I was shocked when I heard the name of the film that won Best Picture at the Oscars because I didn’t know the Oscars were still a thing. “Anora won Best Picture??! Those awards are still being given out??!!!”

Anora, this year’s Best Picture, is a film about what used to be called a prostitute but is now called a ‘sex worker’ in an attempt to bring respectability to the industry that consistently destroys every soul it services. I’ve heard the film branded as ‘porn’ and given the subject matter, that assessment doesn’t seem far-fetched. Some of the Hollywood folks angrily insist it is NOT porn by rather, ‘art.’ Since these are the same people who can’t tell men from women, I suspect they can’t recognize smut even when it’s projected onto a gigantic screen in front of them.

There was a time when a pornographic film winning best picture at the Oscars would have bothered me but that time is over. By God’s good grace I have reached a place of blissful indifference to the affairs of Hollywood. The relentless affront to my sacred values and beliefs doesn’t raise my blood pressure even a little bit. Do you want to know why? (If you don’t, this is where you should stop reading.)

Pop culture is not MY culture.

My culture is here in Indiana. These people are busy doing the stuff that we do in fly-over country. They’re growing corn, or building decks, or assembling cars, or cleaning carpets, or cutting hair, or delivering pizzas, and doing zillions of other ‘non-sex work’ things. Most of them don’t know what movie won best picture and if you tell them, they will probably say, “The Oscars are still a thing?”

Don’t misunderstand me. I feel bad for the people who honestly care about the Oscars. I feel even worse for the people who are rewarded for glorifying the sex trade. The adrenaline from red carpet will pass and in the quiet hours of some future midnight, the winners will realize that their award came from exploiting the victims of slavery. That will truly be a horrifying realization.

The Oscars are like rituals in a foreign country. It’s colorful and loud and the pageantry is somewhat interesting but when it’s all over, I’m unchanged. Those are not my rituals. Those are not my values. Those are not my people.

(Proverbs 14:31) He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.