But Oprah has a track record of not learning from her errors and repeatedly making errors across a wide range of issues. She is in a long-term high-profile public position from which people take her word as Bible. Thereby the analogy to various academics ends.
I'm sure she is a very nice lady but she needs to take herself off the public state. She has been duped more than once. She was involved in the (in)famous mad cow disease lawsuit in Texas (where she putatively met Dr. Phil). She has promoted such insane programs as The Secret-but apparently hasn't yet mastered the art of positively thinking her way to permanent thinness. She has promoted herself in a quasi-therapist role on very many episodes of her show in which she takes on quite the little humanistic persona. Need I go on? And let me state that most consistently when I ask students to tell me where they learned some bit of information about psychology (i.e., listening to Mozart increases our intelligence, vaccinations can cause autism, sugar causes hyperactivity in children, etc. etc.) the most frequently cited source is Oprah! I rest my case. Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 619-260-4006 [email protected] ---- Original message ---- >Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2008 00:12:23 +0000 (UTC) >From: [email protected] >Subject: Re: [tips] Oprah duped by holocaust survivor >To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]> > > Let us keep in mind that even those trained in the > sciences and who are assumed to have some of best > critical thinking skills (i.e., editors and > reviewers of our best scientific journals) are > similarly duped on occasion by those who engage in > the various forms of misconduct (i.e., data > falsification, fabrication, and plagiarism). > > > > Miguel > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Dr. Bob Wildblood" <[email protected]> > To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" > <[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2008 6:26:21 PM GMT > -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: Re: [tips] Oprah duped by holocaust > survivor > > In response to Anette Taylor's comment about Oprah: > > "Oprah is not exactly the queen of critical > thinkers. I tell my students this repeatedly and > often. What is MOST scary is the influence she has > in this country." > > my favorite cross-cultural dude, Michael S. replied > > "Be nice!" > > I think that Annette was very kind and nice. Oprah > had been badly burned not too long ago, and she > failed to perform due diligence in a very similar > situation. The problem is that many people believe > that what Oprah says is true and real, and the > evidence suggests otherwise. I'm just sayin'. > > Bob > > > > Bob Wildblood, PhD, HSPP > Lecturer in Psychology > Indiana University Kokomo > Kokomo, IN 46904-9003 > [email protected], [email protected] > > We have an obligation and a responsibility to be > investing in our students and our schools. We must > make sure that people who have the grades, the > desire and the will, but not the money, can still > get the best education possible. - Barack > Obama > > We have in fact, two kinds of morality, side by > side: one which we preach, but do not practice, and > another which we practice, but seldom preach. > -Bertrand Russell, philosopher, mathematician, > author, Nobel laureate (1872-1970) > > The race of men, while sheep in credulity, are > wolves for conformity. -Carl Van Doren, professor, > writer, and critic (1885-1950) > > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly ([email protected]) > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly ([email protected]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
