Tearful Oprah begs forgiveness

[Herman Munster]

http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_2210848,00.html

Henley-on-Klip - TV talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey had tears in her eyes as she asked parents to forgive her for alleged abuse at her girls' school here.

"I've disappointed you. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry," Oprah told parents at an emergency meeting in a packed marquee tent on the school premises.

The TV talk-show queen has visited her school at Henley-on-Klip near Vereeniging at least twice in the past few weeks, after allegations that one of the matrons fondled a girl and that other pupils had been physically abused.

[Bitwit1234]

1. Intially she can't be blamed for what happened.

But once she has been made aware and does not correct the situation then she can be blamed. But something like this could happen anywhere. Not taking care of it would be the problem.

[Deja Q]

2. Aw man! What is it with two-faced "celebrities" and their crocodile tears lately?

Can't she go back to pissing on inner city students as being only concerned about having the latest ipods?

Which is strange, dear sweet Oprah hawked ipods with Bono only a few months earlier...

What a cow.

[physioex]

3. Screw that....

I actually agree with Oprah. Kids should focus more on education to try and become the future Doctors, Lawyers, and Engineers not try to be like Jay Z, 50 cents, or their favorite basketball player. Spending her money in Africa was a smart decision because the children do want to go to school and make something of themselves...

[Deja Q]

4. Who is the target of these electronic devices?

Oh dear, it's kids.

Like I said and maintain; two-faced.

She is right in our society should focus more on education...

...and away from the news reports of all those medical, legal, and engineering jobs going overseas because nobody wants to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for a career they won't begin to allow them to pay back the loans for. Much less anything else as not everybody can be a doctor, lawyer, or engineer.

And away from all those commercials for the electronic devices, some of which she's undoubtedly has influence if not a presence in.

[physioex]

8. Ridiculous....

Irrespective of outsourcing the desire or need for an education is no less diminished. I would rather more people get an education than not get an education. I am a strong believer that an individual has a better chance with an education than without. And you are right not everyone can be Doctors, Lawyers, or Engineers. But getting by on a high school education is impossible which is why we have technical schools for automotive technicians, nurses, bookkeeping, machinists, welders, etc....

[Deja Q]

12. Agreed...

But only as long as the free market dictates a need for such jobs.

[mondo joe]

9. Kids? I don't know where kid get money for iPods. I think they generally need

parents to agree to such things.

And there's nothing about an iPod that is inherently counter-education. One can have both.

I believe Oprah's point was that a lot of kids in the US want the iPod but don't really give a shit about the education.

[Deja Q]

10. Okay, that's a good assessment.

So why isn't Oprah doing more to counter the battle of indolence in America? Or would she rather give away/advertise more cars on her daily talk show?

Seems she wants to spit on inner city youth as much as white male politicians do. :crazy:

[mondo joe]

14. I don't think Oprah is responsible for bttling indolence in America. I think that the

beauty of private philanthropy is you can make a difference in the areas you feel most passionately about. For some that's education, for others it's animal shelters, for others it's promoting poetry and so on.

Oprah has very strongly encouraged philanthropy in the US. She has also promoted reading, and she has personally funded many programs here including education.

Her passion is kids in Africa so she's making a major investment there.

I don't see the problem.

[physioex]

13. Exactly...

I am not against Ipods. I used to have a Walkman which was all the rage back in the days but going to school and learning was a bigger priority with my parents. I was never consumed with Walkmans and a $300 pair of Air Jordans.

[mondo joe]

15. My 10 and 12 year olds have iPods. They also have straight A grades (they don't actually

use a A-F scale, but you get the point). They are exceptionally good students. If they weren't, they wouldn't have iPods.

Edit to add: And if I didn't GET an education, none of the three of us would have iPods.

[stillcool]

19. Is that why we...

here in the land of the free, spend more money imprisoning a human being than we do educating one? Although there are those who do get a better education in prison than they ever could have afforded had they been 'free'. I guess stupid Americans are just too lazy to learn...or is that only 'black' Americans? I suppose white Americans who are too lazy to learn want to be what?...President?

[pnwmom]

5. I'm sure they were genuine tears. She was abused herself.

The last thing she would want is to put other girls in a situation to be abused.

