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OPRAH DISCOVERS THE HOLOCAUST

by Debbie Schlussel

A USA Today feature recently posited that absurdity and other similar verbal gushing about the "Queen of Daytime Talk."[1]

But her vapid tour of Auschwitz,[2] broadcast yesterday, said it all. After more than two decades on the air, Oprah finally discovered the Holocaust. After more urgent, worthy show topics--"Teens Addicted to Oral Sex," "Gospel Singer Addicted to Porn," "the Gorgeous Men of Decorating," and "Oprah & Stedman Visit the Dog Whisperer with their Doggie Daughter"--finally there was time for the Holocaust.

And when it was finally time, Oprah couldn't just present Auschwitz. Nope, the billionairess needed to make extra money on this episode to make it worth her while. This show was Oprah's Holocaust "as brought to you by the NEW AT&T." Yes, the show had a special sponsor. Oprah has discovered that lucrative left-wing business known as "Holocash." Cry over dead Jews from 60 years ago, but no mercy for the live ones in Israel under siege from the new Nazism of Islamic terror.

The show would have been best called "Oprah's Echo Show." It was largely author Elie Wiesel saying things with Oprah repeating them in an over-acted whisper.

There were also multiple overdramatic Oprah attempts at high-brow pretension about the Holocaust--the kind you'd hear at an underground, independent coffee house trying desperately to compete with Starbucks. Only this time, the guy in the disheveled corduroy blazer and "No Nukes" pin reciting the psychobabble poem is Oprah.

Oprah told Wiesel that she will help the memory of the Holocaust live on, and the show was "Dedicated to Future Generations - We Will Never Forget."

Never forget? Memory of the Holocaust lives on? She's already forgotten. Only the week before, she did a glowing show on the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the world's most anti-Semitic country.

The alleged premise of the show was, "The World's Youngest Queen,"[3] Queen Rania of Jordan (she's Palestinian). But that was the ruse[4] to present viewers with features on several carefully selected Jordanian women whose message was: "Life in Jordan is just like yours." The women spoke perfect English with nary an accent. Just like us. They had careers and ordered Domino's Pizza. Just like us. And they and their husbands who love them are watching their weight. Just like us.

Oprah gushed so much over Queen Rania and her beauty, it was hard to remember she is from the Islamic Middle East. And that was the point. Oprah has been working overtime to promote Jordan and Islam. This is Rania's second Oprah appearance in five years, with the first on an "Islam 101" episode just after 9/11.

A 2005 Pew Research Center survey of 17,000 people found that Jordan the most anti-Semitic country in the world. Not just 95 percent of its people have unfavorable views of Jews. It is 100 percent. A full 41 percent of them don't like Christians either.

Queen Rania's largely Palestinian country (a demographic not mentioned on Oprah) didn't just beat the world in hatred for the Jews. Jordan leads in support for homicide bombings AND confidence in Osama Bin Laden "to do the right thing."

A whopping 88 percent of Jordanians support suicide bombings. That's up from 2002, when "only" 65 percent of Jordanians supported this "method" of dealing with perceived problems. Then, there's Bin Laden. Some 80 percent of Jordanians have "confidence in Osama Bin Laden to do the right thing regarding world affairs." And 57 percent of Jordanians said "violence against civilians in defense of Islam is justified."

Rania told Oprah that while Jordanians don't like U.S. policies, "they love America and Americans." Really? Pew Research says the country is the most anti-American in the world, with 79 percent viewing the U.S. unfavorably. Rania claimed women in her country are different and will end Mid-East violence. Pew Research found Jordanian women held the same hateful viewpoints as men.

Oprah, on her show and in her magazine, has called Queen Rania a "hero" for becoming queen. But there is nothing heroic about marrying a king or being beautiful. And there's nothing heroic about whitewashing a country whose degree of anti-Semitism surpasses even that of Nazi Germany at the height of the Holocaust.

So did Oprah really learn the lessons of the Holocaust, when her show, her magazine, her media empire are used to promote the new Nazism and ignore its victims?

Don't ask Elie Wiesel. He's too busy basking in the afterglow of an hour-long Oprah appearance. And recovering from her meaningless echo chamber.

1. Debbie Schlussel, "Me in USA Today on Egomaniacal Rev. Oprah, America's "Mother Teresa?" May 11, 2006,
(/www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/2006/05/me_in_usa_today.html)

2. Ophrah Winfrey, "A Special Presentation: Oprah and Elie Wiesel at the Auschwitz Death Camp,"
(www2.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/200605/tows_past_20060524.jhtml)

3. Ophray Winfrey, "Meet the World's Youngest Queen," (www.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/200605/tows_past_20060517.jhtml)

4. Jamie Glazov, "Oprah's Lies, Part II," October 17, 2001,
(http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=242).

Debbie Schlussel is a conservative political commentator, radio talk show host, columnist, and attorney. Visit her website at DebbieSchlussel.com. She can be reached by email at dschlussel@yahoo.com.
This article appeared May 26, 2006 in FrontPageMagazine.com
(www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=22630).