THE BIZOP NEWS

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Weston Kosova and Pat Wingert wrote an interesting piece in Newsweek about Oprah Winfrey and the frauds that appear on her show.  Winfrey's inability to detect nonsense or bullshit is a bit of a mystery.

"Some of what Oprah promotes isn't good, and a lot of the advice her guests dispense on the show is just bad.

The Suzanne Somers episode wasn't an oddball occurrence. This kind of thing happens again and again on Oprah.

Some of the many experts who cross her stage offer interesting and useful information (props to you, Dr. Oz).

Others gush nonsense. Oprah, who holds up her guests as prophets, can't seem to tell the difference.

She has the power to summon the most learned authorities on any subject; who would refuse her?

Instead, all too often Oprah winds up putting herself and her trusting audience in the hands of celebrity authors and pop-science artists pitching wonder cures and miracle treatments that are questionable or flat-out wrong, and sometimes dangerous."

Winfrey has tried to distance herself from these frauds by stating:

"I trust the viewers, and I know that they are smart and discerning enough to seek out medical opinions to determine what may be best for them."

Orac, writing as his Respectful Insolence blog, is even harsher on Winfrey, writing:

"The bottom line is that, whatever good Oprah may have done with her money, when it comes to medicine and science, on balance she does far more ill than good.

Her intentions may be the best in the world, but that is only why she is the living embodiment of the the belief that feelings trump science, and as such she has no mental filter of critical thinking to keep out pseudoscience and quackery."

How can we understand the promotion of irrational quackery by a person who certainly has the resources, experience to be able to explode these myths?

Here is one suggestion, very critical of Winrey's mental abilities now that she is a supersized star:

"It's clear that there's not a single person in her life with any balancing influence on her, who has the ability to contradict her or argue with her.

It's her way or the highway, and I'm sure her highly-paid assistants, minions, and yes-women are quite happy with that.

As Roy Blount said, you can be so rich that no one will tell you when you're being silly.

Her love of woo, however, suggests that she's vulnerable to snake-oil salesmen.

Why? Because she's got issues that not even millions of dollars can fix? Because she thinks she's smart enough not to get suckered?

Because all she cares about is having her name and face attached to the latest "craze", no matter how stupid it is?

Who knows."

So, what do you think: Is Winfrey so rich, nobody can tell her that she is silly?