Oprah Winfrey is as much a fraud as the ones she brought into the spotlight.

[ShazzieB]

51. I agree with you about some of those people.

Dr. Oz = woo woo quack quack
Joel Osteen = gag me with a spoon
Most of the others I don't know much about.

But Dr. Phil does not belong on any list of "magical thinking" gurus. Whether you like him or not, that magical thinking crap is not his shtick. He's very much rooted in the real world, and in science. (That's right, I said science.)

I didn't used to have a very good opinion of him, but that changed when I actually started watching him, which I've been doing for a while now. He's really not much Iike his haters think he is, and I've learned a lot watching that show, about all kinds of things, addictions and domestic violence, in particular.

Do I always agree with him? Of course not, but I don't have to agree with everything a person says to find them worth paying attention to.

He avoids getting overtly political on his show, but he's quite willing to speak up about things like child abuse (of all kinds), domestic violence, and LGBTQ issues (any parent who wants to reject their gay or trans child will get an earful from him). He's also been outspoken about taking proper covid precautions in shooting episodes of his show, and he's never pedaled any lies about the virus, or about masks, vaccines, etc. And he has provided invaluable information about things like how to safely extricate oneself from an abusive relationship (which, BTW, can be a lot harder than most people think).

He has a very BIG personality, and I can understand why it's off-putting to some. It just annoys me to see someone get hated on for reasons that have nothing to do with who they really are or what they're actually about, or be criticized for things that they have not in fact, done.

If you don't like him, that's fine. I just recommend making sure the reasons you don’t like him are rooted in reality.