Nutek

Cambridge?

Supplies

Octang Frye

<Cackle>

Hiro11

A gaggle of self-obsessed, validation-seeking multimillionaires very expensively get together to celebrate their own self-perceived virtuousness and terrifically overrated importance. They proceed to pontificate on their meaningless, pretentious and ultimately shallow perceptions of the world's problems while living incredibly coddled lives of privilege beyond the imagination of even the richest portion of the world's people. Most got their job because of what they look like or which family they are from but their ego permits them to see themselves as masters of politics, personal finance, race relations, healthcare etc. Essentially any topic, they know the answer, because they are the winners of life's game. Just ask them. The whole thing is painstakingly televised and there are millions of enablers who celebrate this crap. I know these are cliched views on my part, but they are true. The whole thing is nauseating and to be avoided.

Octang Frye

Nearly all of them are outspoken gun controllers, and anti-Trump, but are surrounded by gun toting security and a perimeter wall.

moneypenny20

I don't disagree with any of that other than the having an opinion bit. We all have opinions and if asked will generally tell. I'm pretty certain these people probably get asked more often than us. If they say no comment they look like tools, if they say oh that's not for me to say, they sound pretentious,. If they answer truthfully the people who disagree will bitch. No win situation. Their opinion is no less valid than ours but they're supposed to stay silent? Why is that? Do they not have everyone else's freedom of speech?

Pulaski

That is totally not true, but I suspect that several generations of political posturing has made it more difficult for actors today to dodge the questions, but certainly some actors do, and I suspect that is as a result of "ground rules" laid down before an interview is agreed to. You don't think that interviews are just "winged", off the cuff, do you?

That said, it is clear that many theater luvvies delight in their soapbox posturing.

FWIW while many musicians also enjoy their time in the spotlight to spout politics, and worse, use their medium to spread their politics too, there are many who do not, and as it happens most of the musicians I am a fan of are ones that say nothing about their political views, they don't share, and I don't care - I enjoy their music, I don't need the politics.

moneypenny20

Given the propensity for some posters on here to loudly spout their political views regardless of whether the thread concerned requires a political viewpoint, I see no difference between 'regular human beings' and 'celebrity human beings'. Some of whatever persuasion think the rest of us need to know their political views whilst others don't. This doesn't make the celebrity more obnoxious than the non celebrity, just more widely seen and heard. They all have the democratic right to voice their opinions. You (general) don't want to hear it? Switch off or turn the page.

Pulaski

I can't argue with their right, but I generally have more respect for those who choose not to exercise it. I don't expect to get a side of politics from a shop assistant, restaurant waiter, the postman, or the plumber, and for the most part they don't provide one, and I prefer my entertainers to provide entertainment the same way.

tom169

Never watched Oscars, and don't plan on ever doing so.

Hiro11

Several point here:
1. No one is debating a celebrity's right to proclaim their political views. However, comparing the things said on the Oscars stage to people posting opinions here is ludicrous. Clearly the outsized power celebrities have in today's celebrity-obsessed culture should be wielded carefully. You should know what you're talking about when you have an audience of millions and you should only speak when you genuinely have something to say. Quite the opposite is true: lots of celebrities LOVE loudly sharing their views whenever given the opportunity. The Oscars have become THE PLACE to loudly proclaim your group identity and obsessions.
2. I'd argue that coddled celebrities with no real responsibility beyond being themselves and a life experience that is shared by almost no one else who are surrounded by yes men/women and told they're amazing constantly all day, every day might be the LEAST qualified group of people on the planet to speak about any practical topic. I question the quality of their insights on foreign policy, economic policy or race relations.
3. Hollywood has essentially zero political diversity. The speeches are all the same, the sentiments are all the same. Dissenting voices are extremely rare. The central messages of the vast, vast majority of films produced stick to a set of political narratives that are extremely narrowly defined. This lack of debate and diversity of thought is ultimately stultifying. If everyone agrees, nothing moves forward, nothing is questioned and there's really nothing genuinely insightful to say. As a result, events like the Oscars are reduced to bland tribe-signaling and meaningless cliches.

moneypenny20

My apologies, I thought we'd moved on from the pointless waste of time that is the Oscar's, not watched it in years so no idea what they said on stage. I thought we were talking celeb opinions in general.