Newsweek questions Oprah's crazy talk

Unless I have been wrong all of these years I do believe Oprah is in the ENTERTAINMENT business. Now maybe I am wrong but when you are in entertainment you must be able to keep the attention of your audience in order to survive. Her producers are the people who put together these shows. All the shows need are her (Oprah's) approval. If she feels that things ding-a-lings (and what the hell else is Ms. Sommers) will keep an audience for 1 hour and it can be done in a tasteful manner then she ok's it. I don't blame her. At the end of the day she tried to entertain and enlighten. It is unfortunate that 3/4th of the american population no longer have common sense and this DOES include ivy league graduates.

It's about damn time somebody said this ... a friend and I were just talking about this yesterday. I will never understand why a talk show host has so much power in this country. Shows how mindless Americans truly are.

If memory serves me correctly, we watch television as a luxury and/or by choice. From time to time I find it hard to take advice from friends, family and the church let alone a Talk Show - We also have common sense as well. People give me a break. Newsweek is a competitor of Oprah - it's all about business. When was the last time an adult was able to blame another person for his/her decisions or actions - NEVER!

I don't have to always agree with her choices to love what Oprah stands for. That said, I can't help but wonder if the writer of this article would be singing the same tune if (when?) she's invited to speak on Oprah's show. I also wonder if Mrs. Reynolds will be singing the same tune if/when she wields the same level of power as Oprah. I am inspired by her Midas effect and ! aspire to also make a positive impact globally. I know I'll make plenty of mistakes along the way, just as Oprah did, I know that everyone will have a million different opinions about the choices I make, just as they do her, and I know I need to master my inner spiritual warrior to attain such a level of mind-boggling success, just as she has. Rock on, O! (That goes for Obama too!)

Haters will be Haters ! This article reeks of a jealous individual with limited writing skills. How many times did you use the word "finally" in order to illustrate your envy? Get Paid Miss Oprah!

And Miss Joni you should be ashamed as a Black Woman to take delight in News Week's depiction of Madamn O. This will be the first of many attempts to tear her power structure apart. Get or BUY a Clue!

It is really sad that anytime some one criticizes Oprah they are labeled as a hater. I do not get a sense that the writer hates Oprah I get the sense that the writer simple states the woman is human. She is an incredible woman and extremely generous, but she is human and everything she does should not just be unquestioned because it comes out of her mouth. So let's not stone the messenger let's try to get the message.

Miss Oprah take it all the way to the bank girl.

Oprah is exploring options that may promote health and wellness, not telling people what to do. A shame that nobody calls all of those drug commercials "wacky", particularly when they spend five minutes detailing all of the adverse side affects that are way worse that the symptoms they purport to "cure". Get a grip!

Lady O's influence, coupled with her billions got Barack Obama elected. Can't U see what News Week is doing here??!! They're slowing planting seeds of doubt to discredit Oprah. Wake Up!

Forgive my emotion, but these S.O.Bs have really pissed me off by trying to steal her power of influence by discrediting her! The white media elite are simply jealous of this media icon!

Let's not all forget that Oprah also has tried to redefine Christianity. Her worldwide webex did more to threaten her followers salvation than anything else she has done. The church of Oprah is not based on any reliable scholarship but just personal opinion. To be a believer in Christ you must believe in Jesus not Eckart Tolle. Don't worry about Oprah's dietary choices, how about her immortal soul. Oprah, wake up. There are not multiple paths to salvation as you would put it.

Fred Funk, you are in for the shock of your life then when you find out the origins of religion.

This article lacks an argument, and there is nothing compelling about it. In addition, "fishes" is not a word. Although I must somewhat agree that sometimes Oprah's reputation gives her the power to do extremely ridiculous things. She is a brilliant woman, but nevertheless after so many years on air it's hard to keep up with a strong/logical topic on every show. Furthermore, approving sexual relations at fourteen on public television from such an influential figure has to be one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard in my entire life, even with the so-called supervision of a professional therapist.

I know the origins of Christianity and religion, You should take the time to study it. There are over 5,000 manuscripts of the bible, undeniable proof that Jesus lived and performed miracles (as documented by the Jews and Romans), archeological proof that backs up the Bible and statistical proof that all these things could not happen randomly. Lee Strobel set out to prove that Christianity was false and he ended up proving the opposite. Look at the evidence, it is overwhelming. It takes more faith to believe in Eckart Tolle than the absolute proof of Christianity.

