My Rant.

Off Topic
1

I was reading another post where Oprah’s name appeared (on T-Nation no less!). So here’s my rant:

Oprah = Bad things, man

Sure, I hear that she often has good, heart-warming stories on her show, and she probably means well, but I read a study (agreeably a loosely used word) that showed that Oprah-watchers were 75% more likely to suffer from depression than people who don’t watch her show (I’m not sure how the study measured this). I get in trouble with my wife a lot because about once a month I come home from work and she says, “I was watching Oprah today and …”. I just roll my eyes and say something argument-provoking. But I swear it’s true. Whenever she watches Oprah, she goes through a “funk” period of a few days. The worst times are when she has that crack-pot know-it-all, Dr. Phil (McCrackin) on. This guy makes millions on giving advice that any person with common sense would tell these people, but their opinions are likely dismissed because it isn’t what they want to hear. Yet somehow, women listen to this character because he has a “Dr.” in front of his name.

DB

2

What is he a doctor of anyway? I heard it wasn’t psychology. Something like economics or something. Can’t remember. Not relevant to what he’s teaching anyways.

It’s possible that women who watch Oprah are more depressed. It doesn’t imply causation though, only correlation. Perhaps they were depressed to begin with then tuned in to Oprah in order to gain some insight to their problems. There’s a number of possible different scenario’s.

It’s also possible Oprah makes people aware of problems in their lives that weren’t there to begin with. People become dissatisfied with their lives after watching her. That’s more of a causative effect. I’m sure no one will ever know though since I can’t see anyone designing an experiment to figure this out.

Either way, I’m not a fan of either Oprah or “Dr.” Phil.

3

The biggest crack-up to me was when “Dr” Phil McGraw came out with his diet and exercise plan…

Give me a break.