OBJECTION ...Oprah

[Salma]

I was totally shocked by the narrow-mindedness, prejudice & racism in Oprah’s show on 21 June 2005. The show’s title was “Around the Worldâ€, it was about the cultures of some countries shown by some ladies from these countries. Every time a lady appear on the screen and talk enthusiastically about her culture; Oprah was showing great interest & concern to her culture.

 

Aishwaraya Rai, the Indian actress & the Former Ms World spook well about her country “India†and Oprah asked her few questions about Indian’s traditions and culture. Surprisingly, regardless of the very conservative and traditional culture of the Hindus, Oprah showed admiration and interest to the Indian culture.

 

Everything was going fine, till Oprah reached to the Middle East. She showed the most un-expected example, a case of a beaten Saudi woman called “ Rania Al Baz †. Not only that, when she referred to the Saudi Culture she mentioned only “Saudi Women are not allowed to drive & forced to wear the Abaya (The Black Dress).

 

This so-called famous, fortunate, fabulous and funny celebrity who runs her own show which is considered the Show # 1 in USA; neglected all the successful, educated, intellectual and shining women in the Middle east. And the only example she found it suitable was a beaten woman. The worse thing is that Oprah didn’t show the full picture of the Saudi Woman fairly, she didn’t talk about her previous life as a TV presenter in the Saudi TV. She didn’t mention anything about her study, her career, or her personal life and that nobody forced her to marry her husband. That they got married after a long love relationship ( I guess Oprah doesn’t know also that in KSA women can love and marry the men they choose except some individual cases than women couldn’t marry the ones they wanted due to some circumstances and this can happen anywhere in the world). Oprah only concentrated on the troubles which came after that and the beaten part, the bruises and wounds on her face.

 

It seems that Oprah is delivering very ugly and unacceptable message about the Saudi Arabia to her audience:-

 

The Saudi Culture is =

1- Saudi Women are beaten by their husbands.

2- Saudi Women are not allowed to drive

3- Saudi Women are forced to wear the black dress (The Abaya).

 

 

People, is it logic to bring three negative examples only when you talk about a Country’s culture. Is that fair, for god sake, that shouldn’t even happen with your most hated enemy.

 

Now let me see what should I answer a person who wants to know about USA’s culture.

 

USA’s culture consist of:-

 

1- The statistics are showing that 4 women are being violated every minute in USA. I wonder where is the Freedom, democracy, Human Rights, Liberty & the Justice Institutions they are talking about. Or maybe I should consider these cases Individual Cases which don’t represent the USA.

2- The Highest crimes statistics

3- 14 millions or more homeless Americans

4- Racism & Discrimination in schools, firms, courts,,,, etc

5- Millions of Americans without Social-care.

6- Drugs Dealers & Alcoholics

7- Pregnant Teenagers

8- Illegal Children

9- Abused children

10- Bad Family ties

11- Kidnapping.

12- Dirty clergymen in the American Churches,,,, etc

13-A nation carrying licensed guns everywhere, why? Coz people in America are not protected well by their government. What shall I call that? Internal terrorism or what?!

 

Or maybe since she talked about “Rania Al Baz†I may use from the same category she picked her example. Celebrities. Some celebrities’ scandals and problems to represent the American Culture:-

 

Lemme see :-

 

1- Mr. President’s Daughter(Jenna) who’s always drunk and was pulled off several times from Bars by the White House Guardians.

2- Michael Jackson the Children Abuser

3- Pamela Anderson and Heather Luclair who were beaten several times by their husbands

4- 50 cents leading his gang to finish a competitor.

5- Celebrities dealing with drugs or Misconduct.

6- Martha Stewart doing some home decorations and calculations in the Jail.

7- Celebrities murdering their wives, husbands, children or friends,,,, etc

8- Celebrities spying on their country

and MORE

 

I think enough examples for now; I wonder how Oprah couldn’t do any kind of research & studies regarding the Saudi Culture. Oh, don’t tell me she counts on her co-workers & assistants who happened to be lacking information & feedback or maybe hate the Saudis.

 

What if someone wanted to know more about Oprah herself, and someone told that person very limited answers: The black & miserable side of Oprah’s life in Mississippi and neglected her bright & successful life right now. So tell me does Oprah represent the American Culture?!

 

And what if she decided next time to bring the Somali's Culture, who for instance gonna represent us : Yasmin Warsame, Iman, Waris Dirii, Ayan Hirsi or some Somali criminial pyscos?!

 

 

Oprah, try to be fair next time even with those you hate them; Coz I can't find any other explanation for this stup!d show, and its not acceptaple explanation for sure.

 

Very silly, those who used to be discriminated & hated in the past are practicing the same on others.

 

Zulfa

[Muhammad]

Zulfa, did you send that to her?

 

Email The Oprah Show

 

ps. some may think, 'oh its about Saudi Arabia, this doesn't concern me'. you may hear Saudi Arabia, but its only an alias for 'Islam and Muslims' in general. when we say, 'the ummah is one body' - when one part is abused, the whole body is abused. don't underestimate the power of generalization.

