Good For You, Oprah

[Lightning Rod]

I just watched the Oprah show. James Frey was in the hot seat.

I've always loved Oprah. Who can help it? She has the face of a universal mother and she has more credibility than Walter Cronkite. And she has major audience. If Oprah says that she read the table of contents of any given book, the next morning it's on the NYT best seller list. She has immense credibility. I was glad to see her do the right thing today on her show and admit that she helped sell a lie to the American public.

I wrote a column last week about this subject.

http://www.studioeight.tv/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=6094

I was proud of Oprah for admitting her mistake and I admired her for calmly asking the author why he told bald-faced lies in his book. If it would have been me I would have bitch-slapped the weasely little punk all over the stage.

The only thing a writer or a journalist or a broadcaster has is his credibility. Oprah has built an amazing amount of credibility, perhaps more than any other public figure in history. When Oprah speaks, people listen closer than they do to E.F. Hutton.

I'm amazed that the greasy little wimp/wannabe gangsta had the nerve to come on the Oprah show again and stutter and stammer over his lies. I guess he thought it would sell more books. But Oprah had to protect the only asset that she has, the one that made her five billion bucks, her credibility. Frey threatened that with his false tale that Oprah helped to sell.

There are two reasons why this story touches me. One is because I happen to think that the truth makes a difference, and the other is that I am a real version of the person that James Frey claimed to be. I've got false teeth older than he is. I have spent more than twenty years of my life as a narcotics addict. I really went to prison for four years and three months. Smoking Gun can check the records on any of that. So, it's a bit personally insulting to watch a poseur like Frey make a million bucks selling a book that was a bunch of lies when I lived the real story.

I saw through the guys lies the instant that I read excerpts of the book describing Hazelden as if it were Abu Grahb. I had friends who were in Hazelden. They were friends whose parents had substantial money. It was not cheap. In fact, it is much more like The Betty Ford Center than it is like GitBay. It's much like a four star hotel with counseling sessions included.

So, listening to a weekend warrior like Frey tell his picaresque tales of woe and degradation is slightly lost on me. I know too much to be taken in by it. I also know that this is not the first time nor will it be the last time that big publishing or the press or other media sells us a bunch of lies dressed up like the truth.

But I was proud of Oprah for standing up and calling a liar a liar. Now if she could only get George W. Bush in the hot seat.

[hester_prynne]

Wow. And here I am thinkin, what the hell, did Oprah sell out?
Heh.

You are right, it is impressive the way Oprah tends her credibility.
But this just doesn't seem to warrant all the attention it's getting!
I mean, yes, why doesn't she have George in the hot seat!!!!

i'm kinda burnt out on memoirs of recovery I guess. I wouldn't have been interested in the book if it had been true either...
heh
Cheers!
H

[firsty]

oprah only did what she did because her massive thighs i mean massive masses demanded it. earlier in the week she said the whole scandal was much ado about nothing. she said that in order to try to not compromise her book club. then she recanted because the public outcry was so firmly against frey. she did it for the cheers. she's a shill. i hope she chokes on her contradictions.

[firsty]

what oprah did was worse than what frey did, or at least just as bad. she lied. she said she didnt think it was a big deal, then she changed her mind 2 days later. a complete 180. why did she intially say that it wasnt a big deal, and then say that it was? no revelations came out in those 2 days, except maybe the additionally exposed lie that one of his characters didnt hang herself, instead she cut her wrists. is it possible that that one lie pushed oprah over the unfortunately proverbial edge? doubt it. she's worse than frey. because frey had a true past and a concocted past. oprah has only a concocted past. his actions were done in those moments and then he changed them later. oprah, on the other hand, changes her actions within the moment in order to satisfy her greedlust and need for attention. at least frey has a real past, within which he is a real person. oprah has no such thing. her entire career was manufactured, her every effort is fraudulent in its attempt to appear real and personal.

i hope she chokes on the nuts and bolts of her manufactured life.

[Lightning Rod]

Just before I wrote the above comment, I was watching Oprah and doreen said to me: "This is a non-story. Why are they spending so much time on it?"

