Why was the tag 'Oscars too white' not considered racist

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Can someone tell me, why that tag wasnt considered racist, when if a tag that said NBA,NFL too black (not my opnion - just hypothetical), would have sent the internet into meltdown, and have whoever came up with those tags forever exiled?

Now to those people that have no issue with that tag when it came out before the Oscars a few years ago, let me say this - many non Caucasians throughout the Oscars have won big, not just been nominated (as was the case with Will Smith for Ali, but won the award. Let me read off a couple of names: Denzel Washington - won twice arguably making him one of the great actors of all time, Forrest Whitaker, Haley Berry, Cuba Gooding Jnr, the director of 12 years a slave (i apologize for not knowing his name), Jamie Foxx and many others. If the Oscars and the people that vote were so racist, why would these people have won? To win an Oscar, one needs a vast majority votes to give them the win over the next person/movie.

Speaking of which, although the subject material was terrible, 12 Years a Slave was a huge sucess at the box office, a movie made by an african american, starring african americans. This year Black Klansmen and Black Panther, im assuming will be nominated for best picture.

So im struggling to see how the Oscars were/are 'Too white" as that twitter tag claimed. Like i said, imagine if someone claimed the NFL was 'Too black' you would never hear from them again.

Also id just point out that for whatever reason, people seem to pace more ownis on the 'Big 4 categories, when in reality, hundreds, if not thousands of people work on movies, especially the big ones, and these people are of every race under the sun.

Final point, at the end of the day its the people that buy the movie tickets that will decide which actors, actresses and directors stay in the game and keep being in, making movies, regardless of their race. Case in point (generalization), if Denzel Washington, stopped taking in big takings for his movies, the movie companies, may not hire his services as much. Is that racist, or just purely business?

Going back to the title, why was that tag not considered racist and put in its place. Can you imagine if it had been 'Oscars too Jewish'? Yet Too white was okay?

To anyone that posts replies, please be respectful and state your case in a civil manner without putting anyone down, especially anyone on here.



I just find it really annoying how every couple of years, if not every year, the pc police find something about the academy awards to be offended by. Back then it was the oscars being too white.

Now its the call for Kevin Hart to be dropped as the host this year. I think its absolutely absurd that he cant host for things he said 10 years ago. By the way, Ellen Degeneras said Kevin Hart should host it.



I don't think Kevin Hart is a particularly good comedian, but yeah, it's idiotic that he can't host because of some ridiculous stuff he posted on Twitter a decade ago.

"Oscars too white" was indeed a contraproductive case of racism masquerading as anti-racism. Just like the recent Hollywood movement that's calling for film productions to always have at least 50% women working for every project is sexism masquerading as anti-sexism.

But some people don't mind throwing their principles away (for a while) in order to get the result they want. They see it as the only fast enough way to reach significant change.
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The tag "Oscars are too white" is indeed racist AND totally inaccurate as of the 21st century. I made this post back in 2015 when Al Sharpton was showing his bigotry complaing too many white people won Oscars...
If we look at the numbers of black actor nominees and winners vs the percentage of black Americans...what do we get? This pretty much tells the story.

At the Academy Awards in the 21st century.

10% of all acting nominees were blacks
14% of all winners were blacks
12.6% of the US population is black

Doesn't sound like the Academy Awards are racist to me.



My thoughts exactly. Those figures match up very much with society - 12.% of the US population is black. And yet to the 10% of nominees being black and 14% of winners being black, apparently to the PC police isnt enough. For them i guess, they wont be happy until every non white nominee wins in every category.

Apparently in today's PC /me too era (by the way, good decent men such as Dustin Hoffman have been put over the coals for things they may or may not have said 20 years ago!) if a white person wins one of the big 3 awards, it is somehow due to white privilege. According to these people they were handed the award on a platter for their skin color. Never mind the fact that these people worked hard their entire lives, and spent a vast majority of their career doing small roles (Kevin Kostner), or worked tirelessly to get to the very top (Leonardo Dicaprio).

It just really bugs me that in 2019 we are now at the point where an african american (thats right, an african american) comedian cant even host the oscars and fulfill a lifetime dream , because of something they tweeted about 10 years ago. Never mind that he said he apologised a the time, and that he says he is a different, more mature person now.

By the way, i live in Australia, which must be the epicentre of the PC world. For in politics here, all they bang on about is having equal representation of women in parliament, not important things such as, i dont know, getting people employed, providing good healthcare, education.



