ROGER SIMON writes: I’m an old-timer with the Oscars. I was invited in the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences writers’ branch nearly three decades ago, so I have had a long time to be blasé about the whole thing. And I am, more or less.
Earlier this year, the L.A. Times attempted to stir up controversy by pointing out the Academy was 94% Caucasian and 77% male. They didn’t give the percentage that are liberals (not their narrative), but I would guess that is somewhere around 80%, give or take a Clint Eastwood and a Robert Duvall or two.
This year, for the first time, we are voting online. This is no mean trick since the median age is 62 and I have a suspicion a serious number of geezer members are, shall we say, technologically challenged. (Evidently the powers that be are nervous, given the detailed explanatory emails we have been getting.) This particular voter, who has been running an online media company for seven years, even had minor problems when voting today that were taken care of speedily with a quick call to a 24-hour support line.