Another Reason Not to Watch the Oscars

Like Steve, I haven’t watched the Oscars in a long time, certainly not in this century. Actually, the last Best Picture nominee I am aware of seeing is Beauty and the Beast, so my connection with Hollywood is tenuous.

I wouldn’t dream of watching what promises to be an anti-Trump smugfest, but here is one more reason to stay away: the New York Times is going to advertise its commitment to “truth” on the Oscar show.

The New York Times will broadcast a commercial called “The Truth Is Hard” during Sunday’s Academy Awards, just days after the company and other news organizations were blocked from joining an informal, on-the-record White House press briefing.

The 30-second ad includes audio from voices in the vein of news clips, talking about certain “truths,” from “the truth is our nation is more divided than ever” to “the truth is the media is dishonest.” It is the first television advertising from the Times since 2010 and its first brand-focused television ad in a decade.

The ad closes with: “The truth is hard. The truth is hard to find. The truth is hard to know. The truth is more important now than ever.”

Here is the original version of the ad, but as noted below, it will have a special twist for the Oscars. More on that later:

The Oscars ad placement makes sense for the Times. It won’t waste any money advertising to conservatives.

Listening to the Times’s multiple propositions about truth, I am reminded of a much older and more optimistic formulation from a far more reliable source: you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. Free of left-wing shills like the New York Times, although I don’t suppose that is what Jesus had in mind.

Here are screen shots of some of the propositions in the Times ad:

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By the way, I agree that we should investigate whether Barack Obama fulfilled his promise to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that he would sell out the U.S. in his second term. It certainly seemed that way.

I have no idea about this one:

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I have to say I agree with this one. Barack Obama not only didn’t try to unite the country, he did his best to divide it.

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I agree with this one, too. A number of Obama’s orders were unconstitutional:

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A lot of Democrats actually believe this:

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I am all in favor of truth, I just don’t think the New York Times is, on the controversial issues of the day, truthful or accurate. This is my reworking of one of the Times’s many truth-oriented ads:

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But that is not the end of the story. The Times has announced that tomorrow night, it will air a special version of the “truth” ad. In a rare display of courage, the Times will stand up for the right of celebrities to denounce Donald Trump! The First Amendment is under attack, right?

The Oscars version, running nationally, will sub in a pair of lines tailored to Hollywood viewers: “The truth is celebrities should keep their mouths shut. The truth is everyone has the right to speak their [sic] mind.”

Of course. Conservatives, too. And we also have the right to read a book rather than watch another dismal Oscars show.

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