Oprahcide
or Death By Oprah. Is it possible?
by Michael Applebaum, MD, JD, FCLM
Einstein is credited with saying, “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope
for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.”
I do not claim to be an Einstein. Still, I question things.
I admit to sometimes wondering why people stick with failing approaches.
Einstein is credited with having offered this definition of insanity, “Doing
the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
I occasionally watch Oprah. Sometimes clients and clients-to-be bring me
tapes of her shows re: weight loss and fitness. Sometimes when requested by
someone, I see the late night rerun of a same day show when there is a fitness
or weight loss segment they want me to check out.
I see Oprah. She is big. She is fat. She is an absolute failure at weight loss
and likely fitness, too. She has a long history of fitness and weight control
failures.
Yet she provides advice on both and determines who will provide advice on these
matters to millions of viewers of her TV shows, listeners of her radio programs
and readers of her magazine.
“Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is
shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.” Einstein is credited with having
said this, too.
These days she has anointed a new guru. Two actually. Well, really one and
one-half.
Oz (as Mr. Roarke) is one and Roizen (as Tatoo) is the half.
These guys are supposed to be MDs. I say supposed since Oprah has problems
vetting her guests, e.g., James Frey.
Further, she may have a somewhat less than savory relationship with the truth.
You will have a chance to decide this later in the rant.
For now, I will assume they are MDs.
Roarke and Tatoo, did this show on dieting. They seem to be of the opinion that
such things as knowing one’s weight, waist size, cholesterol and blood
pressure are keys to losing weight.
I think they are wrong (certainly about the last three, possibly about the
first). That is my opinion.
I think that knowing that stuff is anything but key to weight loss. I think they
are, in many respects, irrelevant to the matter.
Plus, their advice lacked consistency, coherence and integrity. Otherwise it
might have been useful.
I think these people should, and hopefully will, be relocated to the brimming
waste bin of Oprah’s diet advice givers.
Of course, it only takes one to Phil that trash can since the diet advice givers
Oprah tends to support are overweight.
While musing on this topic, I began to wander to another.
Why is it that Oprah persists/persisted in pushing gurus like her trainer (who
cannot train her) Bob Greene, fat defendant Phil McGraw and fabricators of a
Yale endorsement like Jorge Cruise and David Katz (my opinion and apparently
Yale’s, too), when none of their programs have worked for her?
Fact is, Oprah remains big and fat. Right?
She must be savvy enough to understand how to use a mirror. She must be smart
enough to realize that she is bigger than the average bear. She ought to know
her experts have failed her.
As a billionaire, she certainly has the resources to find a diet/fitness guru
who looks it and is honest.
She sets herself up as the judge of who makes it into our homes, eyes, ears and
minds with their advice and she claims that the gurus she displays to us are
experts. Yet, they have failed her.
To me, this seemed like a disconnect.
So why does she do it? Why does she promote failures to lead us to the same
weight loss/fitness success they and she have achieved?
Could there be a “hidden agenda” behind her support of these people? Could
there be a conflict of interests preventing her from jettisoning them?
You decide.
The following is from http://www.kalanienglish.com/news_mauinews_020427b.html,
the official website “of Hawai'i State Senator J. Kalani English”:
Oprah, trainer buy land in
Hana
They purchase ranch land, plan to build 3 houses near Hamoa Bay and at
Lehoula
The Maui News
April 27, 2002
By HARRY EAGAR
Staff Writer
HANA — Television host Oprah
Winfrey and her friend and trainer Bob Greene are buying seven shoreline lots
from Hana Ranch in the vicinity of Hamoa Bay and at Lehoula…
This is from http://chicago.about.com/b/a/100926.htm.
About, Inc. is “part of The New York Times Company”:
Bob Greene, Oprah's personal
trainer, is not as well known as Dr. Phil, but then Dr. Phil is not really an
"Oprah friend" as much as a business partner. Bob Greene, on the other
hand, seems to be an Oprah "business partner/employee/friend" all
rolled into one.
Like Dr. Phil, who managed to
morph his appearances in The Oprah Winfrey Show into an incredibly successful
show of his own, Bob Greene, too, has turned his friendship with Oprah into
fame.
