IS a look of worship. The large, awestruck eyes. The hands folded over the mouth. On the aisles, hands outstretched to touch their diety. What other groups in the world have A) required reading (ie Bible, Torah, Koran) B) a set of exclusionary beliefs C) regular meetings with rituals and spectacle, and D) a leader with more privalege than the followers (Oprah : billionaire. Koresh : had sex with all the women). Truly this is a cult. I wonder how many followers would march from the house, zombie-like, cleaver in hand, if Oprah told them to go out and kill?

-- Anonymous, June 09, 2001

I think Oprah has sex with all the women, too.

-- Anonymous, June 11, 2001

I don't like the Oprah Make-Over Sessions.

She always takes some unfortuante teenage girl, who has obviously neglected herself for some time because hey, she doesn't look like Oprah. She dresses her up in Gap and/or clothes no middle-income family can possibly afford, curls her hair, puts gobs of make-up on her, brings her out to raging applause and when the girl fails to attain this look at Wal-Mart prices, she's right back in the No Man's Land of life again.

-- Anonymous, June 20, 2001

I'm grateful for the Oprah Book Club; thanks to a recommendation on her show, last summer, my mom read through the Toni Morrison book I had given her for her birthday in February. True, my mom hasn't exactly become a great lover of books thanks to Oprah, but I would like to think some interest in reading is better than none.

By the way, these are the books Oprah has recommended since the Book Club began; I got the list from www.oprah.com:

A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines Back Roads by Tawni O'Dell The Best Way To Play by Bill Cosby The Book of Ruth by Jane Hamilton The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat Cane River by Lalita Tademy Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons Gap Creek by Robert Morgan The Heart of a Woman by Maya Angelou Here on Earth by Alice Hoffman House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb Icy Sparks by Gwyn Hyman Rubio Jewel by Bret Lott A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton The Meanest Thing To Say by Bill Cosby Midwives by Chris Bohjalian Mother of Pearl by Melinda Haynes Open House by Elizabeth Berg Paradise by Toni Morrison The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver The Rapture of Canaan by Sheri Reynolds The Reader by Bernhard Schlink River, Cross My Heart by Breena Clarke She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison Songs In Ordinary Time by Mary McGarry Morris Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail by Malika Oufkir Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi Tara Road by Maeve Binchy The Treasure Hunt by Bill Cosby Vinegar Hill by A. Manette Ansay A Virtuous Woman by Kaye Gibbons We Were The Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day by Pearl Cleage Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts While I Was Gone by Sue Miller White Oleander by Janet Fitch

-- Anonymous, July 02, 2001

Had I read the LUSENET docs beforehand, I would have known that single line breaks aren't recognized. Hrmph.

-- Anonymous, July 02, 2001

Yes. Anyone that listens to that freak dr.phil is screwed up. He has no Idea what he is talking about, but because OPRAH likes him everything that he says is like, bible word. It sucks. I think he just makes stuff up as he goes along and tries to convince people that he is helping them. What bugs me the most is that people want to see it his way, because he MUST be right if OPRAH has him on her show, so they manipulated into thinking like that fool.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001

Actually, I like Dr. Phil because what he says makes sense a lot of the time. Oprah liking him too has nothing to do with it.

-- Anonymous, July 15, 2001