Forgive my annual rant.
But we again begin the annual entertainment awards season.
Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild, Director’s Circle, Oscars, People’s Choice,
Tony’s, Grammy’s, Country Music Awards. I surely have forgotten some.
For months on end, entertainers will give themselves awards
in self-indulgent spectacles meant to entertain, boost salaries, get publicity,
amp up revenues and remind us of how important they are to us.
They will glam up, get airbrushed, put on their designer
couture, drizzle themselves in jewels. Their rented clothes, male and female,
will be statements elegance, status and fashion risk. Food, drink, parties and
comfy chit-chat will be shared in excess. They will pat one another on the back
just as their organizations pat them on the back. They will thank people when
they are on stage, people they can really just thank them in person.
Not that their work doesn’t have merit. But it’s just part
of our culture where uber-spectacle is where celebrity breeds celebrity.
Personally I’d rather see public servants—firepersons, police persons, EMTs,
teachers—parade across the stage. If you read the NY Times obituaries, you will
find persons of significant stature and contributions who have not made their
way into narrow celebrity mill.
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