by: F.R. Duplantier

There is a glut of gratitude in the broadcasting industry: Television networks cut back regular programming to accommodate special awards celebrations, many of which honor the producers and cast of other awards programs. But the capacity of the American viewing public for rewarding real or imagined achievement appears inexhaustible, and the problem is compounded by the irrepressible humility of recipients, who insist upon sharing credit for their achievements "with all those people, big and small, who have made this evening possible."

This generous gesture is repeated again and again during the course of the typical awards extravaganza. We see it played out during presentations of the Academy Awards, the Golden Globe Awards, the People's Choice Awards, the Emmys, the Grammys, and the Country Music Awards "live from the Grand Ole Opry." My producer, my director, my acting coach, my agent, my parents, my fans, my therapist -- endless is the list of beautiful people and geniuses who deserve to be thanked because "they believed in me."

Award-winning entertainers have no monopoly on the gushing expression of gratitude: Our collegiate and professional athletes are just as self-effacing and laudatory of their teammates. The postgame disclaimers made by towel-draped jocks to the mike-wielding sportscasters lurking in their locker rooms have taken on the prescribed and stylized quality of ritual.

Not a few actors and athletes grow up to be politicians, taking their grateful ways with them. They are quick to concede that their own personal charm and good grooming count for naught, that their political connections and their ability to solicit contributions to a war chest are really not that noteworthy. What really count are the dedication of the campaign staff, the perseverance of the precinct workers, and the unthinking devotion of the voters.

The least of cynics may conclude that the greater part of what passes for appreciation these days is not the genuine article. But why feign gratitude? Out of regard for convention? To display false humility? To puff someone up to secure a hidden objective? Or, perhaps, to diminish the esteem in which the truly admirable are held? When political considerations take preeminence over questions of worth in the awarding of praise or recognition, the emblem of accomplishment becomes devalued and its previous and future recipients, deserving or not, are made to seem less worthy.

Of course, undue credit may also be given in order to provide respectability to the unworthy. The politician with a peace prize, the journalist with a Pulitzer, the Nobelist novelist, the Academy-acclaimed actor -- all may be worthy of recognition on the basis of their professional accomplishments; but they may also be collecting their reward for faithful service to an unjust cause, or assuming a mantle of legitimacy to make some future work of wickedness more easy to perpetrate. Heroes, experts, and leaders are fabricated out of whole cloth every day, and we must be on guard against displays of gratitude that are calculated to deceive us.