Oprah Winfrey: Wealth Is 'A Good Thing'

People ^

[Lurking in Kansas]

...Winfrey, 52, who is reportedly worth more than $1 billion, said she doesn't feel guilty about her wealth. "I was coming back from Africa on one of my trips," she said. "I had taken one of my wealthy friends with me. She said, 'Don't you just feel guilty? Don't you just feel terrible?' I said, 'No, I don't. I do not know how me being destitute is going to help them.' Then I said when we got home, 'I'm going home to sleep on my Pratesi sheets right now and I'll feel good about it.' "

[Lurking in Kansas]

LOL, her inner Republican is crying out. :)

LOL, yeah.

Just listen to your inner self, Opie. Vote Republican, you know you want to. LOL!

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

Pratesi sheets?

I've never even HEARD of Pratesi sheets.

[Lurking in Kansas]

I sleep just fine in my on-sale "Linens and Things" sheets.

My, aren't we high class. I sleep on Martha Stewart “designer” sheets from K-Mart. LOL.

[TBP]

Well, she's right. Wealth is a good thing.

[starbase]

Clueless socialists can't read either. The article says she is building a school. Just for your information, she owes the world nothing and anything anyone does or does not in life is self serving. Yes, even suicide.

Either? You make it sound like you have already made one point. What was it?

And I never said she owed anyone anything, nor have I supported socialism.

And I disagree with your point that all actions are self serving, I don't think you can prove that, why don't you try?

My point was about philosophy, and that our actions are just that, actions. If you have the ability to help someone and you don't, then you have performed an action (that of not helping the person in question). This is a fact of life, your snide hints cannot change that.

If she's building a school then goody goody. It's still just a few buildings, a BILLION dollars can do a lot more.

But my post was about the equivalence of actions and inactions, not socialism. You're seeing what you want to respond to.

[fortunecookie]

She said, 'Don't you just feel guilty? Don't you just feel terrible?' I said, 'No, I don't. I do not know how me being destitute is going to help them.'

She's right. Being poor won't help her help those destitute folks she saw on her trip to Africa. Maybe she could give some to help the poor? Oh, wait. She does.

Then I said when we got home, 'I'm going home to sleep on my Pratesi sheets right now and I'll feel good about it.' "

She certainly worked her way up from abject poverty, she's worked hard for it. And she does use her wealth to help.

[higgmeister]

hires one employee and pays him a wage that will allow him escape poverty does more good for humanity than a hundred Mother Theresa's who do nothing but pray for the poor and hold their hand while they starve.

Replay!

[Porterville]

Damn, she is smarter than she liberally behaves... is it an act?... I'm confused; I honestly believe the bitch is evil.

[Lurking in Kansas]

I've never even HEARD of Pratesi sheets.

My, my, what kind of rich Republican are you?? Never heard of Pratesi? We are going to kick you out of the Country Club, darling.

[tickmeister]

Not disparaging Mother Theresa. Simply saying that successful business owner does more for humanity than she did. Where did she get the money to feed and house the poor? Donations from folks who did something to earn the money. As the old saying goes, pray in one hand and s--t in the other and see which one fills up first.

Sorry if that sounds harsh. It's just what I believe.

[Lurking in Kansas]

Damn, she is smarter than she liberally behaves... is it an act?... I'm confused; I honestly believe the bitch is evil.

See my post #60 above.

[hosepipe]

A wealthy Moonbat is just a rich Moonbat..

[higgmeister]

If you have the ability to help someone and you don't, then you have performed an action (that of not helping the person in question).

And that inaction is self serving.

If a person builds a school that is self serving because the person can feel proud and gets praise.

Think of any action or inaction, then look at motivation and you will find that there is always a selfish motivation.

Audy Murphy charged the German platoon because he couldn't stand the thought of his men being killed.

The man rushes into the burning building because he can't stand to hear the baby crying. If another man runs away it is because of his selfish need to save himself.

[higgmeister]

If she's building a school then goody goody. It's still just a few buildings, a BILLION dollars can do a lot more.

It sounds like you think wealthy people must "help" the poor. Those are the seeds of Socialism. It should be enough that the trickle-down effect of her wealth put tens and even hundreds-of-thousands of people to work. If you took away Oprah, a million people might starve.

Conversely if you give handouts to the poor, you reinforce their choices that allowed them to be poor and allow their mental disease to continue.

[starbase]

Well you make a good defense of the claim that all actions are self serving. I just see one tiny little flaw with it. You assert that a person can do something generous, like build a school, because they want to feel proud and receive praise.

But in the case of anonymous contributions (quite common) there is no praise to be had. That leaves your assertion that the person wants to feel good. But we can never prove what all people want, nor what they feel, when they perform any given action. You must fill that point in with your assertions as to what they feel.

And that is the flaw in your defense, you can only assert what the person feels when giving, but you can never prove what they feel, because each person's feelings are their own.

Nothing makes it impossible for a person to give, or sacrifice, with no feelings of personal gain whatsoever.

So we cannot say that all actions are self serving, because we could not demonstrate that assertion. Just as you can't prove a negative, so you cannot claim to attest to what all people are feeling in all things they do. It can't be demonstrated, therefore it can't be claimed.

[higgmeister]

But in the case of anonymous contributions (quite common) there is no praise to be had

But the person still feels proud of himself.

How many heros have you heard that said, "I just had to do it, if I hadn't I wouldn't have been able to live with myself?"

[higgmeister]

Nothing makes it impossible for a person to give, or sacrifice, with no feelings of personal gain whatsoever.

I can't agree. If they don't feel good about giving they don't give.

If they do it for a tax break with no good feeling, the selfish motive is to reduce their tax burden.

Inside anything anyone does there is a self serving motivation.

[higgmeister]

Signing off for now.

[goodnesswins]

Not only have I never heard of Pratesi sheets....I do NOT even know the NAME of the sheets we sleep on.....just not something important in MY life....

[Names Ash Housewares]

"I wouldn't call her show 'trash TV'. It's certainly not on the low level of Maury Povich or Jerry Springer."

She cleaned her act up after many years of garbage along those lines pumped into peoples heads for ratings.