Oprah for Dictator!

I'm not a fan of Oprah.  I am glad that a girl from the ghetto got out and made herself the most powerful woman on the planet, but I just take umbrage at one woman attempting to dictate how the world lives.  But enough about my own personal irrational feelings.  I am actually pleased with the book club in the fact that she is promoting reading so heavily.  I wish she would maybe pick books from a wider range of genre and older classics as well as newer authors but that is neither here nor there.  I'm all for reading for reading sake.  She should be recognized as a literacy giant in the fact that what she says America goes and does, thereby making books more important in the lives of many people.  I personally would have never heard of Toni Morrison had it not been for her book sitting on the Oprah's Book Club shelf at the Half Price Bookstore.  The article didn't seem to have much to do with Oprah's influence on Literacy perse, but more about her social influence and THAT can't be contested.  I don't agree with the statement that Oprah doesn't exploit her viewers weaknesses.  I believe that she does, just in a benign way.  She tells the people what to do to help themselves, what to read, go volunteer, go do..... She is helping them, yet treating them like sheep.  I will say though that English teachers ARE missing out on the opportunity to use Oprah's influence over the masses to their advantage.  If more of them would teach maybe one of her book club books a year, it would most likely be the one book that keeps the students engaged long enough to realize that reading is a fun past time.