sorry for you many many friends and family who love her....and i once did too....but the woman is getting a bit too big for her britches. i actually feel angry rising in me when i watch this show now. is it just me and ryan, or has she gotten too sassy? she's either going through some mid-life thing, whatever happens to people when they get old and stop giving a rip what they say out loud OR she's just got too much money, too much fame, and too much power for her own good. surely we can find biblical backing for the fact that money, power, and love of self makes one a bit looney and, for lack of a better word, mean.
i know, i know. she's gives people cars and houses and educations and all that stuff. she reunites mothers with their children. she opens the worlds eyes to the power of doing something for others. i see her "good" qualities. i see them.
but i think of that verse about how the Lord loves a cheerful giver. can we really see much "cheer" on that face or in that tone of voice anymore? or is it just the oprah that africa sees? cause i'm convinced she's lost track of what she was doing for so long...loving people, bringing good into the world, standing for something, giving an example to others with wealth and fame.
last night sealed the deal in my mind. the show was about this homeless dude who lives on the streets of los angeles. he was asked by some froo-froo white dude with alot of money if he could film a documentary (called "reversal of fortune") about this man's life of survival and self-reliance on the street. the man agreed.
every day this man works as a recycler. he goes to the local garbage bins and collects cans to sell for money. he says he makes about $20 per day.
he passed a drug test, a psychiatric evaluation, and a basic character assessment, all finding him to be competent and responsible, or as the filmmaker said, "middle of the road, a case we cannot predict."
so, eachday the film people follow him around. and then one day, they plant a brifcase with $100,000 U.S. dollars and a note that says "what happens when a homeless man receives $100,000.00"?. already this is stinking to high-heaven.
the show goes through how ted rodrigue, the homeless man, spends his money. now, granted he doesn't invest it so wisely. he apparently turned down financial planning offers and counseling by the man with the camera. ted bought himself a truck, as well as someone else a car. he hooked up with a woman, spent ALL his money on stuff and his girl, and came up with nothing to show for it, not even the woman. she left him when the money ran out.
in ted's own words, "i'm more in debt now than before i got the money. i wish i had never had it in the first place." oprah cannot seem to understand this, as well as the film man. they are both basically attacking ted for his financial negligence, his frivolous spending, and his desire to "give his money away" (correct me if i'm wrong, ms. winfrey...but who could he have likely learned that from in our modern world?).
ted opens up his hard, angry, embarassed heart to the entire nation: "i don't trust anyone... i'm not happy but i'm contented...my heart is so hard, i don't want anyone else coming in". how has this "social experiment" (as the film man called it") bettered ted's life? how has it led him to healing? how has it not just validated all the crap he's been through, self-inflicted or not, in his life? really, oprah, when did you switch sides in these life-stories? when did you stop giving people like ted a new house and a lot of money? not that it's what she should do at all, but when did she become so sympathetic with the one with the screwy ideas?
don't hate me, people. it's just my thoughts. i cannot help it. i don't think that moeny and ignorance are a good combination. what about giving ted love, consistency, a bit of a ladder to climb up? i belive the motive behind film man's documentary is best summed up, as is my frustration with oprah's confused motives as of late, in his ashley's-mind-blowing statement: "I learned that in providing somebody with the necessities to be able to turn their life around, a car, a telephone, a roof above their head, a driver's license, all the things that we hear is what somebody needs to be able to turn their life around, it still, unfortunately, in this particular case, was not enough."
8 comments:
I TOTALLY agree!! I feel the same way about her!
i will say the same thing i said when we watched the show!!! Ted is worse off than he was before the film wayne-the-exucutive-producer-wanker probably doubled (if not more) his initial investment on the film. a typical example of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. Oprah likes to use her story of coming from "rags to riches", but now it seems she has lost touch with her humble beginnings, and with reality all together!!
Dang, Oprah...you've really gone downhill. What a ridiculous and HARMFUL "experiment"!!!
Robin
Dude- I totally agree. I've had a real beef with Oprah for a long time. I have also noticed that she's gotten rather rude lately. I've watched the show a couple times recently while I've been taking study breaks and I've had to turn off the show b/c I got mad. I think the good that she is doing is offset by the harmful quasi-truth she is feeding the world and the way she poisons people to think that all of life is made better by the principles of generosity, self-betterment and positive thinking.
first, let me start with the fact that i have no particular adoration for oprah. i prefer quirky tyra. haha. however, that being said i do want to point out that she is a journalist of sorts.
she has guests on her show that are of public interest - whether she agrees with them or not. she has had a number of political commentators that are totally right winged and that have even publicly bashed her BEFORE she invited them. so anyway, that to say she invites people to present information (and of course make $$)....
as i recall, oprah didn't set this documentary up. she just invited the film maker and then asked tough questions like a journalist is supposed to. i know many people would argue that oprah is not a journalist, but she is- her whole history has been in journalism, not just "talk show host".
further, i do think that this episode actually did show the world something... it showed them exactly the truth- that money does not solve problems that are stemmed in deeper issues.... a lot of the philanthropic world just wants to throw money around and start projects that are not rooted in love and to be honest, i think that this documentary served a purpose in demonstrating that, no, throwing money at poverty is NOT the answer.
now, maybe oprah was hard on him and asked questions that seemed like she was blaming him, but i think she does that to ask questions she thinks are on her viewers minds... because we all know that those are things that are going through the thoughts of the vast majority of people watching the show... then she lets him make his case... and i think most people who watched that episode probably felt compassion for him after hearing his answers rather than feeling like blaming him.... that's how i felt, that's how you felt....
i do find it weird that the filmmaker let the man's life become worse off than it was to begin with... i think the filmmaker should have paid off ted's debt since in fact, he was responsible for it... but really, that doesn't have anything to do with oprah.
anyway, those are my two cents and my defense of a woman who i don't even particularly care for.
good point emma. however, she is being very inconsistent. i think her motives have shifted.
and even though jay z isn't a pure influence on kids b/c of his rocky past...he's still a black entrepeneur who has made it out of a hard life, and he's not all bad (listen to his track about hurrican katrina). why not bring him on...he's got influence. she doesn't bring rappers on b/c they "corrupt the youth" but she'll bring wayne on who corrupted this man's life. that's inconsistent.
and why can't she just get along with ted too. i mean, she's free to make points on both sides...but MY point is she failed to do that for ted. she sided with the money, and in the end, she showed where he alliance ultimately lies.
that's not the oprah we all fell in love with.
i agree with you, too, ash. and everyone else who agreed with ash. i don't usually watch her. never liked her too much. she tends to just get on my nerves with her "spiritual-ness." but she still acts holier than thou most of the time. it's all about her friends and parties and then she will throw in something that doesn't swing her way, but then it all goes back to her. and good for her. she made something for herself out of nothing. but she could do a lot more.
it is so, stace. true dat!!!
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