Why do contributions to this conversation have to degenerate into a black-white "thing" ? I was following -- and respecting -- the various opinions here until the post about purported jealousy from the White Media Elite. (sigh) I have found that when a person can't support their own position with logical and/or informed opinion, they resort to sweeping accusations about all of the groups or individuals that are against them, or against the power figures that they believe in. Oprah is powerful, media-wise; but B. O'bama got himself elected, using all of his available resources and supporters. It wasn't Oprah that enabled that. And she isn't The Holy Grail.

Daisy, I think you are in for the shock of your life when you find out that we all had a purpose on this earth and we are not just randomly assembled molecules. It must be sad to go through life as a random organism instead of a person with a soul and destiny.

Harriet, you would be wise to stop drinking your own kool aid. Here U have a picture of a BLK WOMAN with the caption "CRAZY" over her head! Now you tell me WTF that says! Nevermind honey! I got this!

Boy, whose toes did Oprah step on? While I do not worship at the 'altar of Oprah' I admire her for what she is...a self-made woman BILLIONAIRE who happens to be Black. She is not infallible and if she gives that air, it is people, who literally base their lives around everything she says, who are responsible. Listen to her, read what she has to say, pick and choose but NO person on earth has the answers to everything. Most thinking people know this. Sounds like Newsweek has an axe to grind IMO. Or maybe they are just plain old jealous.

Exactly Shaquitta I agree

The whole piece on Oprah is GARBAGE. Why hate? work as hard as she did and you also can become a HOUSEHOLD name. Look at Tyra she is DAMN SURE building her way up there and more power to her.

But it goes back to the old fashion proverb Momma use to say to me

If you don't have nothing good to say. DON'T SAY NOTHING AT ALL

I Digress

Boy oh Boy does Oprah have you all fooled. What is the source of Oprah's power..."We empower Oprah." She isn't a self-made billionaire. We listen and watch and we buy whatever she shares as the truth. Newsweek should be critical just like we all should be critical of the Wizard of Oz promising gifts we already have inside. Oprah's gift is she listens and she has the power to share in real time what we think. What she shares isn't always the truth but enough of us buy it to make her rich and more powerful. Her ability to listen and power grows as her ability to control the media expands. Do you think Oprah got on Twitter to become a celebrity or to control the spin? Do you know how many good ideas you can get from just listening and sharing thoughts in a small group? Oprah was not a self-made billionaire. She is loved and "We are her power." She gives us chicken and her favorite things.

LOL. Fred Funk, you live in a dream world, my friend. There is absolutely no proof of any religion. Nobody has ever proved a religion or any miracles. There's about 100,000 Buddhist manuscripts describing Buddha's miracles but they prove nothing either. The difference is most Buddhists treat them as what they are: allegory. It's too bad Christian's never seem to grasp that concept. Church or Jesus, Church of Oprah, whatever. It's all the same and equally ridiculous.

oprah loves talking and talking and talking just about anything... she must just love the sound of her voice. and that's how she is racking them in. like any normal girl who talks a lot, sometimes she makes sense and sometimes no sense, but she talks anyhow. Go oprah. Besides the nonsense she speaks sometimes, we must accept that for just being on daily national tvs for +20 years she has contributed loads towards a presentation of a positve black image, especially of women. First time I heard about Toni Morrison was on oprah. Moreover she helped deliver Obama to the world. So really in the big scheme of things, let her talk her no nsense as often as she likes.

Newsweek is just trying to discredit Oprah because she's a rich powerful black woman who got a black man elected president. No one thought Obama had a chance against the ultra powerful Clinton machine until Oprah through all her influence behind him. I'm not saying Oprah's perfect, but this article slams Oprah for interviewing the same guests every other media interviews. To dismiss the most successful black woman of all time as crazy is disgusting, insulting and very VERY RACIST! They are trying to lynch this woman and it's reprehensible.

