Well, we made it through a whopping twelve minutes of the Oscars before turning off the TV! I knew I was in trouble during the opening medley, when the voice-over spoke about heroes in film and they flashed a brief shot from Michael Moore's film "Roger & Me". "Hero?" I sputtered. "How can you possibly call Michael Moore a hero? Are these people TOTALLY clueless?"
Then Chris Rock began his Bush-bashing monologue, praising "Fahrenheit 911" and expressing amazement that Bush could be re-elected, given how much he "sucked" at being President. This from the genius who brought us "Pooty Tang"! (So does the fact that Chris Rock "sucks" at what he does give him special credibility?)
Apparently, Hollywood just can't help itself.
This is why televisions come with 'off' buttons....
UPDATE: Two additional thoughts this morning. I don't suppose there was any tribute to the troops last night, or mention of the successful election in Iraq. First of all, don't these people realize that, if nothing else, the spread of freedom gives them more potential AUDIENCES (customers)?
Secondly, I wonder if they realize that the Muslim world is disgusted by what they perceive to be the decadence of our culture....largely exported to the world by....you guessed it, Hollywood. So, who bears the responsibility for the fact that the U.S. is disliked by other parts of the world? Oh, of course---it's because of our President---who merely happens to believe that all human beings on the planet deserve to live in a free and open society.
Do they hate him because of his convictions, or just because he HAS convictions?
MORE UPDATES:
From Powerline today:
La Shawn Barber on Chris Rock and his "triumph of ignorance and vulgarity" at the Oscars. I didn't watch. The last time I watched, Bob Hope was presiding, I think. Heck, with rare exceptions, I don't even watch new Hollywood movies these days.
To me the Oscars represent another example of the left's march through our institutions. The left has captured nearly all of the organizations and phenomena that meant something to me when I was growing up -- the New York Times, CBS News, the NAACP, the ACLU, the professoriate, Hollywood, etc. etc. But it's a meaningless triumph because these institutions have lost their authority precisely by virtue of their leftward tilt. To illustrate, a Zogby poll shows that 39 percent of Democrats, but only 13 percent of Republicans, watch the Oscars. (Hat tip: PoliPundit).
HINDROCKET adds: Those numbers are stunning; wouldn't you think that if the film industry were motivated by economic self-interest, it would try to find a way to avoid alienating the members of America's most popular political party? Plus, I can hardly be the only viewer who turned off the telecast almost as soon as it began because of the host's anti-Bush rant. On what theory does it make sense to put on a show that will drive away large numbers of viewers--and gratuitously, too, since Rock's Bush-bashing had nothing whatever to do with the subject at hand? It's more evidence that, as Michael Medved has often argued, for Hollywood it's not about profit, it's about ideology.
UPDATE by HINDROCKET: Deacon and I are probably pretty hard-core--the last comedian I really liked was Jack Benny--but USA Today, hardly a hotbed of conservatism, shared my reaction:Unfortunately, what many viewers are most likely to remember — particularly those who feel Hollywood is out of touch with many of its customers — is Rock's lengthy attack on George Bush.
It went over big with the crowd, and if you voted for John Kerry, you probably found it amusing. But that routine had nothing to do with the Oscars, either, and it very likely sent half the audience fleeing from what was otherwise a politics-free evening.
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