I have had some health issues pop back the last couple of days so I didn't go to church yesterday. I read most of the day, but I finished what I was reading around 7 so I turned on the TV for a little bit. I ended up on what I thought was the Oscars, but turns out it was the pre-show fashion show. I watched for about 10 minutes and then I had to turn it off. I couldn't believe that so much time was dedicated completely towards critiquing every last person that showed up. What they were wearing, how their hair was done, who they were with, what purse they were carrying, what nail polish they had on, if they had a bugger hanging out their nose... OK, probably not the last two, but that is what it felt like. Don't get me wrong, I sometimes like looking at different fashion magazines, but the fact that so much time was spent on this seemed like a complete waste of everyone's time. The fact that there were people riveted to their tv watching this was unfathomable to me.
Which got me thinking about the Oscars in general. Did you know that when someone is nominated for an Oscar but doesn't win they receive a gift basket worth $45,000? Yeah, you read that right. The nominees who don't win receive gifts worth more than a lot of families make in an entire year! Now I don't know how many awards they actually give out, but let's say there are 100 Oscars actually given. That means that for all the Oscars that are won there are 500 losers. That is a grand total of $22,500,000 spent on the losers. I did the math twice. Over 22 million dollars given out to the losers. Please understand, I am a conservative Republican. I believe in and support capitalism. I do not believe that taking money from those who have earned it and giving it to others will ever work. My question is, why are these actors and actresses, the vast majority of whom spout support of green living and Obamacare and taxing the wealthy more, not taking a stand and insisting that the 22 million dollars be used for something other than gift certificates for spending a day at clown school? Yeah, that was a real prize this year. A chance to go to clown school. I can't make this stuff up people!
Seriously though, that money could have been used for so much good. Support for the victims of Sandy who are still struggling to rebuild. Clean water for how many villages in Africa. Any number of children or research hospitals. Schools struggling to keep their art programs alive. Good grief, give it to a company that will provide electric cars to people. I don't care what it goes to, but couldn't it be spend better? It's not like we're asking them to give up money they have legitimately earned. Just prizes that are worth money that other people want to give them. It literally makes me feel ill to think of the amount of money that was wasted last night. And makes me angry to think about all of those people who received those gifts and then turn around and use their status to talk about how horrible our country is because we don't take care of those in need.
OK, I feel a little bit better having vented. I hope I didn't offend anyone who genuinely likes watching the Oscars, that wasn't my point. I just wanted to shed a little light on something that I never knew myself until this year.
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