PATRICE GREANVILLE
[dropcap]J[/dropcap]oaquin Phoenix's seemingly impromptu and brave Oscar speech was way above and beyond the pampered audience's comfort zone and comprehension, clearly outside the usual insufferably egocentric drivel delivered by most award recipients, and yet they eventually rose to their feet, perhaps dimly aware of the depth and scope of the message, something that the media custodians of the status quo studiously failed to do. Their almost uniform response has ranged from outright scorn—as typified by the venom spat by the repulsive Murdoch rag, The New York Post—to hollowing out exactly all the major and substantive points in Phoenix's clear expression of personal beliefs. Joaquin's short oration covered all the bases: he attacked man's still large unquestioned alienation from nature and its enslavement; humans' tyranny over each other and fellow sentient (but helpless) creatures—speciesism; their pervasive and very capitalist-fueled tendency to see the world in terms of inevitable competition instead of collaboration, a fact that creates cold and hateful divisions where there ought to be fraternal love and integration—the ultimate cure for loneliness in an otherwise indifferent universe. Such important—nay, vital—points safely excised, what were we left with? With a lie: that Phoenix's whole speech had been nothing more than some badly understood homage to his late brother, River, removed by fate in his early 20s, and who, incidentally, shared Joaquin's values and was also a steadfast defender of animals, nature and an unyielding anti-imperialist and peace activist. I guess now you see why the presstitutes had to bleach the speech.
Ironically, while the mainstream "liberal" media did their best to hide and deform Joaquin's speech, it was none other than National Review, a bastion of conservatism, that offered one of the most balanced and fair accounts of the event. Since we always give credit where credit is due, and wear no obligatory "ideological" glasses, we salute NR for this outing. It was indeed decent of them to do so. Noted Mairead McArdle, with refreshing accuracy:
Joaquin Phoenix gave a discursive speech in which he both criticized “cancel” culture and advocated for social justice while accepting the Oscar for best actor for his performance in “The Joker” Sunday night. “I have been a scoundrel all my life, I’ve been selfish. I’ve been cruel at times, hard to work with, and I’m grateful that so many of you in this room have given me a second chance,” Phoenix said. “I think that’s when we’re at our best: when we support each other. Not when we cancel each other out for our past mistakes, but when we help each other to grow. When we educate each other; when we guide each other to redemption.” Phoenix also lamented the atomization of modern politics, arguing that Americans are too quick to identify with niche special interest groups rather than finding common ground with others. “I think at times we feel or are made to feel that we champion different causes. But for me, I see commonality. I think, whether we’re talking about gender inequality or racism or queer rights or indigenous rights or animal rights, we’re talking about the fight against injustice,” the 45-year-old actor said from the stage holding Hollywood’s top award. “We’re talking about the fight against the belief that one nation, one people, one race, one gender, one species, has the right to dominate, use and control another with impunity,” Phoenix continued at the politically-charged awards ceremony. Phoenix also called out the dairy industry in particularly graphic fashion, saying that humans “feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow and steal her baby, even though her cries of anguish are unmistakable. Then we take her milk that’s intended for her calf and we put it in our coffee and our cereal.” Several other actors gave speeches with a political flavor, from director Julia Reichert’s call for “workers of the world unite,” a reference to “The Communist Manifesto” to Brad Pitt’s criticism of the presidential impeachment trial. (M. McArdle, Joaquin Phoenix Criticizes Cancel Culture in Oscars Acceptance Speech, National Review, 10 February 2020) |
QED.
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I don’t watch those shows, so thank you for posting this here. Otherwise I’d have missed this speech, full of integrity, solidarity, and and good sense.