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American Idolizing

Let's get it over with.......I watched the first 3 episodes of American Idol. Done laughing? Well, now that that is out of your system, I can get to my point. This is technically What We Have Learned From Media: Part 4, but I kinda ruined the flow of that with my little "I know the meaning of life" thing (which is still true by the way). So I will just treat this as another slightly enlightened (but not really) posting of Grant's thoughts. Oh yeah...American Idol.

There is some phenomenon that I just do not understand. I see it again and again and it just does not make any sense to me. Now I consider myself as at least slightly smart, but maybe I'm not because I can't figure this out. Here's my best explanation: I sit at home and I watch Wheel of Fortune or some similar show and I think to myself, "Self...you could do that! Easily!" And I, myself, get quite excited because I figure that I can win tons of money if only given the opportunity to do so. Similarly, thousands upon thousands of people sit at home and watch American Idol and think to themselves, "Self...you could do that! Easily!" So they save up some money and take a week off of their lives and sit in the rain and don't get much sleep and don't shower and connive and trick for better places in line and eat junk food and cry because of nerves and sing out like a crazy man on a bus who just doesn't know better and then they end up standing in front of 3 judges who will either give them a chance at fame and fortune or turn them away brutally.

Here's where it gets interesting.

People -smart people- blurt out a cacophony of de-tuned sound at loud pitches and in their heads they are thinking, "I am SO rocking right now! I AM the next American Idol! They love me!" And here is where I get confused. How can someone sing and not understand that they sound like crap? On top of that, how can someone sing and not realize that they sound like crap and then have 3 professionals tell them that they sound like crap and blatantly not believe them? On top of that, how can someone sing and not realize that they sound like crap and then have 3 professionals tell them that they sound like crap and blatantly not believe them and then think that dancing or pleading or singing again and again and again until the judges leave the room out of impatience will help?

An insanely smart man once told me that people in our society think that life is a movie. No, not that there are hidden cameras everywhere (although there are), but more so that life is somehow very movie like (and only American movie like). A man goes to Vegas and spends his life fortune at the craps table only to lose everything he has...and then he expects the credits to roll. A woman has a scandalous affair after being married for 30 years...and then expects a fade to black and her normal life to resume. The American people have been tricked into believing that everything works out in the end...that any size problem can be worked out in 30 minutes minus commercials...that music will swell and all they ever wished for will come true. This is simply not the case. The man who went to Vegas will end up on the street. The woman who had the affair will end up divorced.

Our society has raised a generation (and more) of people who believe that anything is possible if you wish on a star. These people are so delusional that they believe 3 professionals have no clue if they are good singers or not. These people are willing to go out to crowded areas and sing their hearts out to strangers who plug their ears and walk away. These people do not understand reality and the harshness that it entails.

I do not understand this false hope that we have instilled in people's hearts.
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