America’s plate is heaped high with terrifying unemployment rates, the issue of national healthcare, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  If this not enough to give us indigestion and worse, we were informed this past week that a portion of the nation would not be able to view The Oscars.   The tug-of-war between ABC (Channel 7) and Cablevision has left us this latest bitter pill to swallow.

At the eleventh hour — as the Oscars ran live, in fact — the nation was told that the warring factions had come to a temporary truce.   This was delivered as a text feed at the bottom of our TV screens, just as Steven Martin and Alec Baldwin were cutting up on stage and preparing to announce the winner of a major category.  The timing of this ceasefire reminds me of the timing of Alex Rodriguez’ allegedly earth-shattering announcement.  Just as the Boston Red Sox were pulling out all the stops in the World Series that year, A-Rod’s agent pontificated over the airwaves that his client had made the decision to remain with the New York Yankees.  The timing of and intent behind both announcements, A-Rod’s and the media giants, was pompous, self-aggrandizing, and designed to make all us think, “Gee, aren’t we the lucky ones!”  Thankfully, not all of us are fooled.

The ploy perpetrated upon viewers during the Oscars was a rehash of a dog and pony show has happened before: denying people the right to watch Hollywood celebrate its best with those little golden statues.  The reason this event was scheduled to be blacked out on certain cable networks is greed, pure and simple.  Cablevision paid Disney, ABC’s parent company, what they claim was a wad of dough for the right to carry the Oscars ceremonies.  Knowing how altruistic the Disney machine is, I don’t doubt it.  The cable company assumed that Disney would pay ABC it’s due and thereby, ensure that its subscriber base could tune in to see Sandra Bullock’s odd kabuki make-up, George Clooney staring daggers at the hosts, and Ben Stiller send his career as a funny man plummeting several notches.

Who’s in the right here?  Clearly, it’s not the American people; we’re the ones getting shafted, again and again.

I can’t see ABC crying poverty.  And God knows, there are enough Disney characters populating the big screen and all manner of merchandise, from lunch pails to kiddy slippers, from plastic dolls that come in boxes to that manufactured live doll known as Hannah Montana.  So, I am not shedding crocodile tears over any, cough, cough, monetary issues that Mickey & Company may claim to have concerning this dispute.

This type of blackmail has been going on for years, with the American public on the losing end.   Do you remember when Major League Baseball went on strike, leaving the post-season games, including the 1994-1995 World Series, not played?  Many disgruntled fans protested by not returning even after the labor dispute was settled.  I am sure that both the players and the owners realized without the fans, the game would not generate a single red cent.

The same is true of the Oscars.  Without viewers tuning in to this increasingly overblown and drawn out affair, there would be no sponsors.  No sponsors would equal a lack of advertising dollars, and as Joel Grey sang in his supporting Oscar role in Cabaret, “Money makes the world go around!”

The Oscars are part of the mystique of Hollywood: a day when producers, screenwriters, musicians, special effects people, costume designers, and actors compete for the coveted honors.  Without the viewing public, the Academy could conduct a private ceremony, or even mail the awards to the recipients and in the process, save a bundle of money on sets, dancers, hosts, ad nauseum.  Such tactics would reduce this gala occasion to a pat on the back for the recipients.

Americans supported Hollywood financially by paying to see the films nominated for awards.  They will pay again, and again, when the movies are distributed in DVD form and Pay-per-View formats.  We don’t deserve to be the victims of a price war between media giants.   My suggestion is that we retaliate for this ill treatment by refusing to watch sporting events, The Oscars, and any other extravaganza where we are held hostage to industry’s greed.  Without the viewers’ buy in, manifested by their time and hard-earned money, none of these events would be successful.

The robber barons of industry would do well to remember the old riddle, “If a tree falls in the forest, does it make a noise?”  To which the answer is, “Only if there is someone there to hear it.”