Does Oprah think we're dirty?

[KenveeB]

I'd say she does'nt really know her audience in this case - Melbourne has only just had some pretty long term water restrictions lifted.
We are a drought country, and her comment seems a bit silly. Maybe she just opened her mouth without understanding what was coming out. It's  pretty human to do that.

Doesn't that say that she does know her audience?  If people are under a lot of water restrictions, people choosing to use their limited supply of water to get ready to go see her is a big compliment!

I agree with others who say this was an innocuous comment and wasn't any kind of comment on Australian hygiene habits.

[Sabbyfrog2]

I see it as more of an aknowlegement to the inconvieniance some people may have had to go through to get to her to be honest.
I am not a morning person. Showering in the morning is a big deal for me because I hate getting up out of my cozy bed to do it. But it's part of my morning routine and what I rely on to get me going and a break in that would highly upset my day. Going to see her would be a break in my routine and in turn, would be a big deal for me. So, the way I read it, this to me, is more of her aknowledging that going to see her was probably an inconviance for some people and it's appropriate to thank them for it.
But that's just me.

[Spoder]

I really don't think Oprah meant any criticism, at all. I do think that 'showering' was just mentioned as part of a standard morning routine.

I am not a fan of her show, but Oprah is clearly a very astute woman to achieve what she has. It doesn't seem her style to say something offensive about people whose country she is currently visiting, either accidentally or deliberately.

[dizzygoround]

OK, cool, as I said, I only heard that one snippet, and I hadn't realised there was extra context, i.e. people having gotten up at 4.30am. I've always liked Oprah and would hate to think she would say anything insulting.

Also, I'm glad that e-hellions don't think there was any stereotyping of Aussies happening there. Unfortunately, in my travels I have met people from other countries who have assumed Aussies to be backward, like they saw Crocodile Dundee or that episode of The Simpsons and accepted that as their blueprint for modern Australian life.    I'm sure Oprah will show our country in its best light.

[StarFaerie]

Disclaimer: I do not watch or even much like Oprah.

It sounds to me like it was just a listing of the morning routine. She may as well have said "had breakfast". I know that we are kind of touchy about foreigners putting us down (but are quite happy to put each other and ourselves down) but in this case I think it was innocent.

Be more upset that she announced that we hang out in McCafes. Yech!

[Ceallach]

I think it was an odd comment but with no I'll intentions. I mean obviously we shower anyway  So clearly just a jokey thing about getting up early in the morning.

I actually do feel Oprahs visit here is very patronizing and there's an element of Dance Monkey Dance about it. Yet it's pulling in heaps of tourism dollars, plus I'd have killed for a ticket to the filming (awesome experience + free stuff, yeah!!).   We have to be grateful really. But she is doing us a "favour" in her eminent graciousness.  I think she's very well intentioned and she's Oprah, she can do whatever she wants.
 

[Shores]

Unfortunately, in my travels I have met people from other countries who have assumed Aussies to be backward, like they saw Crocodile Dundee or that episode of The Simpsons and accepted that as their blueprint for modern Australian life.    I'm sure Oprah will show our country in its best light.

Yes, just like every American is fat, obnoxious and acts like the "Sweet Sixteen" kids. Every country deals with foreigners holding stereotypes. I don't get why having a foreign entertainer visiting is a "dance, monkey, dance!" scenario (as another poster said). I mean, we have foreign entertainers visiting America all the time. Ya'll (the few Australians who have posted in this thread) seem a bit over-sensitive.

[Spoder]

Unfortunately, in my travels I have met people from other countries who have assumed Aussies to be backward, like they saw Crocodile Dundee or that episode of The Simpsons and accepted that as their blueprint for modern Australian life.    I'm sure Oprah will show our country in its best light.

Yes, just like every American is fat, obnoxious and acts like the "Sweet Sixteen" kids. Every country deals with foreigners holding stereotypes. I don't get why having a foreign entertainer visiting is a "dance, monkey, dance!" scenario (as another poster said). I mean, we have foreign entertainers visiting America all the time. Ya'll (the few Australians who have posted in this thread) seem a bit over-sensitive.

Well, I'm Australian, and I don't think I've seemed over-sensitive in this thread. 

We get a lot of foreign entertainers visiting here, too, but very few of them are as influential as Oprah. The fact is, publicity from Oprah = future tourist bucks, so the media hype here has been excessive. That's not really her fault, though. I saw some clips of her doing her thing around Sydney today; she was being very complimentary about everything.

I think we Aussies can be our own worst enemies, as far as thinking the rest of the world looks down on us. I travel overseas fairly often, and I think people are a lot more informed about other countries these days, and stereotypes are generally less prevalent. The people I've met are long over the Croc Dundee stereotype.  (Not saying you're wrong, dizzygoround; just my experience).

[Bibliophile]

I think it was an odd comment but with no I'll intentions. I mean obviously we shower anyway  So clearly just a jokey thing about getting up early in the morning.

POD to this.  And as an outsider, it would never occur to me to think that she thought Australians were dirty from this comment.  I've never heard of a dirty Australian stereotype. 

[Aeris]

Unfortunately, in my travels I have met people from other countries who have assumed Aussies to be backward, like they saw Crocodile Dundee or that episode of The Simpsons and accepted that as their blueprint for modern Australian life.    I'm sure Oprah will show our country in its best light.

