Hollywood’s smugness

Matt Stone once said “There’s something uniquely aggravating about the smugness of liberal Hollywood.” And nothing more perfectly highlights that better than Oscar night.

This evening, dedicated by actors and actresses to celebrate other actors and actresses, is the epitome of ego. The problem, however, isn’t just that these people have forgotten (it seems) that, in the grand scheme of things, they really are little more than trained monkeys playing a role (even when the role is that of a real person). The problem is that they genuinely believe that they matter more than the rest of us.

Take Oscar winner Viola Davis’s comment for instance. While Davis is clearly a very talented actress who, I’m sure, deserved her trophy, her comments are indicative of the problem of Hollywood. During her acceptance speech she said, “I became an artist, and thank God I did, Viola Davis at the Oscars. because we are the only profession that celebrates what it means to live a life.”

No offence to Ms. Davis, but I find those comments insulting, patronizing, and self-serving. Her “profession,” after all, is to pretend to be someone, not actually be them. In fact we, the viewing public, pay to watch her and people of her “profession” do just that, not lecture us on how important they feel they are.

Now compare Ms. Davis’s comments to genuine people, like my Grade 3 teacher, Mr. Bob Biderman. Mr. Biderman did not become “famous” or rich “playing” a role. He studied, worked hard for years, and actually became a teacher. In so doing, he inspired me (and still does) to become a better man than I ever thought I could be, and still can be.

What of my friend and brother Chad Stewart in Alberta? He does not merely “play” the part of a fireman and paramedic. He actually studied and worked hard to become one; all the while working a full-time job to support a family of four (and he’s a guy who saves lives too!) Where is his fame, his glory, his riches?

And what of the countless others, wonderful “average” people we all know, who struggle every day to work in less glamorous and less paid jobs, like pastors, policemen, truck drivers, or garbagemen? These people are do not merely “celebrate what it means to live life” as Davis said, they actually live life, and most do so with the quiet humility and lack of pompous self-importance that the Hollywood elite has no concept of.

So, while I, and the general public, appreciate the talents of people like Ms. Davis and truly enjoy the magic that Hollywood brings into our ordinary lives, that appreciation ends when they, “thank God” for themselves. I don’t. impacts of on-road diesel emissions in 2015 had a negative incremental health cost of $2.5 billion.

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To downplay these impacts, as Dr. Kindzierski’s piece does, is irresponsible.

Fortunately, Canada has a national air quality management system which is predicated on sound and proven air-quality management actions underpinned by the best science available on air-quality related health and environmental impacts. This approach will continue to help Canada meet the goal of keeping our air clean and keeping Canadians healthy.