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Question: Do You Know a Single Person Who Cares Whether “The Academy” Even Exists?
Headline: “Will Smith resigns from the Academy over Chris Rock Oscars slap”
“The list of those I have hurt is long and includes Chris, his family, many of my dear friends and loved ones, all those in attendance, and global audiences at home,” Smith said.
The world — yes, the world, not just Ukraine and Russia — is at war, the American economy is imploding, we have become a legal impossibility — a nation without borders — the theoretical Leader of the Free World has no idea where he is or what he is saying more than half the time, the Vice President is a raving moron, our major cities look like some of the cities Putin just bombed, we have persons in “leadership” in Washington who are in many cases abysmally uneducated and who quite literally hate the Nation they are supposed to serve, we have a system of “Justice” which refuses to prosecute a single one of the serious criminals involved in the Black Lives Matter and Antifa riots but which, at the same time, holds scores of persons alleged to have committed crimes but who have never been charged in prison without bail. And yet, in the midst of this madness, many of our “citizens” are spending actual units of their time on Earth talking about movie stars doing what they do — acting like street people hitting each other and screaming obscenities at each other.
We are no longer a serious nation.
God help us.
Published in General
Nope. We could do without The Interagency too.
I think fewer people care about the Academy, Will Smith, Jada, Chris Rock. etc. then you imagine. Sometimes my tunnel vision limits me to caring about God, Church, Family, & Job. I don’t really have the time or the energy to care about much else.
h/t Powerline’s TWiP
I feel like the only thing this post is lacking is this:
I could not care less if celebrities slap each other. Since they are mostly brained washed conformists with limited understanding of real world issues, maybe they should all line up and trade slaps like this.
It isn’t really about the slap. It’s about cultural degradation. Over the cliff with the ground fast approaching. . .
It’s comic relief from all the misery . . .
Your comment touched on something I always wonder about– where do a lot of these people find the time to spend it on such trivial matters and I raise that question as I am forever trying to balance my available time with the things I really need to focus on and your list is my list, with the exception of a job as I am retired. I would assume that is true for many of the folks here. Of course, in making that statement about finding the time for things like this, I am proving my naiveté (a truly bizarre admission at my age!) as trivial pursuits are the main focus in life for so many in our country today.
Many of them don’t have God, Church, Family, OR a Job. That leaves plenty of time to get into trouble.
It greatly disturbs me that all this hubbub about Will Smith is cutting into my daily newsfeed of Harry and Meghan.
God is the Vague Yoga Goodness, Church is the State, Family is Social Media, the Job is “Keeping Up” and “Having the Right Take.” To varying degrees among the energetic moderns.
Or else it is a morality play about one of the most important issues of the day: is speech violence? That idea has poisoned our major institutions. Bare majorities of various groups have endorsed the idea that Rock was “more in the wrong” than Smith. (Interestingly, Asians were evenly divided, politics didn’t matter in the answer, higher education reduced support for the slap and Hispanics strongly supported the slap.)
Smith’s apology was not one of those “IF I offended” weasels, judgiing by the words quoted in the OP. So, maybe there is a sign of some hope that the old normal idea that words are not violent in themselves and do not merit slaps or cancellations might return?
Still, I must add that I always admired Harry Truman’s reaction when asked about a terrible review of his daughter’s piano recital: “If I ever meet that S.O.B., I’ll punch him in the nose.” And don’t forget how Dukakis lost the nomination. (Hint: perceived failure to protect his women folk).
This conversation comes down to the your bubble/their bubble dilemma.
Here in Los Angeles, screenings and Oscar season DVDs are popular, so yes, people in and around The Industry do care about AMPAS’ existence, and the trophies which previously celebrated actual artistic achievement.
Today, let’s just say Sylvester Stallone had it right in 1976: the fighting belongs on the screen. Narcissistic, youngish celebrity miscreants bore me. The angry young man figure isn’t new, it’s just gotten uglier like the rest of America’s steadily declining popular culture.
Perhaps. Still, the first half of “God, Church, Family, & Job” isn’t exactly doing boffo box office either, and there’s evidence of family and jobs’ diminshing stature.
Tunnel vision — living in separate, non-intersecting bubbles — limits our power to change, influence, or restore elements of our once thriving national culture.
Can one live in neither bubble? Here’s depravity to the left of us, where pronouns reign; and devotees to the right, still capitalizing but increasingly undercapitalized.
Out there between America’s two giant bubbles, maybe millions of microbubbles will ultimately foam up into a giant cleansing soap sud.
Dukakis won the nomination, but as you say, one of the reasons he lost the presidency was his weak response.
However, we live in a different world now — post-Christian, neo-pagan — which makes people’s reaction to the slap less predictable. It’s everyone’s subjective experience now since we lack a more homogeneous moral sensibility.
Personally, I’m more and more moved to pity Will Smith, and part of the reason is the “who” he was supposedly defending. Jezebel Pinkett Smith is a malignant narcissist (no, I’m not a professional psychologist) who leaves a wake of ruined men (and children?) behind her. The young man she had an affair with (her son’s friend!) won’t speak to her since the affair ended. Why would that be? Maybe he figured out if she’d do that to her husband and son — not only unapologetically, but proudly! — she’s too toxic to be around.
Still, Will Smith’s behavior was inexcusable and a terrible public humiliation. Chris Rock was astonishingly graceful and forgiving. Almost makes you think one of these men is the real Christian, despite the other one claiming to be.
Maybe nobody is really a Christian, if they’re drunk. Or whatever Will Smith may have been at that time.
Isn’t it possible that the whole thing was a total fraud. Prearranged and staged by the participants. Why else would anyone still be talking about the Academy Awards? Any publicity is good publicity for a dying show.
But they still won’t watch next year unless there’s some guarantee of a similar event, and maybe not even then since it would obviously be pre-planned.
2023 Anvil dropped on Rock’s head, audience laughs
2024 Rock dropped off a cliff, audience gasps and applauds
2025 Rock hit by train, audience laughs and applauds
2026 Smith blows Rock up with a crate of dynamite, audience cheers
2027 Smith humps a suitcase nuke onstage and blows Rock to smithereens, audience laughs, cheers, and applauds, Smith gets lifetime achievement award
Beep Beep!