Just to show the absurdity of it all, whether its oscars too white, or more recently not enough women getting recognition at the oscars (even those there are two main categories just for the female gender), Lady GaGa, said in an acceptance speach at the Golden Globes that it was very hard for woman to get into the music industry.

Does she know that she is a female? Shes only one of the biggest female artists on the planet, along with Katy Perry, Taylor Swift and Adelle, last time i checked they were female, and whooping male artists big time, i cant even think of male artists bigger than them. I would argue that males find it just as hard to make it big in music (and movie) industries. Just as many men, i would argue, fail to make it in Hollywood, the music industry, as do females.

But here we see poor multimillionaire Lady GaGa pushing yet another thing onto us.

Im just so sick of it all, can we just have the oscars and whoever wins, wins? Is that too much to ask.



By the way, to the genius that said its impossible to be racist towards white people, the vast majority of people that were victims of the Jewish Holocaust were white. If that person isnt big on books and prefers movies, watch Schindlers List.


Hence why I put "This is satire" in said post
Calm down.
We all agree that the modern movement of snowflake millennials is a pain in the ass.


And if you still feel offended by my satirical comment that makes reference toward inequality toward white people... it might make a difference to know that I'm mixed race.



Hence why I put "This is satire" in said post
Calm down.
We all agree that the modern movement of snowflake millennials is a pain in the ass.


And if you still feel offended by my satirical comment that makes reference toward inequality toward white people... it might make a difference to know that I'm mixed race.
I do apologize. I was actually about to delete the post. Im not offended at all. I shouldnt have replied in that manner.



The Left is hyper-focused on identity politics. They don't seem to care who should have a job or win an award based on performance; the only thing that matters to them is diversity representation of gender and race. Thus, if, coincidentally, all of the people nominated for best actor and best actress are white, they will complain. They want certain races and genders represented whether or not those people actually have the ability to do the job or whether or not they did the best job and should win the nomination and/or the award.



The reason that this only seems to go one way is because they also have a hierarchy of victim-hood. It does not matter that most NBA players are black even though they only make up 12% of the population.The Left will never fight to get more white people into the NBA. To them, People of Color (Black, Hispanic, Indian, Asian, whatever) are bigger victims than Whites. Thus, POC > White. To them, Non-straight people are bigger victims than straight people. Thus, Non-straight > straight. To them, women are bigger victims than men. To them, Thus, women > men. To them, liberals are bigger victims than conservatives. Thus liberals > conservatives. Thus, in their hierarchy, the top person (i.e. victim) who should be upheld and glorified every time is a liberal, lesbian (or bi or pan or whatever non-straight), female (or non-binary, just not a male) person of color. The lowest ranked person is a conservative, straight, white male (which I am).



Due to the left's obsession with gender and race, inter-sectional hierarchy and the double-standards which result from the first two items, the left will always fight for numerical representation of genders and races when it will improve the lot of their hierarchical "victims" (like screaming about the Oscars being "too white" when they believe that there are not enough non-whites in the mix), but they will always ignore numerical representation of genders and races when their "victims" have the advantage (such as the number of black players in the NBA).


The weirdest part is that the left, the people who believe that everybody else is so racist/sexist, because they obsess and focus so much on race and gender, are the actual racists and sexists themselves. However, due to their sexist and racist hierarchy, they cannot see it; they actually believe that only whites can be racist and only men can be sexist. Therefore, by their "logic", it does not matter how badly things are for men in any given situation, they will always side with the women and it does not matter how badly things are for whites in any given situation, they will always side with the non-white.



That is why, in the left's minds, "the Oscars are too white" is not racist (even though it actually is), but if anybody ever brought up a statement "the NBA is too black" (which is equally as racist, but equally as valid as the other statement), they would be crucified as racist by the left.



I hope that this helps.



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People are to easily offended these days. Racism is being made worse by media and all other crap. Honestly it's ridiculous. My child can't say Baa Baa Black Sheep anymore in school, I mean C'mon. Racism is getting blown out of hand now.
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Let's not make assumptions, again.. I'm left-of-center, and I won't even mention race because of these silly litmus tests, but because there are more pressing issues. I think alternative oppressor and victim is the opposite of progressive. I'll say it again -- they aren't liberal - just grifters. Half the time it isn't black people; it's usually "elitist whitey" telling black people what they can or cannot handle, which is the ultimate form of prejudice.



Personally, I only want the BEST to win anything. I am not in support of affirmation action (anymore) because I think it's counter-productive, it doesn't work (unless you count throwing a bone occasionally), and it creates resentment among everyone, even non-white/blacks, because others feel left out.


