Yesterday I posted a riff about Scott Feinberg‘s 7.7 Hollywood Reporter article about the Academy expanding its membership with hundreds of filmmakers from foreign countries (“How the Globalization of the Academy Shakes Up the Race“). At the end I wrote the following kicker: “All hail the policies of inclusion, and down with the dominance of the proverbial 62 year-old white male who used to represent the typical Academy voter.”

This drew a complaint from “BadHatHarry,” to wit: “Does the obviously racist slant of this mean, if the harbinger here is true, that the day may come when one could vocally wish for the sidelining of the ‘proverbial minority female’ who now represents the academy? Or will they be the majority by then, freeing us to weep and gnash our teeth that we don’t hear enough white male voices?”

My reply: “I’m sorry, you’re right — it’s racist to denigrate the proverbial 62 year-old white guy and his supposed preferences as far as Best Picture contenders are concerned. I was just expressing the conventional view of the Hollywood herd, which is basically a healthy notion that the Academy needs to free itself from that 62 year-old white guy mentality by opening the gates to all tribes & agendas — women, people of various shades and ethnicities, LGBTQs, etc.

“At the same time we have to acknowledge that for quite a few years now (remember the early ’70s National Lampoon piece “Our White Heritage“?) the entire urban progressive culture of this country (i.e., hipsters, well educated wealthies, blue cities) has been frowning upon and pitying the history, legacy and attitudes of white culture. At least in terms of public discourse and now Twitter.

“It saddens me to acknowledge this, but the resulting narrative — i.e., it’s time for white culture to cede power to the multiculturals while accepting the lash for its horrid, corrupt history — is probably the single biggest factor (along with too many people hating Hillary) that led to Trump being in the White House. The 2016 election was mainly about race and to some extent misogyny, and was significantly propelled by rural & rust-belt under-educated whites pushing back against the p.c. elites & multiculturals.”