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Do the Oscars Need Quotas?
Townhall.com ^ | January 29, 2016 | Brent Bozell

Posted on 01/29/2016 7:10:43 AM PST by Kaslin

For a conservative, perhaps nothing in popular culture is more amusing than watching leftist Hollywood beat itself up with the battle cry "Oscars So White." For a group of people that can't possibly assemble at awards shows without making egregious displays of what passes for "progressive thought," this fight over putative racism is as entertaining as the movies themselves. Grab some popcorn.

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith pompously announced they will not be attending the Oscars because no best-acting nominee is black. In a YouTube video, Jada declared, "Begging for acknowledgment, or even asking, diminishes dignity and diminishes power." One of the funnier memes on the Internet presents an aerial view of the sprawling $42 million Smith mansion in Malibu (with pool, tennis court and basketball court) to clash with the notion of racist Hollywood.

It was completely predictable that gay actor Ian McKellen would get in the belly-aching parade, complaining no openly gay actor has won the Oscar, spurring headlines lamenting that "Homophobia is as much a problem as racism in Hollywood." If anyone thinks that in 2016, Hollywood is a hotbed of almost-biblical protests of homosexuality, even as "cisgender" actor Eddie Redmayne is nominated for best actor for playing a "transgender pioneer," there's been too much medical marijuana in the air.

Just two years ago, NPR television critic Eric Deggans sat on a politically correct cloud nine. The Oscars broadcast ended with black director Steve McQueen accepting a best picture Oscar for "12 Years a Slave." Lupita Nyong'o won best actress for that film, and John Ridley won the best adapted screenplay award.

Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron was the first Latino to win best director for "Gravity," and Robert Lopez was hailed as the first Filipino-American to win best song for the anthem "Let It Go" from "Frozen."

The show was hosted by lesbian comic Ellen DeGeneres and the top male acting prizes went to Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto for "Dallas Buyers Club," about the early spread of AIDS. Deggans asked back then: "But amid all the celebration of diversity in a movie industry where such notions too often seem a second thought, a new concern arises: Can this progress last?"

Apparently, that was not enough. Truth is, nothing will ever be enough. This industry lives to cry for the oppressed.

The only "progressive" solution is for an affirmative action Oscars. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences needs to create nomination "set-asides" so that no category excludes racial minorities, gays, transgenders and perhaps actors who are "in the country illegally."

The Oscar nominations are decided by a loose democracy of almost 7,000 people. The Academy tried to stuff the ballot boxes by adding hundreds of minorities to the voting body in the last year, but it wasn't enough. Quotas might be the next step. If America can't be trusted to avoid racism without quotas, why should Hollywood?

It's only natural that liberal Hollywood should punish itself. The problem is that is both the oppressor and the victim. Maybe eventually someone will be infected with a case of common sense. Don't count on it. This is the world of make-believe.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
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1 posted on 01/29/2016 7:10:43 AM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

Didn’t the Supreme Court recently rule against affirmative action?


2 posted on 01/29/2016 7:13:12 AM PST by Pilgrim's Progress (http://www.baptistbiblebelievers.com/BYTOPICS/tabid/335/Default.aspx D)
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To: Kaslin

Suggestion:

Affirmative Action Oscar — for someone or something black.


3 posted on 01/29/2016 7:16:22 AM PST by TomGuy
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To: Kaslin

Some guy wrote an article a few weeks ago where he compiled all the black Oscar winners and nominees from the past 20 years and it came in at 16% which is higher than the percentage of blacks in the US population which is 13% while Hispanic and Asian actors are almost never nominated much less win. Conclusion: Will Smith and his beard Jada are millionaire cry babies because they feel their arses aren’t being kissed enough, although I’m sure Will would prefer it be kissed by a man.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/alexis-arquette-calls-gay-jada-smith-article-1.2502091


4 posted on 01/29/2016 7:16:27 AM PST by GrandJediMasterYoda (Can we please kill the guy already who invented the saying "My bad"?)
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To: Pilgrim's Progress

Yes the do need quotas.

So as they can be even more meaningless than they are now.


