[Aeternos Astramora]

http://www.thestar.c.../article/646830

By her support of pseudoscience and alternative medicine, combined with her enormous popularity, exposure, and following, I am of the opinion that Oprah is not only crazy but is being unethical.

I hate when people bash science like how she is doing.

[Decomposition]

Oprah is a complete quack! She not only peddles crappy and dangerous advice but also makes her living off the misery and misfortune of others.
There is probably no television personality that I despise more (and that includes Sean Hannity).

Newsweek's lead article this week is about her horrible medical advice. Definitely worth a read.

This post has been edited by Decomposition: 07 June 2009 - 02:50 PM

[Otherworld]

Freedom of speech I guess.

If people are stupid enough to believe her...guess thats a form of natural selection.

[El Pilchinator]

Decomposition, on Jun 7 2009, 04:49 PM, said:

Oprah is a complete quack! She not only peddles crappy and dangerous advice but also makes her living off the misery and misfortune of others.
There is probably no television personality that I despise more (and that includes Sean Hannity).

Newsweek's lead article this week is about her horrible medical advice. Definitely worth a read.

yeah i remember seeing this bit. The Colbert Report also ran a segment on it as well.

[Relic]

Even worse are her religious views (Which change every two weeks). People have even wrote books on them.

[Vaal Satori]

Stupidity isn't the symptom, it's the problem. People would believe crazy things whether Oprah influenced them or not. The framework is already in place. And even if Oprah is harming America, she has a right to do what she does, and the most we are entitled to do to stop her is to organize protests and boycotts, which you are free to do if you feel so compelled.

[Kenadian_2006]

I do declare, Oprah must be a terrorist.

[Lamuella]

she, obviously, has the right to say what she wants. However it is undeniable that a huge number of her guests are unscientific quacks presented as scientific experts, and a great deal more attention should be paid to the manure her guests spread.

[Vaal Satori]

Lamuella, on Jun 7 2009, 05:41 PM, said:

she, obviously, has the right to say what she wants. However it is undeniable that a huge number of her guests are unscientific quacks presented as scientific experts, and a great deal more attention should be paid to the manure her guests spread.

She's taking advantage of a phenomenon that already exists though: that many people in this country are suspicious and distrustful of their doctors. That won't change no matter how much attention is drawn to the credibility of her guests, and the situation could even be made worse if she is given greater publicity among people who would be less inclined to heed the official warnings in the first place. For instance, this article to me comes across as preaching to the choir, which won't be very effective at convincing Oprah's fans that she is promoting things that are harmful to their health. What is needed is a television personality comparable in stature to hers that can reach the fans and speak in a way that connects with them.

[Mongol Federation]

You're talking about the woman that said vote for Obama and thus made him go from also ran to landslide victor overnight. Unless people suddenly do a 180, nothing can really stop her. Frankly, I find it more likely for people to spontaneously abandon religion then to stop following her.

[El Pilchinator]

she's actually made a response to the Newsweek article

http://tv.yahoo.com/...4:1006641__ER:1

Quote

"For 23 years, my show has presented thousands of topics that reflect the human experience, including doctors' medical advice and personal health stories that have prompted conversations between our audience members and their health care providers," Winfrey said in a statement. "I trust the viewers, and I know that they are smart and discerning enough to seek out medical opinions to determine what may be best for them."

[-Wolverine-]

I suppose if people do not understand medicine, its easy to fill the ignorance with witch doctors.

[Lamuella]

New Inca Empire, on Jun 7 2009, 06:20 PM, said:

You're talking about the woman that said vote for Obama and thus made him go from also ran to landslide victor overnight.

you're really going to need to show some proof, because this statement is a load of nonsense. I'm sure Oprah helped to some degree, but she was a passenger on the obama popularity train, not the engine, and to suggest otherwise is being intentionally blind.

[Lamuella]

El Pilchinator, on Jun 7 2009, 06:38 PM, said:

she's actually made a response to the Newsweek article

http://tv.yahoo.com/...4:1006641__ER:1

"I trust the viewers, and I know that they are smart and discerning enough to seek out medical opinions to determine what may be best for them."

translation: I shovel out as much profitable horsecrap as I can, and if people can't find the needle of good advice in the haystack of quackery, that's their own fault.

[NewPoseidon]

This is one of the few "weird" posts on the boiler room that's also interesting.

For a while, Oprah represented a positive influence on America: a poor black woman who, through hard work and charisma, managed to become a major success on television. However, now one should question whether she still represents a healthy presence in American culture due to the reasons outlined in the article. I'd also pin feminist criticisms on her. What are the chauvinist stereotypes of a woman? They're emotional, naive, non-empirical, obsessively romantic, and busy-bodies. These don't apply to women, generally, but do they apply to Oprah's program? We should ponder this.

I'll end with this disclaimer. Before being too harsh on her, we should all point out that none of us actually watch her show (I'm guessing), but that we're making our opinions off of third party explanations of her program.

[Decomposition]

NewPoseidon, on Jun 7 2009, 08:32 PM, said:

This is one of the few "weird" posts on the boiler room that's also interesting.

For a while, Oprah represented a positive influence on America: a poor black woman who, through hard work and charisma, managed to become a major success on television. However, now one should question whether she still represents a healthy presence in American culture due to the reasons outlined in the article. I'd also pin feminist criticisms on her. What are the chauvinist stereotypes of a woman? They're emotional, naive, non-empirical, obsessively romantic, and busy-bodies. These don't apply to women, generally, but do they apply to Oprah's program? We should ponder this.

I'll end with this disclaimer. Before being too harsh on her, we should all point out that none of us actually watch her show (I'm guessing), but that we're making our opinions off of third party explanations of her program.

I spent three weeks in a hospital bed a couple of years ago with rather limited TV coverage (major understatement), and ended up watching Oprah a fair amount just to kill the boredom. This was back when Dr Phil was still on all the time dishing out relationship and life advice. Watching the audience and Oprah lap it up was like watching a train wreck.

[El Pilchinator]

Lamuella, on Jun 7 2009, 07:56 PM, said:

"I trust the viewers, and I know that they are smart and discerning enough to seek out medical opinions to determine what may be best for them."

translation: I shovel out as much profitable horsecrap as I can, and if people can't find the needle of good advice in the haystack of quackery, that's their own fault.

correct.

which is unfortunate, but thats how it works.

[Eagare the Alenthin]

Apparently Oprah and Dr. Phil used to have a feud of some kind? Like, that's the kind of thing I'd expect to see on 4chan, to be honest.

[Czar Garrett]

Speaking of 4chan, I think that bring a strong point against Oprah and her methods.


A while back, IIRC, one of Anonymous or someone vaguely affiliated with them, wrote some letter in to Oprah on the topic of sexual abuse which claimed that they had "Over 9000 penises." She proceeded to read this whole thing on the air, which in turned launched a storm of YouTube and other videos mocking her for it.

So basically she was conned by one of the more well-known and obviously absurd groups from the internet. All it would have taken was a little bit of research, especially the phrase "over 9000," which is a rather uncommon phrase in normal society.

[Bazeilles]

Decomposition, on Jun 7 2009, 03:49 PM, said:

Oprah is a complete quack! She not only peddles crappy and dangerous advice but also makes her living off the misery and misfortune of others.

Just like the democrat party. If there were no identity -isms for leftist democrats to exploit they would be out of business permanently. They thrive on misery and misfortune. They thrive on the perception of racism, sexism, homophobia, and various other boogeymen. It comes as no surprise that Oprah declared Barack Obama to be "The One."