Can't we just be people?



Welcome to the human race...
Can someone tell me, why that tag wasnt considered racist, when if a tag that said NBA,NFL too black (not my opnion - just hypothetical), would have sent the internet into meltdown, and have whoever came up with those tags forever exiled?
Because racism isn't as simple as all instances of one race arbitrarily hating another being considered equal regardless of context. In the case of the tag, it was acknowledging the Academy's institutional bias towards honouring white people over non-white people (hitting an extreme in a year where all the acting nominees ended up being white). As for why it's different to a hypothetical tag targeting black people, it's because for a variety of reasons white people have had it easier than black people so whites can much more easily afford to be taken down a peg.

Now to those people that have no issue with that tag when it came out before the Oscars a few years ago, let me say this - many non Caucasians throughout the Oscars have won big, not just been nominated (as was the case with Will Smith for Ali, but won the award. Let me read off a couple of names: Denzel Washington - won twice arguably making him one of the great actors of all time, Forrest Whitaker, Haley Berry, Cuba Gooding Jnr, the director of 12 years a slave (i apologize for not knowing his name), Jamie Foxx and many others. If the Oscars and the people that vote were so racist, why would these people have won? To win an Oscar, one needs a vast majority votes to give them the win over the next person/movie.
This sounds a lot like "I'm not racist because I have a black friend" logic, though. It's not so much a matter of all 6000 or so Academy members all hating black people as it is that they "just happen" to prefer picking white people roughly 90% of the time. That's what's meant by it being an institutional thing - nobody is necessarily thinking "I hate black people", but the numbers are still skewed enough that one has to at least try asking what's causing this rather than settling for easy answers.

Also id just point out that for whatever reason, people seem to pace more ownis on the 'Big 4 categories, when in reality, hundreds, if not thousands of people work on movies, especially the big ones, and these people are of every race under the sun.
Because they're the most high-profile and individualistic categories, obviously.

Final point, at the end of the day its the people that buy the movie tickets that will decide which actors, actresses and directors stay in the game and keep being in, making movies, regardless of their race. Case in point (generalization), if Denzel Washington, stopped taking in big takings for his movies, the movie companies, may not hire his services as much. Is that racist, or just purely business?
I thought we were talking about the Oscars, a ceremony that's so (relatively) unpopular it actively considered introducing a "Best Popular Film" award to compensate for how many of its nominees are not financial blockbusters.

Because it's impossible to be racist toward white people.


Edit, this is meant to be satire by the way.
Poe's Law, dude. When you consider how much white people managed to weave racism into the fabric of modern civilisation, It's practically impossible for people of colour to match up to that particular level of racism.

I just find it really annoying how every couple of years, if not every year, the pc police find something about the academy awards to be offended by. Back then it was the oscars being too white.

Now its the call for Kevin Hart to be dropped as the host this year. I think its absolutely absurd that he cant host for things he said 10 years ago. By the way, Ellen Degeneras said Kevin Hart should host it.
Well yeah, how else are the Oscars supposed to evolve along with society?

The tag "Oscars are too white" is indeed racist AND totally inaccurate as of the 21st century. I made this post back in 2015 when Al Sharpton was showing his bigotry complaing too many white people won Oscars...
Which only begs the question of how the percentage of white nominees/winners compares against the percentage of white Americans (and that's without factoring in the existence of non-black people of colour like Asians or Latinxs)? I realise there are certain complicating factors to consider like nominees from different countries and whatnot, but what if there's a more significant discrepancy between the white population and white Oscar nods?

My thoughts exactly. Those figures match up very much with society - 12.% of the US population is black. And yet to the 10% of nominees being black and 14% of winners being black, apparently to the PC police isnt enough. For them i guess, they wont be happy until every non white nominee wins in every category.
It seems even more presumptuous to act like black people should learn to be happy with winning 10% of the Oscars simply because they make up 10% of the population.

Apparently in today's PC /me too era (by the way, good decent men such as Dustin Hoffman have been put over the coals for things they may or may not have said 20 years ago!) if a white person wins one of the big 3 awards, it is somehow due to white privilege. According to these people they were handed the award on a platter for their skin color. Never mind the fact that these people worked hard their entire lives, and spent a vast majority of their career doing small roles (Kevin Kostner), or worked tirelessly to get to the very top (Leonardo Dicaprio).
But non-white actors who also work hard their entire lives have to be satisfied with winning a number of Oscars proportionate to their percentage of the U.S. population?