5 posted on 01/29/2016 7:17:11 AM PST by Bidimus1
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To: Kaslin

They absolutely need quotas.

Hoist the Hollywood libs on their own petard.

Poor White Leo. He is really campaigning this season. Even stooped to visit the Pope about climate change


6 posted on 01/29/2016 7:19:24 AM PST by RummyChick
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To: Kaslin

Every other business has them.


7 posted on 01/29/2016 7:19:35 AM PST by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: Kaslin

Of course they need quotas.

It’s another way they can become more meaningless.

The fact that this is even being considered shows how ridiculous things have become.

Why not just hand out Oscars for participating like they do now in some sports leagues for children.

Then EVERYBODY can go home happy.

.


8 posted on 01/29/2016 7:22:32 AM PST by Mears
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To: GrandJediMasterYoda

Simple solution, combine the Academy Award with the BET award, and only allow minorities to participate.

And while we are at it, recall all previous awards to any non-minority and melt them down.

Oh, don’t forget the Walk of Fame in Hollywood, tear up any and all STARS that are not for a minority.

I wonder if this would be enough?

Maybe we need a law, no non-minority can appear in any media.

I wonder if this would be enough?

No, I did not think so.


9 posted on 01/29/2016 7:25:56 AM PST by CIB-173RDABN (I think it would be ironic if Hillary was arrested the day after she secures the nomination.)
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To: Kaslin

i have a better question: do the oscars even matter?


10 posted on 01/29/2016 7:28:39 AM PST by camle (keep an open mind and someone will fill it full of something for you)
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To: Kaslin

We need a quota of short balding overweight older White guys in the NBA. Last I looked there wasn’t a one of them! The bias!


11 posted on 01/29/2016 7:32:05 AM PST by RU88 (Bow to no man)
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To: Kaslin
This industry lives to cry for the oppressed.

All the whining and complaining about the "lack of color" at the Oscars epitomizes the darkness and vacuity of modern liberalism.

For liberals, the glass is always half empty. Despite numerous black actors, directors, and filmmakers making tons of money, they're never satisfied. Many white liberals are joining their black brethren in protesting this awful "injustice" of some people with dark skin not getting a hunk of shiny metal.

Meanwhile, many of those protesters live lives better than the kings and queens of old. But because one year some people who resembled them aren't going to get a hunk of shiny metal, the U.S. is just a nasty, racist hellhole.

I think all liberals should be given a mental examination. I don't know if they can be helped, but maybe some could be locked away before they can do more damage.

12 posted on 01/29/2016 7:32:25 AM PST by driftless2 (For long term happiness, learn how to play the accordion)
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To: Kaslin

Yes to make them even more irrelevant than they are. Add a Participation category. Everyone who had anything to do with a movie gets a statue. That includes the concession stand and box office employees.


13 posted on 01/29/2016 7:36:07 AM PST by joshua c (Please dont feed the liberals)
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To: Kaslin

They already have the quotas! The Hollywood Cesspool is what it is. Every kind of freak that can be thought of.


14 posted on 01/29/2016 7:45:57 AM PST by Busko (The only thing that is certain is that nothing is certain.)
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To: Kaslin

A better question...

Does America need Oscars?


15 posted on 01/29/2016 7:51:52 AM PST by Fresh Wind (Falcon 105)
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To: Kaslin

For the next 10 years, only Asians should win.


16 posted on 01/29/2016 7:53:08 AM PST by Yaelle
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To: Kaslin

Yes , then maybe a good movie can get one


17 posted on 01/29/2016 7:53:17 AM PST by butlerweave
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To: Kaslin

To make up for the injustice and inequality of the past decades, all nominees going forward should be black and or “transgendered”. And only blacks should be in movies. All Hollywood progressives should be onboard.


18 posted on 01/29/2016 7:56:30 AM PST by all the best
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To: Kaslin

Just have a Black Oscars and Latino Oscars, problem solved.


19 posted on 01/29/2016 7:58:07 AM PST by dfwgator
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To: camle

Does Tyler Perry care about that the Academy thinks of his movies?


20 posted on 01/29/2016 7:58:55 AM PST by dfwgator
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