The N.Y. Times‘ David Carr (a.k.a., “the Bagger”) is sounding alarmed about the unwashed multitudes not turning up in sufficient numbers to see the four Best Picture nominees still in theatres — Brokeback Mountain, Munich, Good Night, and Good Luck and Capote . The import of this will be low ratings for the Oscar telecast, disappointing ad revenues for ABC and a generally bad impact upon the reputation of the Oscar Awards. Let me say this about that (as John F. Kennedy used to say): Fuck the ratings, fuck ABC’s ad revenue worries, fuck the unwashed multitudes for continuing to be relatively unmotivated about seeing Capote and all the other deserving Best Picture nominees, and — last but not least — downsize the Oscar show and put it on cable if need be because the culture is devolving, centers of cultivation are shrinking, and quality movies are simply no longer mass-market attractions. (Unless, that is, the ending of a quality film makes people cry and the word gets around about this.) This is the world we live in and the way it regrettably is. Deal with it, work with it and please stop kvetching about the lack of across-the-board support. If you’re serving elegant cuisine at a not-very-expensive restaurant that critics and people with taste have been salivating over, do you go out on the street and say, “This is a disaster!…all those people eating at McDonald’s, Wendy’s, KFC and Carl’s Jr. aren’t coming to sample our dishes. What are we doing wrong? Our legitimacy is at stake!”