Advice from Oprah Winfrey

Oprah

I fell prey to a bit of clickbait last night, heeding me to take advice from former talk show magnate, Oprah Winfrey.

"It's much easier for me to make major life, multi-million dollar decisions, than it is to decide on a carpet for my front porch. That's the truth." - Oprah Winfrey

It’s shit like this what messed-up that Microsoft bot. Seriously, who says stuff like that - and who the hell carpets a porch!? That poor, doddering, old media maven is so oblivious to her own detachment from the general rabble that she doesn't realize what she’s saying. Nor do I.

I could read it as I did above: Oprah Winfrey does not know how porches work. "It's much easier for me to make major life, multi-million dollar decisions, than it is to decide on a suitable front door for my tent. That's the truth." Have you ever seen a carpeted porch? If so. did it feel like a porch, or more like another room - with, you know, real big windows? She's missing the point of porches; she knows not the purpose of porches.

But I could also read it thusly: "It's much easier for me to make major life, multi-million dollar decisions, than it is to decide on the proper flight attire for my dogs. That's the truth." It's as clueless a statement of privilege as any I’ve heard.

Do not take advice from any of these people! Well-meaning they may be, but they are so completely out of step with the rest of society that they cannot wrap their heads around how we live. I'm sure some of the things they do help some people, but I'd wager those people are similarly privileged and disconnected from the Commoner. Most of these peoples' "advice" is nothing more than hot air to the proletariat, anyway - meaningless, feel-good drivel to push some product most people can't afford and don't need.

They're salesmen, not prophets, and most of their "advice" is carefully crafted - even scripted - sometimes by others (whole teams of others, in some cases). They're meant to entice you into buying something, or to promote themselves or some other product. These "life coaches," as it were, are inextricably intertwined with the companies and products they represent - they are "the corporation," or whatever institute they represent. This is particularly true in Oprah's case - shit, she's the Oprah Winfrey of Tony Robbins!

I'm not saying they don't deserve their success, nor that all of them are carpetbaggers. I ain't hatin'. I'm saying they have no idea how the general populace lives, so their advice and platitudes do not apply to us. They seem to me like the televangelists of our day.


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