Today, MSN's Lifestyle newsletter is enticing me to "Eat like Oprah." I don't mind Oprah and actually enjoy her show when I see it a couple of times a year. I've even read many of her book club recommendations and loved a couple of them. But there is no way I want to eat like she does!
Oprah has a well-documented weight problem and claims to have a food addiction. I realize she has a cultural influence so vast that she may have even swayed voters this election season. I also realize that the headline writers were referring to recipes from her magazine, not her actual diet. But when I read "Eat like Oprah" I think "Look like Oprah." Sorry to be rude, but who wants that?
The other disconnect I've experienced this week is regarding media descriptions of Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. Numerous publications, from the New York Times to the Economist have described him as "handsome." My television news experience taught me that people tend to look more attractive in person than they do on television. I've scoured the web for a photo of Blagojevich that I consider even remotely handsome and this is the best one I found:
Is this a handsome man? I'm really, truly not someone who sits around criticizing how people look. Is it that Blago has so little going for him (his approval rating is 13% - that's even lower than Bush's!) that in order to create the "fallen from grace" image they have to label him as "young and handsome"? I don't think 52 is necessarily young, either, which further supports my theory that the media are simply crafting a positive persona where none exists.
I suppose this all sounds snarky and superficial. It is not that I want to be critical of these people (although Blago deserves it for his actions), I just find it so interesting that my perceptions are the polar opposite of what I am reading!
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2 comments:
you just kill me!!!
That Illinois governor is a snake - I hope they are able to make the charges stick and get rid of him!!
See you tomorrow...
Mom
I've been noticing the OPRAH things lately, too. I tuned in to her show a few weeks ago to see if I missed something and she had suddenly lost a bunch of weight...Nope. Crazy that people still advertise like this. It's like they haven't seen Oprah since 1980-something when she lost all that weight. Maybe they're testing the theory that everything she touches turns to gold?!
Blago is gross-looking! I don't see one attractive thing about him!
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