There oughta be a term for this: When something happens and everyone pounces on it and tries to use it to advance their own causes — like when 9/11 went down and you had vegans saying, "Well, this proves you shouldn't eat meat" and bird fanciers saying, "See? This wouldn't have happened if we all fancied birds." It's kind of a grand exploitation/spin, and it seems to happen everywhere these days.
Last Sunday night's Oscars were the lowest-rated ever. Cruise the Internet and you'll find a ton of reasons, all spun according to the reasoner's mission in life. Folks who don't like Whoopi Goldberg are saying, "This proves they need to get rid of Whoopi Goldberg." Folks who have a hate on for successful Hollywood types are saying, "See? Nobody wants to watch four-and-a-half hours of Hollywood phonies." There are even those arguing that the numbers were low because too much attention was paid to black people.
Here's my answer and it's an easy one. Too often in this world, we ignore the easy answer because it doesn't advance our personal agendum. But usually, the easy answer is the right answer.
People watch the Academy Awards to the extent they care about the films and performers up for those awards. Do we passionately want to see a certain movie or actor win? If so, we watch. It's just like the World Series. If you have an emotional of financial stake in one team beating the other, you watch. If you don't care, you're less likely to tune in.
With the Oscars, this is 90-some-odd percent of what matters. The host makes a little difference, the presenters make a little difference, the length of the show tests how much we care about it versus how much we care about going to bed. But really, what it comes down to is: Do we care who wins? This year, though there were some fine movies and performances up, I don't think we did. And I think any other explanation is pure, self-serving spin.