Oprah Doesn’t Get a Pass
17 January 2006 9:34 am by Taylor Marsh
Oprah Doesn't Get a Pass
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| If I say it is so, it is. |
Because she has led countless billions
and billions of people to the promised land of books, because she preaches self-help
and self-sufficiency and not least because she has shown that even a middle-aged
person can keep weight off, I must tiptoe up to the amazing Oprah and merely
whisper to her that in the case of James Frey, the liar whose memoir turns out
to have a good deal of fiction alongside fact, she is not only wrong but deluded.
What she needs is a session with Dr. Phil. … Back in 2003, for instance, the
Minneapolis Star Tribune had questioned the book's factualness. (Some of “A
Million Little Pieces” takes place in Minneapolis.) In effect, the story
was dismissed — go away, silly newspaper, there's too much money at stake.
This, I know, is not a revelation. Doubleday will chase a buck like any other
company. As for Oprah, that is not quite the case. Whatever happens to Frey's
book will not make her richer or poorer. But fame and wealth has lulled her
into believing that she possesses something akin to papal infallibility. She
finds herself incapable of seeing that she has been twice fooled — once by
Frey, a second time by herself. Does Dr. Phil make house calls?
Oprah's
Grand Delusion
She's been elected by her millions and millions of fans. But Oprah
is not part of the unquestioned crowd. You know who I mean.
Sure, she can make kings out of pipsqueaks, heroes out of liars.
Maybe she can even make a president out of a pal.
But she doesn't get a pass because she ordains that fiction is
fact, saying the underlying lessons and message is… What was it she said? Oh yeah, that redemption trumps truth.
Some of us aren't buying it, that is the ones of us who are not seduced by the TV diva's
power, that is to say the reality based community who don't believe she's queen. And even if you're not buying it, believing Ms. Winfrey is still The Queen, well, she's no longer the good queen.
The moral relativity of the “leadership” echelon in
this country is a pathetic sight today, all of whom seem to have caught the
presidential prerogative presumption. If I say it is so, it is, simply by virtue
of my wah-wah-wah — blah-blah-blah baloney.
I guess Oprah figured if Bush could sell Iraq to the Senate, tell the country wiretapping innocent U.S. citizens is legal, she
could sell lies to the literary world. Mission Accomplished.
