Oprah Fans Join the "Long Jurney"

The Oprah Effect is starting already. One day after the show on adoptions, the Oprah message boards are full of comments like these:

• "AFTER I SAW THIS SHOW I'M OBSESSED TO FIND A WAY TO SAFE A LITTLE ONE. I NEED HELP HOW DO I EVEN BEGIN THIS LONG JURNEY?"
• "i TOO am thinking much more seriously now of adoption. If I do adopt, you can bet it will be to save a beautiful girl in China."
• "They've made it impossible to save these children and I am completely dumbfounded. ... There are Americans who pray to God for a child to love; why are they not allowed???"

To put it simply, the segement was a disburbing mix of facts, half-truths and the farfetched, but it did what talk shows do best: it provoked a reaction in the audience. Unfortunately, there is so much more to understanding any situation than just watching a 20-minute TV story, a point only obvious to those for those of us who actually have invested hundreds of hours.

Still, if it means more babies are adopted because of Oprah's best intentions, it's a good thing. I guess. We'd feel better about it all if the SBI hadn't lost our money order.