Here's how:
Bob Greene's first exercise and
diet book, Make the Connection, listed Oprah as co-author (Oprah provided the
"inspirational thoughts"). It was a great move for both. Oprah became
an author and Bob Greene got the kind of book promotion he would never have
received anywhere else.
Like with her other friends, the
Oprah.com site has lots of pages on Bob Greene. There's diet and exercise advice
from Bob, and his other books, such as Bob Greene's Total Body Make Over are
prominently promoted there.
And that's not all. Like with
Gayle King, Bob Greene has been brought into the "Oprah Orbit." He
went from being "Oprah's personal trainer" to being "Oprah's
property manager," so in addition to his book revenue income, he is part of
the Oprah Empire.
Why is Bob Greene Oprah's
property manager? Well, for one thing, it was Bob Greene who first introduced
Oprah to Hawaii. Bob had been going to Hawaii for fifteen years and scouting
places where to buy land. When he finally found a place he liked, he convinced
Oprah to buy a home there…
Still not convinced Bob Greene
and Oprah are good friends? Even though Oprah has never confirmed this,
newspaper accounts say that Bob Greene and Oprah have bought some expensive
Hawaiian land together and have plans to develop it for commercial use. To me,
that cinches it. I really don't think Oprah would go into real estate deals with
someone she didn't trust and feel close to.
UPDATE:
On Sep 13, 2006, Harpo Radio, Inc. sent out a press release letting people know
that Bob Greene was joining Oprah Winfrey as an on-air host of XM Satellite
Radio's Oprah & Friends show, which was set to debut September 25, 2006, on
XM channel 156.
If the above is true, that would explain why she cannot
make these fitness failures go away. She is in bed with them financially and
personally.
They make the bucks. The public gets screwed.
I am unaware of her routinely informing her audiences of this before introducing
these folks and letting the audience then decide if there is a conflict of
interests.
This explains Bob and Phil. What about Katz and Cruise?
If you go read the CACAs I awarded Cruise, you will find that he and Katz
apparently fabricated the Yale endorsement they used to promote their 3-Hour
Diet scheme. At least that is my reasonable inference from the letter I received
from Yale and which appears in the CACA. (This is also the letter from Yale
referred to in the letter below.)
It is not as if Oprah was or should not have been aware of this.
Below is the text of a letter I sent to Oprah’s people:
Dear ,
You, Oprah, her viewers and fans
have been the victims of a significant misrepresentation, in my opinion.
Jorge Cruise, a guest on the
Oprah Winfrey Show, explicitly associates himself with Oprah both on-line and in
his written material.
He has been promoting his 3-Hour
Diet scheme as “Yale University endorsed.”
Please see the enclosed letter
from Yale.
Further, in my opinion, there are
other substantial and significant mistakes and misrepresentations on his
website. Details are available at:
http://www.drapplebaum.com/Fitness%20Rants/Index.Fitness%20Rants.htm
Just click on the “The CACA -
The Confused and Confounded Award” link.
Thank you.
Specifically, copies of this letter were sent on December
08, 2005 to:
Ms. Jill Adams
Senior Associate Producer
The Oprah Winfrey Show
Mr. Tim Bennett
President
Harpo, Inc.
Ms. Amy Coleman
Senior Producer
The Oprah Winfrey Show
Ms. Katy Murphy Davis
Senior Supervising Producer
The Oprah Winfrey Show
Mr. Ray Dotch
Senior Associate Producer
The Oprah Winfrey Show
Ms. Lisa Halliday
Director of Communications
The Oprah Winfrey Show
Mr. Jim Kelley
Senior Associate Producer
The Oprah Winfrey Show
Ms. Lesia Minor
Senior Associate Producer
The Oprah Winfrey Show
Ms. Ellen Rakieten
Executive Producer
The Oprah Winfrey Show
Ms. Dana Brooks Reinglass
Senior Associate Producer
The Oprah Winfrey Show
Ms. Jennifer Stamper
Senior Associate Producer
The Oprah Winfrey Show
Ms. Dana Newton Utigard
Senior Supervising Producer
The Oprah Winfrey Show
Ms. Andrea Wishom
Producer
The Oprah Winfrey Show
One week later, December 15, 2005, I followed-up with the following letter to Oprah:
Dear Ms. Winfrey,
I am frequently asked by clients
and potential clients to respond to fitness advice they have received from the
“experts” appearing on your show. “Experts”
the caliber of Jorge Cruise about whom I contacted your producers and Mr.
