What Do You Think About Oprah?

[Messed Up]

This is my thing;

I try to steer away from those self-help things people do because (honestly) I was always afraid I’d fall for it and see life as a fairy tale but the second somethings goes terribly wrong my fairy tale perspective would have conditioned me to not be able to handle it and thus be unstable or distraught beyond compare.

My sister tried to get me onto “The Secret” and it was cool but I stopped doing what they said because I was afraid of what I just explained above.

I was afraid that these things were very “easy answer” types of garbage as well, like, that which was only for the gullible. That’s also why I never respected Oprah. She says you have the power to change your life (blah, blah) which I found hilarious as she can say that being a financially secure gazillionaire.

As you could see I was very much against her teachings because, as I said, it seemed to be very “easy answer”.

Then, I decided to listen to what she had to say...and...it’s like she and I were one and the same. We went through different ordeals as youths (I kinda still am one LOL) however we were very much the same...

I started to think, “Maybe this chick’s on to something...”

I watched her "MasterClass" on OWN and I have to admit I was thinking of joining her Facebook group that has weekly logs one has to fill in to monitor their emotions and thoughts.

Umm...do you think I should?

[Messed Up]

Nobody? LOL

[Chandra]

You know, she gets a lot of flak for being self-aggrandizing and overly emotive, and I agree that her rhetoric can sometimes become eyeroll-worthy. But on the other hand, I think she has done a lot to increase visibility of certain groups and certain issues. I had my own "Oprah moment" back in the 90's when she did a show on OCD - it was the first time I had ever heard of it, and I recognized myself immediately in what they were describing. I can't tell you what a relief it was to learn that I wasn't a total freak.

[SagaciousNJ]

Oprah is on balance a positive public figure, and if it is at all possible to determine sincerity from stage presence then it seems she is genuinely interested in doing good.

For every pile of weepy, un-selfconscious garbage she promotes (like "the Secret") you can find her championing roughly three worthy causes.

As for what I actually think of her; her programs are geared almost entirely toward feeding a sense of first world entitlement with special focus on her two strongest demographics: "White Upper middle class middle aged women and Gay men" in that order. Which is not a criticism merely an observation.

I've seen her before largely as a favor to my mother (it may have been a subtle queer test in retrospect), and at the risk of overstatement; I'd rather scoop my eyes out with a rusty melonballer than watch more.

In sum, she seems to be a very good person, who despite the occasional nonsense often does interesting work... and I Hate her guts.

I hope this is the the sort of feedback you wanted

[Messed Up]

I didn’t know she had a gay following...

Well, I don’t know whether I believe her stuff/WANT to believe her stuff/ RAIL against her stuff fearing I will be another sap who bought into her stuff. It’s like I’m afraid to be considered gullible even at the risk of not helping myself.

It’s hard to develop a serious opinion when she seems to genuinely care about people and seems to be a good individual.

Any other views?

[Filip]

Not a view on Oprah in specific, but more about all self-help stuff:

There's nothing wrong with self-help. We're posting this on what is at its core a self-help support group forum, after all

But I always think that self-help consists of 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. And often, the "great gurus" of self-help omit the last 90%
Obviously they can't do the work for you, so they are limited to the positive messages and the "yes you can" and the creation of a positive mindset. As the right mindset is a lot of help in keeping motivated through the 90% of hard work, that's already invaluable...

...But a lot of people do like to look just at that and then pretend they can sit back and wait while good things come their way. If you don't put in any work, however, that's not going to happen, and you risk ending up disillusioned.

Obviously, Oprah knows this (she worked hard to get where she is and works hard to stay where she is), and to say she omits the part where you have to do hard work is disingenious. It is mentioned. But since she can't do it for you, and telling people to work their asses off isn't too exciting, her stuff is more about the inspiration and mindset than it's about the planning and the execution. And for a lot of people, it's tempting to think it's that simple.

So yeah, she's on to something. If you're willing to take it as a start point, and not a miracle cure.


Kind of how on EC we can try to get people motivated to hope for the best, try seeing coming out as a realistic option, try to go out and meet new friends...
But we can't actually write the coming-out letter or go talk to the parents or act as a friendship/dating agency. That takes hours and hours of socialising, preparation and self-exploration.
Though we can take more time to talk to individual posters to tailor advice about what to do, which Oprah obviously can't do to each of her followers...

[Emberstone]

My view is fairly neutral-mildly positive. I think she is a decent, moral, good, compassionate person. But she can be grating and annoying after a while. However, while I find her episode long interviews annoying (she does have a tendency to start asking overasked questions that the interviewee has answered in practically every interview they had already done), I enjoy her episodes that focus on social issues such as racisem, sexisem, homophobia, and in general, social deprevation. It is in those times where her strengths, both in her character as a human being, and in what role she can play in social change, really come out.

[seeksanctuary]

Sorry, I can't bring myself to like anyone who supports "Doctor" Phil. I'm not going to say she hasn't done good things for people, because she HAS done good things, but that isn't enough to get me to like someone.

Especially when said someone has an episode on a ex-devil worshiping Jew who was forced to breed and kill and eat babies or some damn thing.

[steel03]

I don't actively praise or detest her, but I must say I loved the shit out of her interview with J.K. Rowling.