It just really bugs me that in 2019 we are now at the point where an african american (thats right, an african american) comedian cant even host the oscars and fulfill a lifetime dream , because of something they tweeted about 10 years ago. Never mind that he said he apologised a the time, and that he says he is a different, more mature person now.
Did he actually apologise, though? Seems like he's just done a lot of half-assing and acting defensively both in the past and recently whereas doing a single sincere apology that acknowledges the issue and the need to do better would be better than repeating himself unnecessarily and pulling the kind of you-can't-fire-me-I-quit thing that doesn't suggest as much maturity as you'd think.

By the way, i live in Australia, which must be the epicentre of the PC world. For in politics here, all they bang on about is having equal representation of women in parliament, not important things such as, i dont know, getting people employed, providing good healthcare, education.
Dude, I live in Australia and there is no way in hell I'd consider it the "epicentre of the PC world". This is the same Australia where senators publicly support neo-Nazis and the two largest political parties enable the continued mistreatment of asylum seekers on a level that is officially considered a humanitarian crisis, but sure, daring to focus on representation of women in the face of dinosaurs like Joyce or Leyonhjelm is the real problem here.

Just to show the absurdity of it all, whether its oscars too white, or more recently not enough women getting recognition at the oscars (even those there are two main categories just for the female gender), Lady GaGa, said in an acceptance speach at the Golden Globes that it was very hard for woman to get into the music industry.

Does she know that she is a female? Shes only one of the biggest female artists on the planet, along with Katy Perry, Taylor Swift and Adelle, last time i checked they were female, and whooping male artists big time, i cant even think of male artists bigger than them. I would argue that males find it just as hard to make it big in music (and movie) industries. Just as many men, i would argue, fail to make it in Hollywood, the music industry, as do females.

But here we see poor multimillionaire Lady GaGa pushing yet another thing onto us.

Im just so sick of it all, can we just have the oscars and whoever wins, wins? Is that too much to ask.
Which is why every single woman who's ever tried to be a rich and famous musician definitely became a rich and famous musician.
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Because racism isn't as simple as all instances of one race arbitrarily hating another being considered equal regardless of context. In the case of the tag, it was acknowledging the Academy's institutional bias towards honouring white people over non-white people (hitting an extreme in a year where all the acting nominees ended up being white).
Where is the evidence of bias?

As for why it's different to a hypothetical tag targeting black people, it's because for a variety of reasons white people have had it easier than black people so whites can much more easily afford to be taken down a peg.
You're saying a group of people can afford to be taken down a peg based solely on the color of their skin. That is racist.

This sounds a lot like "I'm not racist because I have a black friend" logic, though. It's not so much a matter of all 6000 or so Academy members all hating black people as it is that they "just happen" to prefer picking white people roughly 90% of the time. That's what's meant by it being an institutional thing - nobody is necessarily thinking "I hate black people", but the numbers are still skewed enough that one has to at least try asking what's causing this rather than settling for easy answers.
So white people get picked 90% of the time, and it's because the Academy prefers it this way. How could you know that?

Poe's Law, dude. When you consider how much white people managed to weave racism into the fabric of modern civilisation, It's practically impossible for people of colour to match up to that particular level of racism.
I assume that black people are just as racist as white people. I assume this because I don't think skin color is an indicator of one's feelings.

Which only begs the question of how the percentage of white nominees/winners compares against the percentage of white Americans (and that's without factoring in the existence of non-black people of colour like Asians or Latinxs)? I realise there are certain complicating factors to consider like nominees from different countries and whatnot, but what if there's a more significant discrepancy between the white population and white Oscar nods?
What if there is?

It seems even more presumptuous to act like black people should learn to be happy with winning 10% of the Oscars simply because they make up 10% of the population.
You could also say it's presumptuous to act like white people should learn to be happy with winning 90%. People would do better to worry about their own individuality than to lump themselves into any particular group.

Did he actually apologise, though? Seems like he's just done a lot of half-assing and acting defensively both in the past and recently whereas doing a single sincere apology that acknowledges the issue and the need to do better would be better than repeating himself unnecessarily and pulling the kind of you-can't-fire-me-I-quit thing that doesn't suggest as much maturity as you'd think.
Just the idea that he needs to apologize is sad.



Welcome to the human race...
Where is the evidence of bias?
The vast majority of winners/nominees being white? In fairness, most of that is because the Academy is a by-product of a majority-white society so it took ages to really start developing any palpable sense of parity.

You're saying a group of people can afford to be taken down a peg based solely on the color of their skin. That is racist.
And yet I managed to justify it on non-racist terms in the part you didn't bold.

