The Posse Weighs In On What Went Down At The Oscars

Books By Patti Liszkay
​Available On Amazon

​"Equal and Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
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​THE POSSE WEIGHS IN ON WHAT WENT DOWN AT THE OSCARS

        Yesterday I got together with my Wednesday morning girl group, formerly known as the Panera Posse,

...now the Zoom Posse,

​...to spend a few hours, as we've been doing for many years worth of Wednesdays, discussing,  dissecting, dissertating and group-thinking a plethora of topics ranging from the personal to the local to the national to the global to the cosmic.

     Yesterday we naturally got around to weighing in on Will Smith's assault of Chris Rock last Sunday night at the Oscars. 
     Though our reactions ranged from disapproval to disparagement to disgust over the whole business, what most vexed one member of our group was that one Hollywood celebrity smacked another Hollywood celebrity and now we're being bombarded nonstop with news updates and video replays and commentaries on the who, what, where and why of it, as if this were the most important event on the planet. Meanwhile Russia continues to destroy Ukraine but we're all forced to turn our attention to what went on among a batch of Hollywood glitterati at the Oscars.
         To which I responded, "But don't you see, it's all part of the same thing going on everywhere! Putin attacks Ukraine! A mob attacks the United States Capitol! Lindsay Graham and Josh Hawley and the rest of them verbally attack Ketanji Jackson! Donald Trump verbally attacks half the world! Will Smith attacks Chris Rock! People have started attacking trans folk with hurtful memes on my Facebook page! Everybody everywhere crosses every line and everybody thinks it's their right to assert themselves however they want over everything!" 
      However, after having had my say, I had to concede that my friend's comment did put L'affaire Will Smith/Chris Rock into perspective: On the scale of global events, it's getting far more publicity than it should merit. 
        One of the other members of the Posse offered that after Chris Rock's joke comparing Jada Pinkett Smith  to the character of G.I. Jane, 

...Ms. Pinkett Smith should have stood and taken a bow. I thoroughly agreed with this. Taking a bow at that moment would have shown real grace and class on Jada Pinkett Smith's part.
      I then suggested that if Will Smith had wished to show his support for his wife, instead of storming the stage in a rage he should have held his peace until he was called up to receive his award - or if he didn't receive an award he could have held a press conference after the ceremony - and shared his wife's struggle with alopecia, educated the world on this disease, and put in a word for women everywhere who, like his wife, suffer from alopecia. He could have honored his wife by telling the world how fine and brave and beautiful she would always be in his eyes. This then would have put Chris Rock in the position of being the déclassé boor who needed to explain himself and offer an apology. 
    The Smiths could have proved themselves before the world to be a class act. What they proved instead was that wealth, fame, success, and physical attractiveness,

...in no way equal class.

       And my Zoom Posse member was right: The thing is getting too much attention. And yet we're still not yet ready to stop weighing in on it.