Those Hollywood speeches

We’re mere hours away from the 2017 Oscars and you know what that means.

Yep, prepare to listen to a bunch of overpaid court jesters take turns telling a global audience what’s wrong with the entertainment industry, society, politics and the world in general.

Does that concern you? Are you among the crowd wishing entertainers would leave their politics at home?

Here’s a suggestion. You might want to steer clear of the 89^th Academy Awards Sunday night.

Oh, oh, one more question.

Do you like to refer to liberal entertainers as snowflakes? Yes? That’s hilarious; I hope you see the humor in that.

Moving on.

Yes, awards shows have become a sounding board for performers to share their minds about just about anything.

The treatment of Native Americans in the film industry, Palestinian statehood, deaf awareness, abortion, roles for black women in Hollywood, war, gay rights, corporate fraud, women-centered movies, AIDS awareness, Russian military oppression, open government, equal pay for women, treatment of immigrants, voting rights, mass incarcerations, Alzheimer’s awareness and climate change have all been topics over the years.

I mean, who do these people think they are?

We don’t pay them to think, to have opinions, to give a flying flip about oppressed people. Really, they’re not important; it’s not like we would choose the star of a reality TV series to run the country or anything.

They just need to do their little song and dance, then thank us vociferously when we toss them a coin, and then scurry on their way. Be seen and not heard.

Right?

Who cares?

As you should be able to tell, I don’t have any problem with entertainers – particularly during an awards show by them and about them and before an audience of mostly their peers – using this platform to talk about whatever they want. Seriously, it’s not required listening, there will be no test on Monday. Anyone who doesn’t like it should turn it off, especially if you have heart problems.

If you do not want to hear them, but you want to know who wins, follow along on Twitter or on the Oscar’s site or IMDB or dozens of other places that will list each award as it’s presented.

As for me, I seldom watch awards shows, mostly because I’m not up on current music and don’t watch an awful lot of television and contemporary theater. But this year, I will watch the Oscars. I am hoping they are all in fine form.

And I’m tickled to know Meryl Streep is presenting an award, just in case she doesn’t win one this year.