How low can Oprah Winfrey go? Promoting faith healer John of God to the masses

[HuckleB]

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=8349

"...

For those of you who are not familiar with John of God, he is one of the most famous faith healers in the world. Born João Teixeira de Faria, John of God claims that he channels more than thirty doctor entities to heal the sick using the power of God. (Actually, I get a bit confused here; John claims to channel these doctors but then says that he doesn’t heal and that “only God heals.”) Here is how John of God’s website used to describe him, citing an account written in 1995 by Robert Pellegrino-Estrich and reprinted all over the web:

...

"He will scrape away cataracts and eye tumours with a knife, remove breast cancers with a small incision and cause the crippled to walk with just the touch of his hand. In a meditation room a ceiling high stack of discarded crutches, wheelchairs and braces pays silent testimony to his success. He is acclaimed as the greatest healer of the past 2,000 years."

...

So basically Lisa decided to forgo effective therapy and travel to see a faith healer, who did her no good. Now she has a stage IV diagnosis. Indeed, I wonder if she has hideously enlarged cervical lymph nodes on her left side. Her neck looked very odd during this interview, as though it’s asymmetrical with a bulge on the left side. Whatever the case, Lisa’s story demonstrates the true price of quackery like that of John of God. Quacks and faith healers hold out the hope of cure without that nasty surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. Believe me, I understand why patients might want to avoid surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, but they are all we currently have that actually works against breast cancer. Magical thinking leads to outcomes like that of Lisa.

...

Unfortunately, this favoring of the credulous viewpoint, the non-science-based viewpoint, is a recurring pattern on Oprah’s TV show. As James Randi has documented, Oprah’s show is rigged to make sure that no skeptic, be he a skeptic of the paranormal or a proponent of science-based health care, can provide evidence or make a point that causes too much discomfort to her guests or challenge her audience’s belief in these things. Still, even though Oprah has facilitated John of God’s claims, she is not the only force that keeps people believing in him. What allows John of God to persist in producing new believers includes a combination of things. First, because he is tapping into strong religious belief, there is a lower than the already low bar to convince people of his powers. Second, no one has performed (or is likely to perform) a detailed study of people who have come to him for healing, complete with careful documentation of their pre-John of God condition and then a rigorous followup of what happened to them after they sought healing from John of God. Finally, faith healers like John of God produce a “heads I win tails you lose” situation. If a patient isn’t healed, it’s not because John’s mystical powers failed. Oh, no! It’s because the patient didn’t believe enough or didn’t follow John’s instructions closely enough. John of God also tells people who come to him that they need to wait at least 40 days for healing, which, conveniently enough, is usually long after they have left Brazil.

..."


---------------------------------------------


Yup, it's a long piece, but it give pause to any support I would ever give to Oprah.

:beer:

[msongs]

1. Oprah will do anything that makes her money - always has been and always will be that nt

[undeterred]

2. Oprah doesn't really need any support. And she's always been gullible.

[HuckleB]

5. Very true. -eom-

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

3. Faith healer eye surgery? NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EyeScream

[Canuckistanian]

4. She's out of control

Spiralling quickly into a morasse of half-remembered conversations and charismatic charlatans.

She lost me for good when she had the corporate education raiders on her show and almost had an on-camera orgasm.

Sad, really.

[ecstatic]

6. I saw that show. She was skeptical about the whole thing and said

so. She was just presenting his story and the story of the people he has helped. She wasn't "promoting" him. :eyes:

[HuckleB]

9. Hogwash.

Try again.

http://www.skepticnorth.com/2010/11/john-of-god-brought-to-you-by-oprah/

BTW, what people has he actually "helped?"

:shrug:

[ecstatic]

21. I saw the show, did you?

I saw the show because my SO was watching. My whole attitude (and I believe his too) was: Whatever! Neither of us were converted into John of God believers or anything crazy like that.In fact, the whole thing went in one ear and out the other to be forever forgotten (until you brought it up in this thread).

Even if your little article was true (which it's obviously slanted and biased), why do you give viewers so little credit on their ability to make up their own minds? Why are you so bitter and angry based on a biased article (especially when you didn't see the show yourself?)?

[HuckleB]

38. I'm not the one who is bitter.

The language of your responses indicates a great deal of bitterness, however.

Further, it's quite clear that she has supported this type of scam repeatedly, and that she did it again with this show.

My "little" article shows your spin to be full of it. Why defend someone who is pushing such a scam?

[WolverineDG]

14. I saw it too

and she had on someone who was NOT helped, other than she said she had some kind of "peace of mind" thing. If she was promoting him full out, she wouldn't have had that person on.

dg

[HuckleB]

17. Now that is some serious false equivalency.

She was clearly promoting the guy. A short aside to someone is "wasn't helped" does not change that.

[WolverineDG]

18. it wasn't a "short aside"

the woman was the focus of a segment & was on stage talking about her experience.

dg

[HuckleB]

26. Yes, it was a short aside.

Try again.

