I’m in with the in crowd
I go where the in crowd goes
I’m in with the in crowd
And I know what the in crowd knows — opening lines to Dobie Gray’s The “In” Crowd
“There’s many a bestseller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.” — Flannery O’Connor
“It’s not a popular notion, but no advance in social justice circles will be made without acknowledgement that all human beings are capable of the very sins they condemn.” — Tennessee Williams
Overweening pride is always festooned with balloons and streamers throughout the rooms where celebrities gather to be self-congratulatory and demonstrate that they’re part of the in crowd… at award ceremonies. So much of the world so often takes in such interaction, why not embrace a bit more humility? Promoting that would certainly help us to deal better with our collective crises… going against the grain of painful sick secular society, all caught up with Spectacle.
Rozali Telbis’ Divided We Stand: Golden Globes Sets the Tone for Faux Feminism in 2018 comments fairly well on the recent international Golden Globes ritual from a post-modern perspective. It’s a long article, however, and since too few are likely to plow through its many words, I’d like to give the reader a more succinct take on the latest award ceremony.
From a Christian point of view — from an angle of vision honoring any decent standards, actually — GG host Seth Meyers’ monologue (part of which can be read in a New York Times transcript) was mean-spirited, quite at variance with the declared cause espoused by most speakers at the 75th annual presentation. Joking about the demise of Harvey Weinstein and kicking the already (sufficiently) demeaned Kevin Spacey was in poor taste, to say the least. And dragging Woody Allen into the whole mix was a cheap (and, I think, ineffective) shot at humor. Professional comedians were silent in response, or took in everything from a totally self-serving point of view.
Any attempt at securing social justice which demonstrates such insensitivity and a glaring lack of compassion for the weaknesses of individuals is not appropriate, highly counterproductive too. The indiscretions and/or crimes of others — no matter what the issues — must never be handled as if one is above what brings others down. That’s where “There but for the grace of God….” can be invoked. [Pause.] Seth joked, I’m quite serious.
And this whole affair should be taken with the utmost seriousness. Not only were horrid variables set into motion, the means for moving one and all along toward further ignorance and complicity regarding abominations were deplorable; the speeches were politically correct self-serving gestures in denial of the motion picture industry’s obsession with the box office popularity of violence and consumerism. Just as important too, arguably, is the fact that none of the accounts of the international press corps which I’ve been privy to (with the help of many translators of several foreign languages) said a word about Seth Meyers’ shameful behavior.
Sinful, a Christian might say.
Richard Martin Oxman can be reached at [email protected].