Yes, just like every American is fat, obnoxious and acts like the "Sweet Sixteen" kids. Every country deals with foreigners holding stereotypes. I don't get why having a foreign entertainer visiting is a "dance, monkey, dance!" scenario (as another poster said). I mean, we have foreign entertainers visiting America all the time. Ya'll (the few Australians who have posted in this thread) seem a bit over-sensitive.

Well, I'm Australian, and I don't think I've seemed over-sensitive in this thread. 

We get a lot of foreign entertainers visiting here, too, but very few of them are as influential as Oprah. The fact is, publicity from Oprah = future tourist bucks, so the media hype here has been excessive. That's not really her fault, though. I saw some clips of her doing her thing around Sydney today; she was being very complimentary about everything.

I think we Aussies can be our own worst enemies, as far as thinking the rest of the world looks down on us. I travel overseas fairly often, and I think people are a lot more informed about other countries these days, and stereotypes are generally less prevalent. The people I've met are long over the Croc Dundee stereotype.  (Not saying you're wrong, dizzygoround; just my experience).

This is really interseting to me. Everyone I know (NYC here) thinks Aussies are the height of coolness. 

[jassou]

I think we Aussies can be our own worst enemies, as far as thinking the rest of the world looks down on us.

Funny, our stereotype of Aussies is that they are extremely fit, tanned people that never worry and are insanely cool. Never saw that coupling episode about french and Australian accents?

But like shores says, national stereotypes can be horribly unjust. I get tired of the 'you must be a bong smoking, permissive individual without morals'. I equally get tired of the 'you must be a cool person, because you must think drugs and prostitution are great, PARTY!!'. I suppose any national stereotype, positive or negative, is unfair.

[Spoder]

Oh, we are the height of coolness, Aeris! We're just so excessively cool that it's stressful to maintain. 

Nah, I just think some Australians still have a bit of insecurity about our international 'presence', or lack thereof. We're a young country with a small population, and we don't have either the political/economic clout of the U.S. or the established culture and history of the U.K. So we like to head off any whiff of being patronized, quick-smart.

But yeah, other than that, we're so laid back we're horizontal. 

[Sophia]

I've never heard a negative stereotype about Aussies.   But then I live in Texas and I've always thought Texans and Aussies have a lot in common.

[vinyl]

 

I think we Aussies can be our own worst enemies, as far as thinking the rest of the world looks down on us.

I don't know, I've never really thought that. I've also never really experienced "Aussie" sterotypes, apart from some of the foreign exchanges I've done, and they were more amusing than offfensive.
I WISH we rode Kangaroos!
I didn't mean to sound oversensative (if anyone thought I did) I more meant "meh, she wasn't being deliberatley offensive" and then wandered off on my own weathery tangent.
You know, even IF Oprah did mean she thought australians were stinky - who could take a veiw like that very seriously?

[Ceallach]

Unfortunately, in my travels I have met people from other countries who have assumed Aussies to be backward, like they saw Crocodile Dundee or that episode of The Simpsons and accepted that as their blueprint for modern Australian life.    I'm sure Oprah will show our country in its best light.

Yes, just like every American is fat, obnoxious and acts like the "Sweet Sixteen" kids. Every country deals with foreigners holding stereotypes. I don't get why having a foreign entertainer visiting is a "dance, monkey, dance!" scenario (as another poster said). I mean, we have foreign entertainers visiting America all the time. Ya'll (the few Australians who have posted in this thread) seem a bit over-sensitive.

I absolutely agree with you about every country dealing with foreigners holding stereotyes.  It's easy to get caught up in these, but the fact is that we all do it to every other country.  One of my best friends is from the U.S. and the ridiculous comments she has to deal with blow my mind constantly. 

The thing is, Oprah isn't a foreign entertainer visiting - Australia is large enough to have foreign entertainers visiting constantly, there's nothing special about that - but she is doing something quite different.   She is doing a "C'mon everybody and see one of my Favourite Things, it's Australia, isn't it soooo cute? I Loooooooove it!! It's the home of kangaroos and koalas and Steve Irwin and good ole Aussie stuff... and see, I can even mimick their accent and talk like them!  I'm going to tell you everything about Australia and then you'll all want to come down here and spend your money and help their economy, isn't that nice of me?"  and y'know what?  Most of that is actual summary of what she's actually said this week (including the looooooove australia part, lol).  It's all about how different Australia is - they way people talk, the way they spend their time, etc.   When in all honesty, there is very little difference between our countries.  Sure, there's subtle differences in lifestyle, but for the most part all Western cultures are fairly similar.  I think she means it in a good way, showing off the "uniqueness" but it comes across as simply highlighting stereotypes from 20 years ago.

For the record, I'm not Australian. But I am currently living in Sydney and see all the hype.  I do think it's patronising, and it's accentuating stereotypes.  Having said that, as I said previously I think she has good intetions and she's completely sincere in her viewpoints.  And it's doing amazing things for tourism and the economy.  So I think the problem is that there's a certain resentment that she's coming here and doing this, while at the same time people are really excited that she's coming here and doing this.... anyway, that's my perception.  It's certainly beeen a MAJOR talking point the past few weeks. And front page news.