So white people get picked 90% of the time, and it's because the Academy prefers it this way. How could you know that?
Re-read the part after the line you bolded. I don't automatically think this is a conscious choice on the part of Academy members, if only because I think it might be bigger than individual members.

I assume that black people are just as racist as white people. I assume this because I don't think skin color is an indicator of one's feelings.
I assume black people have more justifiable reasons for hating white people than the reverse so I have trouble thinking of them as completely equal forms of racism (to the point where I question how much the former really counts as racism).

What if there is?
Then there might actually be the numbers to back up the idea that the Academy maintains a bias (conscious or not) towards white nominees.

You could also say it's presumptuous to act like white people should learn to be happy with winning 90%. People would do better to worry about their own individuality than to lump themselves into any particular group.
Easy enough to do when your specific groups all overlap into the default individual, I guess.

Just the idea that he needs to apologize is sad.
Why? There's no shame in owning up to past mistakes and moving forward as a wiser person.



Just to show the absurdity of it all, whether its oscars too white, or more recently not enough women getting recognition at the oscars (even those there are two main categories just for the female gender), Lady GaGa, said in an acceptance speach at the Golden Globes that it was very hard for woman to get into the music industry.

Does she know that she is a female? Shes only one of the biggest female artists on the planet, along with Katy Perry, Taylor Swift and Adelle, last time i checked they were female, and whooping male artists big time, i cant even think of male artists bigger than them. I would argue that males find it just as hard to make it big in music (and movie) industries. Just as many men, i would argue, fail to make it in Hollywood, the music industry, as do females.

But here we see poor multimillionaire Lady GaGa pushing yet another thing onto us
Oscars aside, the women you are quoting have already made it big in the music industry through their own sheer hard work. With due respect you do have to look at the music industry as a whole and tell me that using the population statistics you are quoting for race, you can't go on and tell me that 50% of the successful music acts/producers/songwriters are women? There must be a reason for that? Maybe cos it's hard for women to break into the music industry?



Oscars aside, the women you are quoting have already made it big in the music industry through their own sheer hard work. With due respect you do have to look at the music industry as a whole and tell me that using the population statistics you are quoting for race, you can't go on and tell me that 50% of the successful music acts/producers/songwriters are women? There must be a reason for that? Maybe cos it's hard for women to break into the music industry?
Imagine yourself being filmed by some idiot, as he strokes your hair. You are dithering, walking around with a cigarette. This idiot asks you, "Does your mum know you smoke?" You turn and look in a full-length mirror, and say, demurely: "Yes."



The vast majority of winners/nominees being white? In fairness, most of that is because the Academy is a by-product of a majority-white society so it took ages to really start developing any palpable sense of parity.
And that is only the tip of the iceberg.

And yet I managed to justify it on non-racist terms in the part you didn't bold.
Yes, but I don't equate abusers or victims of the past with people of today. One could if they like, but I believe people need to put the past behind them in order to move ahead.

Re-read the part after the line you bolded. I don't automatically think this is a conscious choice on the part of Academy members, if only because I think it might be bigger than individual members.
Sure, but there's still no evidence.

I assume black people have more justifiable reasons for hating white people than the reverse so I have trouble thinking of them as completely equal forms of racism (to the point where I question how much the former really counts as racism).
Again, I guess it just depends how far back in the past you want to go and it's a very complicated issue. I do stand by my thought that today racism come equally from blacks and whites, and it's all bad.

Then there might actually be the numbers to back up the idea that the Academy maintains a bias (conscious or not) towards white nominees.
I don't think numbers can show bias, and again, I don't think making comparisons to population numbers tells the whole story.

Why? There's no shame in owning up to past mistakes and moving forward as a wiser person.
I'm just a strong believer in free speech, and when talking about a comedian it's even more irrelevant as far as I'm concerned. If he wants to apologize, he should. Nobody should apologize out of pressure to do so.


I think you and many of us want the same thing Iro but we just have different perspectives on roots and how to get there.



Oscars aside, the women you are quoting have already made it big in the music industry through their own sheer hard work. With due respect you do have to look at the music industry as a whole and tell me that using the population statistics you are quoting for race, you can't go on and tell me that 50% of the successful music acts/producers/songwriters are women? There must be a reason for that? Maybe cos it's hard for women to break into the music industry?
This is such a loaded question. Obviously men and women are equal but at the same time they are different and will make different choices, so the results will never be equal as long as there's free choice. Who knows?