Whatever Oprah

I have to post about this, as it just irritates me.

By now everyone has heard about Oprah calling out James Frey on the inaccuracies of his book that she recommended to readers in her book club. Now, Oprah is a phenominal person and has done incredible things and I have a great deal of respect and admiration for her and she has every right to feel embarassed, as she along with many other people were duped by the author in believing that his book was entirely the truth. But to come out with the righteous indignation that the editors, publishers and reviewers should have done a better job of checking things out on the book just irritates the hell out of me. Here's a quote from the show:

Nan Talese of Doubleday, the book's publisher, said she learned of the fabrications at the same time everyone else did -- when The Smoking Gun published its report.

"I was dismayed to know that," she said, adding that she never approached the author on whether Smoking Gun's report was true.

"As an editor, do you ask someone, 'Are you really as bad as you are?'" Talese said.

"Yes, yes, yes! Yes, you do," Winfrey said to loud applause.

So Oprah can blame everyone else for not doing her fact-checking for her. She was the one who read the book and then pimped it on her show. She knows what type of publicity her show can do for someone. She can say that she relies on the publishers to correctly do things, but nobody forced her to have a book club and tell people what she thinks are good books.

There is a quote from a different story that applies to Oprah that she should take to heart in this matter: "With great power, comes great responsibility." She needs to take more ownership of her own mistakes, rather than lashing out at others.

Last night on the news, I heard an anchorman say that she "took him behind the woodshed" on the show, like Oprah did some great heroic thing. She didn't. Frey did not write the book for her, he wrote it for himself, his own therapy. He didn't stand at her door everyday begging her to read it or plug it on her show. Again, it was Oprah's choice to do so.

She was not a hero for what she did. She was just an angry person who was lashing out at someone who embarrassed her. Nothing more.