Bill Burr raised a valid point on his podcast this week, but about Oprah, not Lance.
Armstrong was in a situation where everybody at the top of their game in cycling was doing something many consider to be wrong. Rather than come in last, he chose to go ahead and join the league of ordinary people. Back in the start of her career, daytime talk shows only thrived by exploiting the stupidest and freakiest of humanity, shamelessly pandering to the lowest common denominator. Oprah rose to fame by being among the most exploitative of them all. Only after she'd achieved fame and success did she suddenly realize it was wrong to take advantage of the weak, at which point she made a public declaration that she would never again stoop so low. Then over the years as her ratings wavered, she adjusted her ethics accordingly, bringing on amoral clods like Phil McGraw to do the exploiting for her or moronic jackasses like Suze Orman to degrade and insult others. It is, of course, two different things. Armstrong broke "the rules," which is supposedly important in spite of the fact the rules mattered to none of the top competitors. But what Oprah did was act unethically and irresponsibly, exploiting people and doing whatever it took to be number one in her profession. Ultimately, Armstrong hurt himself and a sport. Ultimately, Oprah hurt other people. Just putting things into perspective. -- Kevin M. (RPCV) -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