I said, "au contrare, mon ami, it's the most important story that there is for a writer. It raises the question, 'Do facts matter?'" That seems to be a salient issue. Is it OK to bend the facts in order to fit them to your own agenda? The Frey-Oprah affair is an uncanny parallel to the deceptions of the Bush administration with regard to the war and domestic spying.

Oh yes, firsty, it has definitely occurred to me that the whole hoopla could just be another level of marketing.

[firsty]

the bad thing about frey is that, apparently, the prose is a piece of shit. i read a review yesterday, i'll try to find the link, which demonstrates that the narrative is a series of sentences like this:

"i took the box down from the shelf and poured the cereal and covered it with milk and then sat down in the chair and ate it."

with lots of frat-boy weeping, cliche characters (the tough but kindly mob boss, the big black guy, etc).

thru my skeptic eye i see this whole thing giving license to bad writers to pass invented stories off as invented fact as a marketing ploy instead of as a plot device. it was cool postmodernism when kundera declared that his characters were invented in the middle of a novel. it's bad postmodernism to imitate bad prose and the frightened pretense of a mama's boy who did some rehab after a few bad years of stealing out of his mother's purse.

[Axanderdeath]

I just watched the Oprah show. James Frey was in the hot seat.

I've always loved Oprah. Who can help it? She has the face of a universal mother and she has more credibility than Walter Cronkite. And she has major audience. If Oprah says that she read the table of contents of any given book, the next morning it's on the NYT best seller list. She has immense credibility. I was glad to see her do the right thing today on her show and admit that she helped sell a lie to the American public.

I wrote a column last week about this subject.

http://www.studioeight.tv/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=6094

I was proud of Oprah for admitting her mistake and I admired her for calmly asking the author why he told bald-faced lies in his book. If it would have been me I would have bitch-slapped the weasely little punk all over the stage.

The only thing a writer or a journalist or a broadcaster has is his credibility. Oprah has built an amazing amount of credibility, perhaps more than any other public figure in history. When Oprah speaks, people listen closer than they do to E.F. Hutton.

I'm amazed that the greasy little wimp/wannabe gangsta had the nerve to come on the Oprah show again and stutter and stammer over his lies. I guess he thought it would sell more books. But Oprah had to protect the only asset that she has, the one that made her five billion bucks, her credibility. Frey threatened that with his false tale that Oprah helped to sell.

There are two reasons why this story touches me. One is because I happen to think that the truth makes a difference, and the other is that I am a real version of the person that James Frey claimed to be. I've got false teeth older than he is. I have spent more than twenty years of my life as a narcotics addict. I really went to prison for four years and three months. Smoking Gun can check the records on any of that. So, it's a bit personally insulting to watch a poseur like Frey make a million bucks selling a book that was a bunch of lies when I lived the real story.

I saw through the guys lies the instant that I read excerpts of the book describing Hazelden as if it were Abu Grahb. I had friends who were in Hazelden. They were friends whose parents had substantial money. It was not cheap. In fact, it is much more like The Betty Ford Center than it is like GitBay. It's much like a four star hotel with counseling sessions included.

So, listening to a weekend warrior like Frey tell his picaresque tales of woe and degradation is slightly lost on me. I know too much to be taken in by it. I also know that this is not the first time nor will it be the last time that big publishing or the press or other media sells us a bunch of lies dressed up like the truth.

But I was proud of Oprah for standing up and calling a liar a liar. Now if she could only get George W. Bush in the hot seat.

I can not believe that that shit!!!!! that SHIT SHIT SHIT! would find it's stupid way on to this site WHO FUCKING CARES!!!!!!!!!!!! fuck the guy is a writer and who gives a shit if he lied a bit---LR I am shocked you would write about this--then agian I do not really ever read your stuff so I have no idea what you write about--Oprah often? Good....

geoff

[Marksman45]

Firsty - I believe in a person's right to change their mind and even contradict themselves.
Without additional facts being revealed, my opinion on something can do a 180 in a day just from personal reflection and meditation.

