Making self-esteem fun: Oprah's chartreuse-green pop-religion

True believers.

I just published a post on Oprah -- scroll down or click here. But this article on Oprah's recent appearance in Washington on her "Live Your Best Life" tour has forced me to do some quick re-thinking. Towards the end of my earlier post, I acknowlege that Oprah likely does more good than harm. I'll stick with that assessment (because the underlying message is still a positive one), but these little nuggets stand out:

• "Your money buys access to 'The Personal Growth Center' with interactive demonstrations, self-esteem building exercises, lunch and Oprah sharing life lessons while answering audience questions."
• "[O]n tour, Winfrey delivers another message: It is much more important that people connect with themselves and let everything else flow from there. And if she can help make that happen, be a conduit -- in a chartreuse-green Valentino jacket with a belted snakeskin accent at the waist, at that tiny, tiny waist -- well, then that's just one more detail on her journey."
• "Inside, women mill around the booths. There's the 'Every Woman Is Beautiful' display by Dove and onstage presentations like 'Making Fitness Fun' and 'The Importance of Me Time'."
• After she recites Maya Angelou's syrupy "Phenomenal Woman": "The crowd, on its feet, blisses out. In this moment, what they say to themselves, what they know for sure is she's talking about me... The women perhaps cry in ways different than they thought they would before the 'Live Your Best Life' tour."

Yup, it's pop-religion all right. Ew.