Bennett one week ago.
With rare exception, I am unable
to find any scientific basis to the advice.
Quite to the contrary, the advice, if followed, will only result in time
lost, money wasted and continuing unfitness.
Unfitness is a problem that
siphons resources from sick care, social services, civic projects, etc.
Without applying solutions based in fact, it will remain out of control.
You are uniquely situated to disseminate information about what a person
really needs to do to become fitter, i.e., improve the quality of life.
I am asking permission to teach
your staff a course in fitness. I
will instruct them in the handful of proven scientific principles upon which any
successful fitness program (i.e., weight management, aerobic conditioning and
anaerobic conditioning) must be built. Attendees
will learn how to analyze a fitness plan or product and determine if it can work
or if it is hokum
Armed with this knowledge, the
good that you and those around you can do will be potentiated.
Thank you.
CC: Mr. Tim Bennett and Ms. Ellen
Rakieten
All letters were sent on letterhead so contact info was
made available. No responsive contact was made. No letters were returned to me
so I assume they were received.
I get that it is not necessary for Oprah or her people get back in touch with
me.
What I do not get is despite their seemingly clear subterfuge and bad science
(see my CACAs), Oprah continues to use, support and promote these fellows. (For
example, see August 2006 O magazine.)
The question is “Why?”
I do not know for a fact.
Here is a possibility.
Oprah is unwilling to admit to another example of poor vetting. If you string
enough of these together, her image of credibility might suffer. (I am not
saying that she is credible, I am only saying that she has the appearance of
credibility and that is something she is unwilling to risk.)
Appearance is everything.
Oprah was all huffy when she took on James Frey. It is easy to admonish this guy
and, in the process, make herself look both the victim and the hero. It is also
a fairly harmless error for which she would likely not be liable. Maybe she
really did not know.
But in this instance, things are a bit different. She almost certainly knows or
should have known and yet she did nothing to separate herself from the apparent
perpetrators.
Why would she not come forward and renounce those associated with her and plead
mea culpa?
Is it possible that her downside in this matter could be greater? Suppose the
error is not so harmless. And she knew of it. Is she hiding it hoping no one
will notice?
I do not know.
You decide.
In Illinois, the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act (CFDBPA)
815 ILCS 505/1 et seq. and the Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act (UDTPA) 815
ILCS 510/1 et seq. allow for private causes of action by consumers.
Misrepresentations of a seller's or product's approval, affiliation or
endorsement or as to the nature of the seller or manufacturer are considered
deceptive practices for which one can be held liable.
It is likely that other states have similar statutes which may also cover
misrepresentations of endorsements.
Could Oprah be open to legal liability? If so, there may be a lot of people who
were induced into following this diet scheme and failed.
I firmly believe that Cruise’s and Katz’s diet program will fail most
people. I think that failed dieting from ill-conceived diet programs kills.
That is another possible reason why she has not distanced herself from Katz and
Cruise. She cannot let the cat out of the bag and thinks that if she does not
come forward, it will remain below the radar.
This is where the Oprahcide comes into play.
Is it possible that Oprah, through potential cover-up, neglect or what have you
is shortening people's lives?
I think so, since bad diet advice is a killer. And she is the biggest (no pun
intended) disseminator of diet advice of whom I am aware. She can harm millions
in a single shot. I think she does harm many.
Oprah as possibly shortening lives and knowingly covering up for the misdeeds of others
– probably not the appearance she wants to cultivate or even have suggested as
possibility.
Appearance is everything.
Yet, this is one possibility. There are others.
Maybe it is all innocent.
To my way of thinking and my opinion, there is no innocence to it. But that is
just me and that is just an opinion.
It is for you to decide for yourself if these relationships and behaviors,
especially about matters which these experts clearly state affect your health,
are savory.
And deadly.