by Rachel Stewart

The Academy Awards. Remember when it was unmissable? I do. But then, I’ve been around awhile, and during an era that had a touch more class.

The Academy, Hollywood itself, and their mouthpieces in the progressive media, will fill you with all sorts of delusions about why it is that nearly 50m viewers watched the ceremony live in 2000 while this year it was 17.9m. They say it’s to do with being able to stay home and stream movies, the rise of the TV series format, and the fact that you can just watch the highlights the next day. All true, but that’s not dealing with the guts of the massive societal global switch off problem.

The satirical Babylon Bee eloquently used the headline this past Oscar week that the ‘Nation's Wealthy, Privileged Gather To Lecture Nation On Evils Of Wealth, Privilege’. Except, that’s not satire. Alas, the modern version has become a gross spectacle of everything, well, gross.

But before I get into why it’s become Woketopia, here’s an insider view that tells the truth about how studios and money manipulate voting, and how the Academy works.

What that clip also nods to is the massive divide between the coastal elite worldview of what constitutes a great movie, and the rest of America. But then you can extrapolate that out and find it applies to almost everything. California and New York do not share the prevailing politics of Wyoming or Texas.

But as Stephen Colbert found out when it was announced he was to be canned from The Tonight Show, constantly bagging Trump and anyone who voted for him is not a winning strategy. It’s boring, arrogant, elitist, and ultimately self-defeating. To hate on over half of your own country’s fellow citizens is just poor taste. Yet the Academy Awards actively encourage it.

They should have a category for ‘Best Acting in an Acceptance Speech’. Often politically charged and longer than your average root canal procedure, and referencing riveting stuff like trans rights, gay rights, Black Lives Matter, Free Palestine, poor Iran, and eff Trump, you’ll see the rich perform caring for the poor with every fibre of their acting skills being.

Personally, I’d rather have the root canal. Film it. And then watch that.

And if you want some honourable hilarity about the illusory nature of all things Hollywood – an empire in terminal decline – watch this clip from ‘Honest Trailers’ showcasing their interpretation of this year’s movie contenders. I thoroughly recommend it as a stress reliever in these woefully wacky times.

Listen the to full episode of Riding Shotgun.