 

peace

[-Nomadique-]

I have alot of admiration for Oprah. So if what u say is correct then thats a real pity. Remember there are alot of people who have a very distorted image of muslim women not just Oprah. It would have been great if she/her staff could have researched the story a bit more and not reinforced misconceptions about muslim women or in this case Saudi women. Problem is muslim women have been portrayed as oppressed chattels for a very long time. It reached its peak during colonialisation. Orientalists during this period wrote books which supposedly explained the culture and customs of the Islamic world. It was always portrayed as inferior hence giving authority to conquer. This literature in turn was adopted by misguided feminists who have equated the hijab and Islam with female oppression. No one has attempted to displace any of these notions in the west. Some Muslim nations havent exactly been helping to displace these ideas in the "west" either . In any case didnt Oprah do a show called Islam 101 a while back. Never saw it but was told it was good. As Salah U Din said u should send ur letter in. Never know u might be invited on the show.

 

P.S chill out :cool: i was like u (going bezerk when confronted with LIES) but after a while high blood pressure is no fun.

[FatB]

Oprah WhO?

[Rahima]

Saw the show also, disgusted but not surprised. The lady is full of contradictions and airs what will appeal to the general public.

 

I gave up on this woman a long time ago. Don’t forget she is the same "caring humanistic" African woman, who gave away brand new cars to every person in the audience on her show instead of asking the manufacturer of those cars to make a considerable donation to those who need it most (like the poor children of Africa which her heart supposedly bleeds for :rolleyes: ). Often enough, she talks the talk but seldom walks the walk. Judge her lifestyle and then compare it to the lies she wants us to believe. Basically because of these discrepancies, I am not surprised.

 

The other thing is, gaal soo ma aha? Why the surprise at the bias? Also i'm sure many remember the hijaab fiasco which showed her true colours.

[OG_Girl]

Salam Zulfa, I like your new nick .

 

What you just said would have either shocked me or offended me a month ago.Wallalo there is a problems a big ones!Muslims don't need Oprah,Theo Van Gogh,Ayan Hirsi and others to make them look bad. They are doing a fine job by acting bad and making Islam look bad.You know where I work now and I swear makes me so sad when forigners I work with show me the reports we do. And My only excuse is "Hmm I live all my life here and never seen such..This is not common thing in our society ". It's happens and goverment does nothing at all. These poor ladies whom abused where they seek a justice?If they come to us people will accuse them sold out or making Islam bad or siding with Kuffars!! The problems is "the system" and Muslims themselvies. Others just pointing out our bad sides and ignoring our religion teaching. But the questions here; are we really following Islam teaching or culture , are we defending Islam or defending our pre-Islamic cultures?

 

Another thing ,if this problem exists and is ignored because the blame is placed on Western media, then the problem will persist and the West will have solid evidence and accurate evidence that Islam mistreats women and violates human rights in general. But reality we are not defending our religion but defending Muslims whom can be as bad as anemies.

 

Salam

[Haddad]

Originally posted by OG_Girl:

...making Islam look bad.

So, you're implying Islam is like a commercial product whose image can be made to look bad, through various means (including the manipulation of the media)? If so, your implication is wrong. Islam isn't like a commercial product, it's not a human product, it's above being made to look bad.

[NGONGE]

Poor Oprah

 

[Miriam1]

Oprah is a madly rich woman who is trying to promote her show! and this is the view/trend that is going arab bashing/muslim bashing. Should we pay attention to this woman who lost all touch with reality...due to an overflow of millions? really who cares what OPRAH thinks!

[-Serenity-]

It seems that Oprah is delivering very ugly and unacceptable message about the Saudi Arabia to her audience:-

 

The Saudi Culture is =

1- Saudi Women are beaten by their husbands.

2- Saudi Women are not allowed to drive

3- Saudi Women are forced to wear the black dress (The Abaya).

1. Some

2. True

3. True. (Hijab is enforced by law)

 

So why are we angry again? Unless you're ashamed of these laws...These are the ways of the KSA.

 

The only thing Oprah is guilty of is pointing out the obvious.

 

OG_Girl,

[lol]

Zulfa: I watched that program and still in shock, given that Middle East is so diversed culturally as well as facilities... but Oprah just is as baised as any american. BUt then being a member of her discussion group I gave her a piece of my mind!

[Pacifist]

Like my brother Salafi said Educate her about this issue if you have a problem with it. Send letters or editorials about that show. Lets not jump to the gun.

 

The only way she will know about it is if you raise the issue of educating her about the falsehoodness that certain show you mentioned above.

 

Sayanara

[Rahima]

^I personally don't believe the bias was a result of ignorance, but rather the motives were nothing more than pure intentional bias. Why? I saw that show and she chose to overlook all the negative aspects of every other culture but that of the middle east. At the very least if she had expressed the negatives of every other culture like she did of that in SA, then we could put it down to ignorance and lack of knowledge-but this was not the case.

 

Basically regardless of whether or not what she aired was the truth; the woman was out to get SA (i.e. Islam) because of the inconsistencies in her reporting as she spoke of the world cultures-her motives thus became clear.

[Aux]

Cry me a river! She said Saudi not Islam! So relax women! At 51 Opera is looking mighty fine. Give the black women some break.

[Cawralo]

Zulfa, I'm happy to read ur post. MashLah, I can only agree with u girl. I hope u'll e-mail Oprah.