It's Oscar Night! Oh boy!
And yet -- despite the fact I've seen pretty much all of the nominated films, scripts and performances this year and found most of them damn worthy of recognition -- I won't be watching the ceremonies.
Put my choice down to simply not wanting to participate in the sideshow.
For while the Academy Awards used to be about celebrating cinematic excellence, they've devolved into an evening of extremely wealthy and successful people championing their own social issues.
And I have no doubt many actually passionately care about whatever it is they'd rather talk about than the movie they were in. I just don't have anymore interest in which "victims" of whatever "oppression" they want to talk about.
To my mind, we've reached a time where most people don't honestly care who you tell people you are. They care about what you do.
Which brings me to something that happened in Canada this week.
After more than a year of Canadians pleading with the government to include Yazidi women in their much ballyhooed refugee policy, the Feds finally agreed to bring in 1500 of these ISIS victims.
For those not paying attention -- in September of 2014, ISIS thugs committed the largest mass kidnapping in human history, capturing 5000 Yazidi women and girls, members of a peaceful non-Muslim sect in Iraq that had never gone to war with anyone.
Those women and girls were forced to become sex slaves. Any who resisted were brutally murdered.
Anybody with half a heart would've thought they'd be the first we'd want to offer the safety and freedom of Canada. But they weren't.
And instead of getting on my own soapbox about all that, I want you to see a different side of this story -- previous captives and their Yazidi sisters who have picked up guns and are taking the fight back to ISIS.
So you can spend 3-4 hours tonight listening to people asking you to stand up for (insert their victim here) or join some kind of Hollywood "Star Wars" concept of resistance...or... you can take 40 minutes to watch real victims who are doing something to take care of their oppressors once and for all.
Talk is cheap. Actually doing something -- not so much.
Enjoy Your Sunday.
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