Comments on: Liars dupe Oprah, New York City publishers, again…

By: Caleb Powers

Caleb Powers — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 19:52:40 +0000

Cheri, after we exchanged ideas yesterday, I looked up the books that Oprah has tried to promote, through her book club. The list included three works by Faulkner, and works by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Cormac McCarthy, Carson McCullers, Alan Paton, John Steinbeck, Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou and Kentuckian Barbara Kingsolver. I don’t pretend to know Oprah’s views on religion or much of anything else, but if anyone can get the modern public to read even one line of Faulkner or Steinbeck or McCarthy (one wonders why Hemingway is left out; perhaps a bit of political correctness creeping in), I’m in favor of it. As far as the Left Behind series, whatever yourself. I’ll take the Faulkner and Steinbeck and the Hemingway and leave the Left Behind Series behind. If, after all the wonderful religious books that have been written, it takes pulp fiction to bring people to Jesus, I’m not sure they’re really getting the point. But, as you say, whatever.

Happy New Year everyone!

By: José

José — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 18:43:20 +0000

If you want to castigate Oprah for being a fabulously rich entertainer with an eye for self-promotion, can we include a few others as well? Rush Limbaugh comes to mind. (Hey, he’s overweight too!) When we compare the two it’s clear that Ms. Winfrey comes off much better. Caleb is right– Oprah does get people to read and that truly is an achievement these days. And while everyone makes mistakes we ought to pay attention to what happens after. When James Frey’s memoir was revealed to be a fake Oprah famously denounced him on air and to his face. Perhaps she will do likewise with Rosenblat. As for Limbaugh, perhaps we can just observe that truth is hardly something of value in his reports. I suppose that he does say some true things from time to time, but that is merely incidental and has no bearing to the ideology or meanness disguised as entertainment.

As for for the Left Behind series, I know many people who read those books. Without exception they were already conservative Christians, and the books merely reinforced their beliefs. I doubt very much that many non-Christians were converted, which is a comforting thought when you consider what kind of faith they would adopt by reading the gospel according to LaHaye and Jenkins.

By: Martin

Martin — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 05:20:20 +0000

This hoax is a tragedy. The Rosenblats have hurt Jews all over and given support to those who deny the holocaust. I don’t understand why Atlantic Pictures is still proceeding to make a film based on a lie. I also don’t understand how Oprah could have publicized this story, especially after James Frey and given that many bloggers like Deborah Lipstadt said in 2007 that the Rosenblat’s story couldn’t be true.
There are so many other worthwhile projects based on genuine love stories from the Holocaust. My favorite is the one about Dina Gottliebova Babbitt – the beautiful young art student who painted Snow White and the Seven Dwarves on the children’s barracks at Auschwitz. This painting became the reason Dina and her Mother survived Auschwitz. After the end of the war, Dina applied for an art job in Paris. Unbeknownst to Dina, her interviewer was the lead animator on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. They fell in love and got married. Now that’s a romantic love story! I also admire Dina for her tremendous courage to paint the mural in the first place. Painting the mural for the children caused her to be taken to Dr. Mengele, the Angel of Death. She thought she was going to be gassed, but bravely she stood up to Mengele and he made her his portrait painter, saving herself and her mother from the gas chamber.

Also, Dina’s story has been verified as true. Some of the paintings she did for Mengele in Auschwitz survived the war and are at the Auschwitz Birkenau Museum. The story of her painting the mural of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on the children’s barrack has been corroborated by many other Auschwitz prisoners, and of course her love and marriage to the animator of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs the Disney movie after the war in Paris is also documented.

Why wasn’t the Rosenblatt’s story checked out before it was published and picked up to have the movie made?? I would like to see true and wonderful stories like Dina’s be publicized, not these hoax tales that destroy credibility and trust.

By: Cheri

Cheri — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 22:22:53 +0000

Caleb,

I’m glad you haven’t watched Oprah, neither have I. I know what she says because I read the newspapers and see it online and see her in interviews. As far as attacking her for her size, perhaps she just gains weight so she can attach her name to ANOTHER diet program and make even more mega-millions. Yes, I have yo-yo dieted, but about 20 years ago, I took off over 130 pounds through diet and exercise and I have kept it off. So I don’t want to hear it can’t be done, nor do I want to hear about a “gland” problem.

