On a “normal” day I am not a huge fan of awards shows. Over the last seven months they have felt especially out of touch during the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Israeli occupied Gaza and the West Bank, and government sanctioned brutality by police upon anti-genocide peaceful protestors across the country, mainly  Districts 11 and 12  college campuses. 

It is not lost on the average critical thinking person that U.S. students are skillfully utilizing the active shooter drill tactics they learned during primary and secondary education against members of the same organization that waited over an hour to breach the classroom and engage the shooter at Robb Elementary School in  Uvalde, TX. This same organization treated perpetrators of the treasonous January 6, 2021, domestic terrorism attack on democracy in a 180-degree fashion, if they engaged at all. 

At the aforementioned award shows, some A-listers have shown up wearing pins in solidarity and giving admirable speeches, but there have been no mass boycotts or joining the protests right outside the doors. Mark Ruffalo celebrated the protesting crowd outside the Oscars in March 2024, but he still made his way inside the venue for the festivities.

Yesterday, on Holocaust Remembrance Day, the eve of 214 days of genocide, and during the Israel led eradication of Rafah, hundreds of celebrities and artists galivanted on the Met Gala green carpet in fashions and spirit fit for the Panem Capitol. The theme was “The Garden of Time” (213 days). Attendees were serving apathy and District 1 elegance.

Conversely this past weekend, with schools in ruins, young Palestinian  girls were excited to don their school uniforms once again as they attended class under a tent, smiling and holding onto faith in all their beautiful youth and innocence. 

If you are not angry, you are not paying attention.
If you are silent, you are complicit.
If you are still unaware, you are willfully ignorant.
If you are still regurgitating the same rhetoric from seven months ago to justify a genocide, you are part of the problem.