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The Truth About Oprah

By Steve Rhodes

I’ve always thought the most essential reading about Oprah was Barbara Grizzuti Harrison’s piece in The New York Times Magazine in 1989. It still holds today.
It’s not available online, but I found it in an archive and will present excerpts here, along with some other Oprah material afterward. In short, she’s a contradictory con woman who thinks both that the universe intended her to be great and that she alone manifested that greatness. Shorter: She’s full of hooey, and America’s rubes, including its media, are happy to go along for the ride. She’s the modern-day snake oil salesperson exemplar.
To wit:
“Her audiences are co-creators of the self and the persona she crafts. Her studio is a laboratory. She says hosting a talk show is as easy as breathing. Here she is, an icon, speaking: ”I just do what I do – it’s amazing . . . But so does Madonna. . . . Everybody’s greatness is relative to what the Universe put them here to do. I always knew that I was born for greatness. . . .
”If it’s not possible for everybody to be the best that they can be, then it has to mean that I’m special, and if I’m special then it means the Universe just goes and picks people, which you know it doesn’t do . . . I’ve been blessed – but I create the blessings . . . Most people don’t seek discernment; it doesn’t matter to them what the Universe intended for them to do. I hear the voice, I get the feeling. If someone without discernment thinks she hears a voice and winds up being a hooker on Hollywood and Vine, it is meaningful for the person doing it, right now. She is where the Universe wants her to be . . .
”According to the laws of the Universe, I am not likely to get mugged, because I am helping people be all that they can be. I am all that I can be. . . . I am not God – I hope I don’t give that impression – I’m not God. I keep telling Shirley MacLaine, ‘You can’t go around telling people you are God.’ It’s a very difficult concept to accept.”
Just to be clear, she’s not God.

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Posted on January 22, 2018