[Deja Q]

6. Then why do so some DUers say that those abused as children end up abusing?

Posts of which I invariably have to step into and cite my own personal case?

I do not doubt she would not deliberately put girls in jeopardy. But with her stature and clout, why would she do something and then forget about it until the allegations start popping up?

Plus, if she's going to peddle ipods and later whine about children for wanting ipods, I've got a problem with that.

[mondo joe]

16. Some abused kids grow up to abuse. It doesn't mean everyone does, or that Oprah did.

There's no conflict between promoting iPods and disliking the focus on iPods to the exclusion of education.

[pnwmom]

20. From what I understand, she has travelled there frequently.

She didn't "forget about" the school. She thought she had hired good people. Obviously, she made some mistakes.

Any DUer or anyone else who says that all children who "are abused as children end up abusing" is WRONG. People who were abused as children may be at greater risk of then becoming abusive themselves -- particularly if they don't recognize that what happened to them WAS abuse -- but they don't have to be trapped by the past. They don't have to become abusers simply because they were abused.

You clearly are someone who recognizes what abuse is, and so you're not going to blindly repeat the pattern. Good for you!

[mondo joe]

26. I think the worst thing Oprah is guilty of in this situation is a very very common

thing among very well intentioned people. Rather than relying on the people who have the expertise in the field and a track record of success, she needed to direct it herself.

It's a VERY common error that non profits see all the time.

[stillcool]

27. My 'personal' experience

..necessitated my understanding of why people do the things they do. My 'acting-out' was already evident when I was five years old, and got kicked out of kindergarten. I would never even consider having children. Your experience may have led you to a different understanding about how behavior is learned and taught, but that does not negate any other 'personal' experience or belief gleaned from that knowledge.

[qanda]

7. Is it really necessary to call her a cow?

[Deja Q]

11. No. But I've read far worse things from other people about other people for less, when not more.

I will apologize for my bovine accusation. That was going too far on my part.

[qanda]

18. You didn't have to apologize

But it was a very nice thing to do.

[pnwmom]

21. Thank you, HypnoToad.

I didn't say anything earlier, but I always cringe when I see a DUer refer to a woman that way. I appreciated your rethinking on that.

[sandnsea]

17. That made me mad too

She makes her millions convincing America they need all these piles of crap, then she calls kids lazy and spoiled because they want the crap she told them they had to have. She could build that school anywhere in the US and easily find just as many girls desiring to better themselves as she did in Africa. She just didn't try.

But I do believe she is devastated about the abuse and hope she gets it straightened out.

[pnwmom]

23. I think Oprah believes that there are fewer people willing to help

poor girls in Africa, while there are many willing to give scholarships and endow schools here in the U.S. And there are millions of potential philanthropists in the U.S. that could be doing more to help children here -- comparatively few in Africa. I don't begrudge her her efforts there.

[sandnsea]

34. I believe the words out of her mouth

speak for themself.

"In America, most kids want the latest gadgets while in South Africa, kids just want to learn and have uniforms to wear to school."

That's how she makes her money, getting kids to want the gadgets she's selling. I think it's the height of hypocrisy of her to say something so ignorant. Not to mention, if it hadn't been for her father, she'd have been one of those kids she was sneering down her nose at.

She can do whatever she wants, she just doesn't have to be a hypocrite about it.

[pnwmom]

38. I don't understand the reference you made to her father.

Is he in need of defending?

[riverdeep]

30. I guess that's why some people say,

when you reach for ideals, you always get some hypocrisy. So really, why try? She could have kept her money, and her mouth shut, like so many other celebrities do, and no one would say anything. You hear anyone complaining about Jennifer Anniston? Well, I'm glad she built the school, she didn't have to, but she did. And when a problem was discovered, she did the right thing. I don't see what the complaint is there.

As far as her hypocrisy on 'materialism is destroying us/ you've got a new car!' thing, well, that's more serious. I think part of it simply if you want to appeal to America, you have to display material acquisitiveness. I don't think she would have much of an audience if her only shows were on Darfur. In a way, her doublespeak represents the fundamental grapplings Americans do with their own conflict, just writ large. Very, very large.

