News from WBAI Pacifica Radio

The following letter sent re: Joy of Resistance, July 6 show. To hear the show: Oprah Show

"I'm so glad you did the show about Oprah. It's so hard to find anyone who sympathizes with the idea that Winfrey is self-serving and only "helps those who helps themselves." When I had no cable TV I had only a few channels, and so I watched her show. I could only tolerate a few shows because I got thoroughly disgusted. I saw over and over again how she blamed women for whatever problems they were having, particularly preying on the most vulnerable. I hated that she was thought of as a hero who helped women, when in fact she only helped women who "conquered" their situations by eg, formal education, etc -- never by doing anything that would ever ever ever take away male privilege. And she celebrated male privilege.

When Meredith Baxter spoke in detail of her abuse by her former husband, David Birney, Winfrey pointed a finger at her at said, "But it was YOU all along...," focusing on the idea that Baxter had sought out this kind of abuse because she had grown up with a dysfunctional family. And she is much harder on people who aren't celebrities. She was absolutely brutal on a sobbing woman who was obviously traumatized that she had not initially believed her daughter who said she was being abused by her mother's live-in boyfriend. The woman did eventually remove herself and her daughter from the situation, and Winfrey had not one bit of sympathy for her, but shamed her, instead. It was horrible.

When Oprah had women from other countries on the show to discuss how much better things were for women in their countries, she was polite but ended the show by saying the U.S. is the best country in the world for women, while the camera panned the astonished faces of her guests.

The most painful thing was watching Oprah congratulate herself over the past couple of months for her 25 yrs, with all the celebrities congratulating her on... what? It seemed obvious to me that she was celebrating that she, as a black woman, was able to exploit people for her own gain, as well as a white person could... not that that's any small feat. Her self-congratulatory parade was offensive, as was her statement in her last show that she had learned so much from her audience, yet she showed not ONE clip where her guests had corrected her or even gently confronted her on her biases.

Regarding the book The Secret and that type of thinking, I highly recommend the book, Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America , by Barbara Ehrenreich. It's just what you were talking about on your show tonight."

- Barbara Nehmad, Blackwood, NJ

Response by Fran Luck, Executive Producer, Joy of Resistance, Multicultural Feminist Radio @ WBAI (1st and 3rd Wednesdays, 9-10 PM).

"The recent retirement of "Oprah," to near-universal acclaim for the show's 25 years, made us want to revisit our 2008 interview with Janice Peck, who wrote: "The Age of Oprah: Cultural Icon for the Neoliberal Era." Peck turns a seasoned political eye on the show's history, illustrating in detail how its constant pushing of "self-help" and "personal responsibility" solutions to all problems paralleled cutbacks in social services through the Reagan, Clinton, and later administrations, that were based on the same philosophy. She shows that far from being feminist (as claimed by some), "Oprah" consistently turned "women's" problems needing political solutions (Welfare, etc.) into "personal problems"--thus contributing to the de-politicization of feminism--as well as the anti-racist movement.

Thanks you so much, Barbara, for this letter pointing out these important examples of how Oprah's philosophy often led her to deal with actual women. I am so grateful that WBAI provides a platform for such "unpopular" views as we were able to present on this show."

"Tony Bates is so highly informed about the massacre of 9/11; so articulate ; so passionate! We need his continuing input on the broadcasts that speak about the inconsistencies of the Cheney / Bush theory of what took place on 9/11 ; the scientific impossibilities associated with the 3 tower destructions and the Pentagon and Shanksville Pa...."

- Doug, NY

"At 1:00 pm on Sunday, July 17, I heard Santa Claus called "a white honkey" and the host referred to the tape as a "gem." As a white listener of your station I was horrified and offended. I am a big fan of Hugh Hamilton and racist language does not belong on the public airwaves or a station that he is on! I will write to the FCC about this and encourage my friends to do so. I think an apology should be issued. I am a NYC teacher who tries to get my students to not use the n-word, or other racist terms. I would hope WBAI would join me in those efforts."

-Gregg F, Ronkonkoma, NY

"To Armand DeMille:

I found the topic of The Positive Mind really disturbing this afternoon, especially during the current economic climate, and will rethink donating to the station, if this is the kind of philosophy being embraced at WBAI.

Today's radio program, regarding the elderly, and the idea that they need to give back, caught me by surprise in a number of ways? I'm not going to enumerate all the problems I had with the philosophy you, and your guest were espousing, but I had a real reaction to the idea that we a need a new paradigm of volunteerism for the elderly.

The first and most prominent thought I had (geriatric depression aside) is the idea that, the elderly often barely have the physical strength to get up in the morning, because they spent most of that strength during their work lives/years. By that stage in many elderly lives, we have already been forced to give all that we can give.

If you personally have the strength to keep giving, then you should keep going, but to try to over influence, or convince people that this very vulnerable population, need to keep giving more of themselves is self indulgent and reckless.

People also don't need to be told what to do at every station of their lives. If you worked your whole life, rest at the end of of life is what is truly in order - It is not wrong minded.

Also, is this really the time to give conservative minds, in our already mixed up political culture, a rationale for this kind of thinking? I personally think it's a dangerous game to broadcast anything that even approximates a forced giving or a further delay of retirement or it's benefits from this sector of the population.

Furthermore, if you buy into all the false notions about entitlement programs that abound these days, there will never be enough money in social security/medicare or any other fund to help the elderly, etc.. If politicians weren't always using the money from the soc. sec fund, there would likely be a surplus behind the trend of baby boomers who contributed (their money) to that fund, to help future generations. It does not exist, because, it has been grossly mis-managed.

Please use care when discussing this topic. It took generations of Americans working night and day, all their lives to get to the little we have now, for the elderly."

- Dominick Reyo, NYC, NY

"I would like to re-iterate the letter to the editor re Gary Null and his assertions re his aids treatment. In fact, I opt for a holistic approach first and foremost, but I have come to need modern medicine to stay well. I have also studied and am trained in a number of non traditional healing modalities. But, I have stopped listening to Gary Null because he spreads negativity in his condescending obnoxious manner and I wish he would be taken off the air."

- Laura, NJ

"So, let me see if I have this right... You're taking the prime spot away from the American, National, Progressive news service, burying that service in a pre-dawn spot, and replacing it with a 2nd airing of a foreign specialty news service with their own axe to grind (and not a progressive one, to be sure, unless you think that Hillary Clinton is a proper judge of that). The foreign replacement, the only time I listened to it, never even mentioned this country once, let alone report on any of the domestic issues of vital concern to progressives here.

Incidentally, WBAI doesn't seem to have the technical chops to handle external programming. The program came on painfully loud, perhaps due to the fact that it is not even made for radio, but is a television program, referring often to images in video clips.

Are you so captured by the anti-Israel faction that you find it an acceptable trade-off to jettison the life's blood of WBAI, national news that progressives can use? (And no, I am not a supporter of Israel, just someone who has always turned to BAI to hear a non-corporate take on the news.) In any case, if you think you are going to get another dime out of me after betraying your mandate thus, you must be high.

- Neil Bleifeld, NYC

"I love the station. I learn so much IMPORTANT information and it has opened my eyes to many issues that have a great impact to our lives. Thank you!
Jeanette, Bethpage, NY

Please send your comments, complaints, or compliments related to any program subject matter aired this month to listenercommentary@wbai.org with "Listener Comment" in the subject line. Submissions should be limited to 400 words and please include your full name and location. We reserve the right to edit where deemed necessary.