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Edited on Fri Oct-13-06 12:56 AM by calimary
That's shitty stuff and she certainly does not deserve it. It might help her better understand who these "people" are who resolutely stand by bush and his ilk. But frankly, Oprah has a rawther large karmic debt to pay.
Whether you like it or not, she is the "mother" of such fiendish filth as o'lielly, limbaugh, vanity, geraldo, jerry springer (TV-wise), michael savageweiner, coultergeist, laura ingraham, and all the rest of the media knuckledraggers. Back in the day, all there was - was Phil Donahue. He did a very respectable, elegant (if a little staid), polite show, about issues mainly. And there was always a serious, respectful, quite grown-up discussion. SOMETIMES he'd veer off a little and do an hour with a guest celeb. But it was always good, interesting, and informative. You ALWAYS learned something about those issues from Phil's examination of them - at length - for the whole hour. And for a long time, he had the whole business to himself. No competition.
But then came Oprah. She was the first person to take direct aim at Donahue and challenge his claim to the throne. She came pretty much out of nowhere (except for local Chicago TV news viewers) and went head-to-head against him. So you had these two shows emanating from Chicago, and set up the same. She adopted his previously unique format - the host roaming through the audience with a portable microphone. She added more hugs and shoulder squeezes and girl stuff. But to make her mark - and a big splash, attract attention (and ratings), and beat Phil at his own game, she went much farther. She amped up the subject matter, too. Turned up the volume literally and figuratively so her show would attract more attention, make more noise - what we in radio used to describe as "I can't believe what I just heard on the radio!" TV in this case. More hysteria. More maudlin, tawdry, tabloid-type, low-brow crap, more "lesbian nuns!", more lurid abuse and rape and pillage and molestation stuff. More sturm und drang - to set herself apart and to yank all the attention away from Phil. Phil was truly huge on the TV landscape. I mean, who else was there - Tom Snyder? Mike Douglas? Dinah Shore? Oprah set this bomb off in order to establish her show and herself as THE talk show host to beat, and to serve notice to Phil to MOVE OVER. She also, of course, broke the glass ceiling for women to start hosting these shows, and certainly women (and men) of color. Before her, there were certainly no Montel Williamses. But that's how it started. Soon enough, Phil found that his ratings were slumping because Oprah was taking them, and he started trying to fight back at the new, lower level. One "fine" day - probably the death knell for his previously respectable show - he did an entire hour wearing a skirt. The day Phil Donahue would EVER feel compelled to stoop to something so crass - well, it came. That's what he and his producers felt forced to do to try to salvage the show. But by then, Oprah was a steamroller and it left Phil looking pathetic. Eventually he gave up and bowed out, taking what was left of a civil tone in talk shows with him - not to mention what little was left of his dignity. Barnum and Bailey suddenly ruled the day. Which paved the way for the rest of the circus clowns like geraldo and the rest. You would not have seen a "geraldo" show with our host allowing opposing sides to erupt into actual flying fists and flying chairs - one of which hit geraldo in the face and broke his nose right there on the air. You would not have seen a subsequent show in which we watched geraldo get a fat transplant from his butt to his face. ON THE AIR. And all that started when Oprah came on the scene and decided to kick things up a notch.
Look, Oprah has many positives to her credit. And she's certainly done a lot of good, and she's shone many a light on subjects that needed to be looked at more closely. A terrific role model for women everywhere, and people of color who admire her for good reasons. But DAMMIT, I wish she'd have spent her tremendous clout doing more than being a female Monty Hall or Elvis giving away Cadillacs and shopping sprees. She could have done the ultimate good - shining a light on what's gone on in the bush White House, the corruption, the scandals, the lies, the stolen elections, the war, the character assassinationa and dirty tricks and shredding of the Constitution. People DO listen to her and pay attention, and she was uniquely positioned throughout this miserable regime to be able to tell the truth to the masses - many multitudes of whom believed bush was indeed anointed by God. They watch her, too. She could have singlehandedly saved this nation - and HOW MANY LIVES that have been squandered by now in Iraq? Someone with a pulpit such as hers, I think, has an even heavier responsibility to the nation, BECAUSE of the influence she wields.
I hope to God she starts doing more shows like this - where the truth is exposed about the war and the shit that's gone on. Because people DO listen to her and take her seriously. I've heard friends who are huge fans of hers talk about how she aims to remain apolitical because she can talk to everybody, otherwise she'd polarize and alienate half her audience. Besides, they say, that's not the point. But I disagree. By now, we need our media and cultural giants to help pull us out of this miasma - because they're uniquely positioned to have an impact. In our house, we have a saying: Much Blessed, Much Obligated. I think Oprah owes it to the people who flocked to her and made her so rich and famous and powerful. She owes it to this country and everyone who's been so hurt by this regime (ESPECIALLY since she works so hard, otherwise, to champion the have nots) to take a stand and, okay, YES - to get political. I hope she starts doing more, because she is capable of moving mountains, AND she really can't be hurt by any of the bad guys who'd sling mud at her - none of it would stick. She's WAY out of range of any of them. She could truly, and almost singlehandedly, save this country. GAWD, just imagine what could be accomplished if she teamed up with Gore and REALLY got busy...
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