[sandnsea]

31. I think it's great she built the school

She just could have done it without being hypocritical about US kids wanting the goods she peddles.

[AZBlue]

33. Crocodile tears? Since she was sexually abused as a child, I'm sure they were real.

This is her worst nightmare come true.

Do explain your "cow" label though. I'm dying to hear a reason for that.

[tabasco]

22. It is nice to hear Oprah accepting personal responsibility.

I wish more of our national leaders demonstrated that type of moral courage.

[EFerrari]

24. Has she apologized for shilling for the war yet?

[Sugar Smack]

25. Where was that from?

Could you post a link, please?

[EFerrari]

28. It was in Bill Moyer's special, "Buying the War".

She was holding a discussion in the run up, and basically humiliated a lady in the audience that stood up to question why we were going in.

[Sugar Smack]

32. I like Oprah, and I don't really think she was giving the woman a hard time

based on the transcript.

BILL MOYERS: LIBERAL HAWK KENNETH POLLAK.

KENNETH POLLAK: And what we know for a fact from a number of defectors who've come out of Iraq over the years is that Saddam Hussein is absolutely determined to acquire nuclear weapons and is building them as fast as he can.

BILL MOYERS: AND THE RIGHT HAND MAN TO AHMED CHALABI.

OPRAH: And so do the Iraqi people want the American people to liberate them?

QUANBAR: Absolutely. In 1991 the Iraqi people were....

WOMAN: I hope it doesn't offend you...

BILL MOYERS: WHEN ONE GUEST DARED TO EXPRESS DOUBT OPRAH WOULD HAVE NONE OF IT

WOMAN: I just don't know what to believe with the media and..

OPRAH: Oh, we're not trying to propaganda-- show you propaganda. ..We're just showing you what is.

WOMAN: I understand that, I understand that.

OPRAH: OK, but Ok. You have a right to your opinion.

:)

[EFerrari]

35. I'm taking a cheap shot at her and nearly pm'd you to say that.

If you watch the video, it's clear that she makes the lady stfu. That's why Moyers used the clip.

I was shocked myself because I've always liked her, too. A lot of people got taken in besides Oprah. Like, nearly everyone on the air that was allowed to stay on the air. :shrug:

[Sugar Smack]

36. Damn. It's my bedtime. I wish I could stay up & talk with you

but I have this horrible retail job awaiting me tomorrow.

You have a good sleep, m'dear. :hi:

[EFerrari]

37. You, too!

:hi:

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

40. She hasn't apologized yet for Dr Phil either

Talk about abusive. That guy is evil.

[unkachuck]

29. aren't billionaires more trusthworthy....

....than cardinals?

[pnwmom]

39. There was an interesting article about the school and girls' education

in the Christian Science Monitor. I imagine Oprah was aware of this kind of research when she decided to found her school.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0105/p01s03-woaf.html

Oprah's academy: Why educating girls pays off more
By Stephanie Hanes | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

SNIP

Ms. Winfrey's school, a $40 million project that opened Tuesday, is one of the most recent and high-profile projects in a growing worldwide campaign to improve girls' education. Such female-focused aid yields perhaps the highest dividends for developing nations, say experts, though they are quick to point out that boys face challenges as well.

"I think it's very important for people to recognize that the lack of education for both boys and girls is a crisis in Africa," says Gene Sperling, director of the Center for Universal Education at the Council on Foreign Relations. "But the benefits of girls' education, in terms of improving health, women's empowerment, and family well-being, probably does make girls' education the highest-returning social investment in the world."

The World Bank has found that when a country improves education for girls, its overall per capita income increases and its fertility rate drops. Other studies show that improved female education is linked to higher crop yields, lower HIV infection rates, and reduced infant mortality. UNICEF's annual "State of the World's Children Report" calls gender equity - particularly in education - a "double dividend" for developing countries.

"With education, the girl child will grow up and be a better mother - she will be better able to understand the importance of her own children being educated, and will be better able to provide for her children," says Sarah Crowe, a spokesperson for UNICEF in Johannesburg. "Men and boys are often out of the home," she notes, so that fathers are less able to teach their children what they have learned.

SNIP