[derby378]

7. Never heard of this guy, but the spiel isn't exactly new

I've got an old Coronet article on Oral Roberts called "God Heals - I Don't" that talks about his ministry and early plans for a City of Faith complex at least ten years before Oral's "900-foot Jesus" vision.

And I've had the opportunity to hear plenty of local faith healers on AM radio, including one who claimed teeth were being filled with silver and gold during her services. (Wouldn't an actual faith-healing of teeth restore the bone and enamel, instead?)

[Skittles]

8. I've always been able to see right through her

believe me, it ain't pretty

[HuckleB]

12. Does that mean you're a TSA body scanner?

:shrug:

[PufPuf23]

10. Oprah is and always has been creepy. nt

[HuckleB]

11. And, quite frankly, dangerous.

Oprah's bad medicine
http://www.salon.com/news/environment/vital_signs/2009/05/15/oprah_winfrey_health

[SammyWinstonJack]

25. +1

[Odin2005]

13. She supports Jenny McCarthy. That should tell you all you need to know.

Fuck her.

[Lucy Goosey]

43. Jenny is the most greatest scientician ever!!1!

Ahem. I agree, fuck her.

[Angry Dragon]

15. Blame her to for giving us dr. phil(the pill)

[HuckleB]

16. Oh, I do! -eom-

[Lance_Boyle]

19. Oprah Invites Hundreds of Lucky Fans to be Buried With Her in Massive Tomb.

http://www.theonion.com/video/oprah-invites-hundreds-of-lucky-fans-to-be-buried,18443/

[joeybee12]

20. That's NOT The Onion!

You know in her sunset years she'll try this!

[alarimer]

22. Oprah promotes all kinds of woo that can kill people.

And probably has because so many people listen to her for some reason.

[Cal Carpenter]

28. Oh, it has. That James Arthur Ray sweat lodge guy got a shitload of press

and fans because of her support.

[Erose999]

23. Has she had Sarah Failin' on her show yet? Or Glenn Dreck? I would think that'd be the LOWEST

she could go.

Oprah's dittoheads are just as brainwashed as Rushbo's, but I think Oprah herself and her intentions are only half as evil as Lush Rimjob's.

[HuckleB]

29. Is that supposed to make Oprah's crap all right?

:shrug:

[terrya]

30. She's had Sarah Palin on her show.

Promoting her first book.

[HuckleB]

32. Aha.

:rofl:

[terrya]

24. Oprah also shilled "The Secret"

Yes, it was positive thinking. Which is good, I don't deny that.

But at the same time, please...there isn't some "genie of the universe" who will give you whatever you want just by sending out positive thoughts to the universe. Yes, I read the book. Yes, I saw the dvd...our then boss was really into "The Secret" and thought we would all benefit from it.

[Lucy Goosey]

41. I lost a lot of respect for her because of "The Secret"

Nothing wrong with positive thinking, but those people were saying that having positive thoughts is literally the only thing you need to do to get everything you want, which is obviously utter crap.

[Hello_Kitty]

42. Same here.

I think Oprah was resolving some personal issues and latched onto this hucksterism to give her an explanation for her astounding success and wealth in the face of so much suffering in the world. I guess it wasn't enough for her that she got to where she was through a combination of talent, work, and sheer luck. No, it had to be because she sent positive vibes into the world and the Great Woo Woo Spirit rewarded her. :crazy:

[Cal Carpenter]

27. She just an opportunistic media star

And an uber-wealthy new-age elitist to boot.

Fuck Oprah.

[Gin]

33. the show was an opportunity to expand the way we think about illness

and to wonder how much our minds play into all things. (IMO)

[HuckleB]

34. Nice spin.

:rofl:

[Cal Carpenter]

35. Well if we learn how to heal with our own minds

then we wouldn't need to worry about health care!!!

The answer is within us :sarcasm:

[HuckleB]

36. Ah, the solution is before us!

:toast:

[Gin]

39. No......the solution is within us!

[HuckleB]

40. Well, I'm sure Oprah will you let you say that on her show!

:eyes:

[Gin]

37. absolutely!! the answer is within us...so simple and so profound!! won't happen if the belief is not

accepted...everything starts in the mind.

[Cal Carpenter]

44. Right

So like if some little girl in Afghanistan is about to get blown up by a bomb she should just think it away? Or if she doesn't manage to do that and her legs get blown off she can just believe hard enough and she'll regenerate new ones like a starfish?

Or maybe some uninsured elderly person with no family is dying slowly from cancer alone in her apartment she can just *meditate* away the pain?

I can't believe I'm having this conversation on a politics-oriented discussion board of all places.

If we can just figure out how to legislate the power of positive thinking, then we won't have to worry about rising health care costs and profiteer insurance companies.

[Stevenmarc]

31. Oprah has never been known for stringent guest vetting