Love her or hate her, there is no one like Oprah...

[Phentex]

so I can see why THIS WAS A BIG FRICKIN DEAL. Even if we limit it to simply television, no one has been able to do what she has done.

Not everyone likes her. Fine, who cares? I just don't understand the need to vocalize a hatred of her during a time that really IS an accomplishment.

[dr.strangelove]

1. Because people are allowed to hate her

I agree with you that her show and career are huge achievements. She blew through concrete ceilings in place for black women and made the entertainment industry a better place for everyone. I happen to like her humor and her style, but I certainly found some of her choices odd. But as for people vocalizing hatred, the same freedom she enjoyed which allowed her to discuss some high profile issues in her career, allows others to voice hatred. Of course the most effective time to voice a critique of her career is when people are already evaluating her career. Her choice to have a very public retirement is what put evaluations of her career in the news. Its only fair that those evaluations can be both positive and negative. Anyway, I give her a world of respect for what she did with a little show and I think she has shown herself to be a fairly generous person. she is far from perfect, but who is.