I respect everyone and what they have to say but it's hard to believe any Oprah bashing is other than trying to promote one's own single minded or closed minded thinking. We don't know, none of us know anything about what happens after you die. That's why it's called faith. Christianity, as well as other forms of religion are written by man, so you still only know what a man wrote. When you die, if you find out you were right then you can take some comfort, but to belittle, hurt, and judge others for having honest, open, and willing conversations of ideas is just small. Wars start from little minded people having little minded thoughts and then blowing them up to big infantile tantrums. When have we ever fought for unselfish reasons and to better humanity as the only goal (and don't say the war on terror because if there were such a thing it would be in Africa and other countries with nothing to contribute besides human life). None of us knows enough about anything that happens after we die. Period. I applaud Oprah for the 14 year old sex conversation and being resourceful and responsible enough to invite a professional in the field of sex to facilitate dialogue. I didn't see the show but from the reaction I can only denote it provoked thoughts around the matter, and that is why we watch the show right? We don't just watch to see if what Oprah thinks is what we think and that makes us feel good because we think we're right. Right? Until recently being married at 14 wasn't that unrealistic and in some cultures still practiced. I had sex at 14, I'm sure even some of the prudes who commented against it even tried some form or another of sexual pleasure (okay, I'm not sure). It seems to me that in a time not so long ago when we did have marriages in this country by teens wedding teens we had a more civilized humanity than we do now. Instead, we tell teens not to have sex, and when they get pregnant we help them support the baby through county welfare programs. How about letting teenagers make their own decisions by offering to tell them our experiences if they ask, and let them make informed decisions and be accountable for the outcome. If they live under their parents roof and seek to do things differently than by their parents rules suggest they get emancipated, sex isn't a birthday or Christmas present. Also, let's make it illegal for parents who would throw their children out onto the street for getting pregnant or being gay a crime. Parents don't always know best.

I gotta laugh at May. You know the author of the article is herself a black woman, right? How is she being racist or disgusting? For that fact, did you even READ the article, or are you yet another of the Oprah masses who just defends because somebody is insulting your sacred golden cow. Also, what's the deal with "because you're black, you have to defend and stick with your people"? I'm a black man and can honestly say I don't agree with Sharpton, Jackson, Oprah and quite a few of the supposed "leaders" and what they say. No thank you. It's all hot air and actions speak louder than words. I'll choose to back people like teachers, firemen and police rather than publicity mongers. You'd be wise to do the same.

It's pretty convenient that the first person who brough up race was a black woman. It's a classic move that the first to cry foul about somebody being racist and please stop opressing me is actually practicing reverse discrimination when they do it. Here's a clue. SHUT UP about the black empowerment thing.It makes you look very uneducated and we're kinda done with the white guilt movement by now. Oprah isn't a "king maker" ok? She didn't "MAKE" Obama president. Stop with the double standards of it's not good to write crazy over a black woman's head but it's ok to write stupid over a white man's head ( past president). Also... the religion thing. You're both wrong about it so get over it. OR... you're both right, get over it. Either way you slice it, GET OVER IT. It's an age old debate and neither side can decisively prove they are correct. You go find Jesus, and you go find Darwin. In the end... everybody is missing the point and how this all got started. It's OK to suggest alternative medicine. It's OK to have a guest on the show who found success with it. It's OK to enhtertain people with your point of view. Just PLEASE ( and yes, this goes directly to you, Oprah and none of these other clowns here) take a look at your bank account and think to yourself "Hmmm, maybe the people who gave me all of this have a right to hear ALL sides instead of just my opinion and I shall present it as such". Remember folks, the written word is more powerful than that of the split atom en masse. If you don't think so, take a look at how somebody you have never met before and have no connection with just tick you off with his note enough to make you angry. Yes... that would be me and the person with the sour look on their face would be you.

Oprah = awsome

Don't be fooled. This all has to do with her having Jenny McCarthy on her show explaining the link between autism and vaccines. This is nothing more than the pharmaceutical industry hitting back with a vengeance towards alternative cures. Only a person has to be really irresponsible to pinpoint all of this on one person. This goes below integrity in journalism. But it is what it is today when corporate media chooses to bailout their fellow corporate cronies over putting people first. This is the same Newsweek that has drug ads plastered on every other page in the magazine. Money talks and Oprah is being seen as a threat knowing she draws so much people into her television program and magazine publications.