It's very easy (and probably very common) for a person to declare something "no big deal," then find themselves thinking about it, and come to the conclusion that they were wrong.

[firsty]

it would be easier to attach real people-like behavior to oprah if she wasnt such a fucking twit and greedhead.

[Doreen Peri]

It's all marketing.

For Frey and for Oprah and for the publishing company.

More people will buy the book than would have before because they will want to find out what all the hooplah is about. He'll get at least one more best seller out of it because he'll have to write one which focuses on coming clean, having the balls to admit that he lied, etc., and how liberating that is for an ex-addict... how the incident helped him with his so-called recovery.

More people will tune into Oprah because the stupid story is being advertised on national newscasts as an actual news story and by taking the stance that she's admitting she's wrong, she's the most honorable person in the "news" and this will warm the hearts of Americans who are being fed shit for dinner every day.

The publisher will also win the big bucks because they can now turn around and sell a brand new genre of so-called literature written by any average Joe. They'll name it "Fictionalized Memoir" or something like that. They'll be flooded with manuscripts.

....

"This morning I took the cereal off the shelf, poured it into a bowl, got the milk out of the fridge and poured the milk on top of it. I didn't use any sugar because I'm on a diet. While eating breakfast, I remembered all of the things I thought I did twenty years ago when I was dating a man who was working for the Mafia. I'm lucky to be alive. Here's my story...."

See? I can do it, too!

Next stop? Doreen Peri on Oprah!

[Dave The Dov]

Hmmmm image what it would be like if William S. Burroughs showed up on Oprah. That would be something else for her.
_________________
economic recession definition

[surfermike]

How can you tell when an alcoholic/drug addict is lying?

His lips are moving.

I worked at a treatment center for ten years
which was run on the same agenda as Hazeldon.
I've heard it all. I got half way through frey's book,
and I must say it became comical. A root canal with
no freezing? I doubt if it's even legal. Never mind all
the other bullshit.

And Oprah was just doing damage control, as advised
by the legal team of hers.

Perhaps I'm full of shit too, as I'm a dope fiend in recovery.
_________________
Honda NX250

[abcrystcats]

My comments, worth less than two cents:

I don't watch Oprah, but I don't watch anything.

I sense truth with Oprah, but she bores me.

If Oprah is the only person in America who cares about truth any more, and she's in the public eye, then Oprah may be the only thing holding us above water.

I think she's got a moral sense. I don't know, but she is one of a very few current celebrities who haven't been pushed into the fire.

We'll see.

[e_dog]

Oprah is a self-righteous moralist.
Her high-horse is the real reason she had to suceed in the weightloss program, to prevent its back from sagging.

Mr. Frey was a pathetic coward for appearing as a penitent begging for contrition from the priestess and her supreme court of housewife opinion. He should have just said: Fuck it; call it a 'novel.'

If Oprah's book club readers are so gullible that they think everything in print is the Truth simply b/c it's endorsed by a celebrity, then they deserve to be fed lies. This fake media scandal is a gift to the literary public, to make it face the reality of appearances.

[Axanderdeath]

Oprah is a self-righteous moralist.
Her high-horse is the real reason she had to suceed in the weightloss program, to prevent its back from sagging.

Mr. Frey was a pathetic coward for appearing as a penitent begging for contrition from the priestess and her supreme court of housewife opinion. He should have just said: Fuck it; call it a 'novel.'

If Oprah's book club readers are so gullible that they think everything in print is the Truth simply b/c it's endorsed by a celebrity, then they deserve to be fed lies. This fake media scandal is a gift to the literary public, to make it face the reality of appearances.

look this will sound bad but this is why it pisses me off--

it pisses me off that a bunch of people who do not read books and if they do read bad idiotic books are talking about books like they know about books--the difference between a novel and an auto biograghy and a memoir who cares--have they read the book? I have not--I should not say anything, but fuck!!! When billy bush from e tonight talks about a book>? or that plastic barbie doll that they have taught how to read a teliprompter talk about books I want to barf!!! Fuck it!!!!!!!!!