Oprah’s Record of Promoting Charlatans Is Problematic At Best

[USincognito]

And yet Trump's past was seen as a benefit by "middle of the road" Americans. We continue to hear that from his apologists to this day.

 

[AmazingGraceCountry]

No one in her line of business should be running a country,
her very nature is opportunist, its all about me me me and
what I have to do to get there, sorry folks, this woman is an
actress, will say anything and do anything.

Still talking about racism, is it any wonder moving forward
is hindered, we all know it happened, it happens, and it will
be all but impossible to stop the warped minded people that
do it, but to use racism to get the top job, makes no sence,
it stirs the public and grabs the headlines, it changes nothing,
piggybacking on it on a world stage, pathetic.

We all need people with a track record of doing what is right,
people who can put others first, not just the wealthy and what
they demand, this criteria would soon eliminate the kind of people
who think because they can afford to canvas and tell lies to get
there would not even get a foot on the ladder.

 

[AmazingGraceCountry]

.

Best of a bad lot is Trump.
His biggest problem is he cant let peoples silly comments and
deliberate antagonism go. He could do a lot of good if he would
learn to completely ignore those who keep on keeping on, they
have no other choice but to attack him, he screwed up their way
of life, but he should only deal with them as a last resort, he could
keep really busy and have no time for them, but he just doesn't get it,
and sadly they will defeat him because of this.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Aaron McGruder called it.

It's probably a TOS violation to just mention The Boondocks series, much less encourage people to watch it.

Go watch it!

 

[Galaxy Hunter]

I thought it was noteworthy that at the same time all this came out about about Oprah entering the mudslinging world of politics she was literally up to her ankles in mud in the aftermath of a mudslide at her house. If I were her I would take that as a sign to not enter politics but maybe she'll see it as a omen that she belongs there.

 

[Abraxos]

All she has to do is steal the current administrations hard-worked and well thought out policies, alter them a bit so it's plaible to all Americans sensitivities and gently deliver it in such a mesmerizing way that they'll think that she was the second coming.

Bamn! Madam President.

 

[Gadarene]

And these quotes are why I made the post I did - never claimed that there weren’t people like this on the right, but if the recent spate of lefties falling prey to MeToo made apparent, we should probably remove the specks from our own eye first.

The OP question was to say how well this would work given the left’s tendency to push science and evidence-based policy. My point in response to that specific question was - there’s enough rubes and charlatans on the left that an Oprah run would, despite it being a silly idea, be somewhat viable - or at least not undermined by Oprah’s woo-peddling. That was not a cue to remind me that there are clueless berks on the right, thank you very much - follow the flow of the conversation.

IMO the left needs to stop pushing woo - be it miracle cures, or biased vigilante justice based on anecdote and stereotype (hello MeToo!) - and get back to hard facts, evidence and reason. We made good progress with this during the mid-noughties with the New Atheism wave, don’t squander it. Expertise is increasingly disdained and it’s not going to make matters better.

My aunt's family is very east Texas conservative, but they embrace all sorts of alt-med woo (the other night on Facebook they seriously were recommending potatoes in your socks as a cure) and anti-vax is politically ecumenical.

When I think of the people I personally know that are all about doing the latest essential snake oil, they are all conservatives.

There are some in the left. I know a few lefties in my family that swear by chiropractors and essential oils. However, most (if not all) of the people I know who are into the anti-vaxx, "big pharma" conspiracy theories and embrace homeopathy are on the right wing.

 

[Gadarene]

Don’t think I can link it because of one naughty word (sigh) but there’s a good piece recently published by Kurt Andersen in Slate (“Oprah Winfrey Helped Create Our American Fantasyland”) that is far more critical of the whole affair - and for the better, IMO

 

[DaisyDay]

From the Borowitz Report:

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Donald J. Trump issued a stark warning to the nation on Monday that, if elected President, Oprah Winfrey would force Americans to read.“This is a woman who, every chance she got, told people to join her book club,” Trump told reporters. “If she were President, you better believe that she would make every single American join that book club.”

 

[ThatRobGuy]

And these quotes are why I made the post I did - never claimed that there weren’t people like this on the right, but if the recent spate of lefties falling prey to MeToo made apparent, we should probably remove the specks from our own eye first.

...eh, if one side has to wait until all of their own issues are cleaned up (which will be never, you'll always have some whack jobs out there) before they can point out larger flaws with the other side, then bad ideas will perpetuate for a long time before people get called out on them.

 

[Gadarene]

...eh, if one side has to wait until all of their own issues are cleaned up (which will be never, you'll always have some whack jobs out there) before they can point out larger flaws with the other side, then bad ideas will perpetuate for a long time before people get called out on them.

Eh, change “first” in my quote to “as well” to be more accurate.

There is plenty of disdain for expertise coming from the left - another reason why we’re not going to help recover from Trump by voting in Oprah. That will cement some of the negative changes in public discourse that surrounded his presidency, not remove them.

 

[USincognito]

Eh, change “first” in my quote to “as well” to be more accurate.

There is plenty of disdain for expertise coming from the left - another reason why we’re not going to help recover from Trump by voting in Oprah. That will cement some of the negative changes in public discourse that surrounded his presidency, not remove them.

Which is why I found your quote of me befuddling because just two posts later I commented with:

A lot of my JREF friends tend to be politically liberal and all of them who voicing an opinion were vociferously critical of Ms. Winfrey for promoting woo.

 

[Gigimo]

 

[Gadarene]

Which is why I found your quote of me befuddling because just two posts later I commented with:

I quoted you because you - along with several other people - did a pointless BUT THE RIGHT THO when the question being asked was specifically about the left.

 

[USincognito]

I quoted you because you - along with several other people - did a pointless BUT THE RIGHT THO when the question being asked was specifically about the left.

I disagree. My point was medical woo tends to be more politically ecumenical than most sorts of woo and I stand by that point.

 

[USincognito]

You know Oprah wasn't calling for whites to be killed as the dishonest title of that video appears to be suggesting, right?

 

[Gigimo]

What difference does the title make when it's what she said that is important?

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Eh, change “first” in my quote to “as well” to be more accurate.

There is plenty of disdain for expertise coming from the left - another reason why we’re not going to help recover from Trump by voting in Oprah. That will cement some of the negative changes in public discourse that surrounded his presidency, not remove them.

On that we absolutely agree,...one of the key reasons I started this thread was to express a concern for the idea of backing Oprah, given that would bring out the wacky people on the left in the same way that Trump brought out the wacky people on the right.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

What difference does the title make when it's what she said that is important?

It's important because in the era of clickbait, there's a large segment of the population who will take that an run with it.

...and aside from the fact that it's, you know, lying. Which, from what I understand, is supposedly one of the big 10 no-no's in your holy book if I'm not mistaken.


The title was just as disingenuous as if a person expressed the opinion that they were in favor of the death penalty for a serial killer who happened to be Irish, and someone spun that with a misleading headline that says "So & So said that putting the Irish to death is the right thing to do!!!"

 

[Belk]

All she has to do is steal the current administrations hard-worked and well thought out policies, alter them a bit so it's plaible to all Americans sensitivities and gently deliver it in such a mesmerizing way that they'll think that she was the second coming.

Bamn! Madam President.

That would be quit a trick.