I don’t think she has a “scheme to destroy American religious values,” but I do believe she thinks she is god, her motive is to make more and more money. And as for the Left Behind series – I thought those books were pretty good. At least they were written by Christians, and helped convert many non-believers.

Whatever! I’m not going to debate religion or entertainers with you.

By: Caleb Powers

Caleb Powers — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 21:15:31 +0000

Well, Cheri, given that I have not watched an episode of Oprah for years, if ever, the likelihood of my having been brainwashed by her is slight. As far as her mantra, having never heard it, I have to take your word for it, but I doubt that it has corrupted the masses. And when you attack Oprah for her size, you perhaps say more about yourself than her.

Perplexed, I agree. I doubt that Oprah has some grand scheme to destroy American religious values; I suspect that her motive is more along the lines of getting bigger ratings and selling books. One thing about it, Oprah is the only celebrity I know of who has actually gotten the masses, or at least a portion of them, to read a book other than the Left Behind series. So, I doubt that her influence is all bad.

By: perplexed

perplexed — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 20:40:49 +0000

You guys forget, this isn’t about religion, its about mass marketing, targeting a group of individuals with similar philosophies and economic resources with the only objective being, a mega profit.

By: Cheri

Cheri — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 19:49:52 +0000

Caleb,

Most of the books she has hawked in the past were fiction. But most of the books she has hawked that were supposedly non-fiction have turned out to be a fraud, ergo, fiction.

She has said on the air many, many times she believes that she is a spiritual guide and “everyone is their own god.” PULEEZE!!!

Looks like you have been brainwashed by her mantra, too! (OPRAH, OPRAH, OPRAH)

Yeah, she’s a BIG target all right!!

By: Caleb Powers

Caleb Powers — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 19:12:10 +0000

I don’t see Oprah as the problem here, merely the most popular book publicist in America. Before this book, she flacked for hundreds of other books that weren’t lies. And, as far as coming up with her own religion, I don’t see where she sells her own ideas any more than Martha Stewart, Rachel Ray, or the host of other talk show hosts sell theirs. She is a big target because she is so popular.

By: Cheri

Cheri — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:33:18 +0000

If people would stop treating Oprah as the be all end all, this wouldn’t happen so much. Oprah is a god in her own mind and has somehow brainwashed people the world over. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear in the very near future that she is starting her own religion and we’ll have another Jim Jones and/or Tony Alamo on our hands.

By: Asinus Gravis

Asinus Gravis — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:03:14 +0000

It strikes me that the Religious Right has been playing this game for decades now. People such as Falwell, Robertson, Dobson, Reed, Wildmon, Bauer, Kennedy, Hagee, LaHaye, Perkins, North, Shackleford, Scarborough, Colson, Farris, Parsley, Land, Barton, and Mohler (among others) are professional myth-fabricators for Jesus, who invent stuff of all sorts because their god is so puny they think he needs all the help they can give him.

They attribute to him: authorship of a book (or collection of books), numerous wars, conquests, widespread destruction of widely varying sorts, demands that people believe a wide variety of nonsensical and/or contradictory ideas, pseudo-scientific claims about human nature, opposition to the political views of their enemies, and insistence on our supporting the political views and politicians of the party they are trying to take over.

By: Caleb Powers

Caleb Powers — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:30:48 +0000

Even the Vatican is relenting in its requirements, though. They have abolished the old position of “devil’s advocate,” whose job was to attempt to refute any miraculous stories flying around about a purported saint. As anyone who has ever tried a case against a party that put up no defense will tell you, it’s a whole lot easier to tell your story when you don’t have someone out there sniping at it and bringing in contrary evidence. So, naturally, during the reign of JPII, the number of people canonized as saints abounded, and no doubt they will include old JPII himself as soon as they conveniently can.

By: José

José — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 17:37:37 +0000

“This embrace of skepticism isn’t an attack on faith, by the way. Far from it.”

Amen. But I’ll wager that you catch Holy Hell from folks who cling to these comfortable stories, people for whom “believing is seeing”.

The conservative branch of The United Methodist Church commonly accuses our seminaries of atheism and anti-religious behavior because students are required to examine theology and doctrines quite seriously. The critics place much more value on unquestioning faith than they do on rigorous understanding and sound reasoning.