My Protestant Oscar Predictions

[ATraveller]

Sharing this a bit late but it’s still a good read:

My Protestant Oscar Predictions | Carl R. Trueman

This year's Oscars will again display that identification of aesthetics with ethics which is now the default position of Western society.

www.firstthings.com

Think about it: The red carpet will provide us with a parade of beautiful people. That’s one way of looking at it. Here’s another: It will provide us with an endless stream of people who have cheated on spouses, betrayed friends, broken marriage vows, wrecked homes, had abortions. Those who have been exposed as sexual abusers may be less in evidence this year. But other than that, the usual carnival of corruption will be on full display. And it will be attractive, because it is physically beautiful.

In America, for many generations now, beauty has covered a multitude of sins. Or perhaps it is more accurate to say that beauty has turned a multitude of sins into an aspirational lifestyle. Of course, most Oscars viewers have about as much chance of attaining that lifestyle as of winning the New Jersey Lottery. Promiscuity can be indulged with relative impunity by the rich and famous, but it is utterly destructive for the poor. If, as Dr. Johnson said, lotteries are taxes on the gullible, then Hollywood sells a lifestyle whose mortgage is paid by the most vulnerable.

Hollywood’s products are like tobacco. It’s promoted as bringing coolness to the buyer but it ultimately harms and kills. If you’re rich you can get special top-notch treatment for the consequences but if you’re poor, you suffer with common folk healthcare.