When Humiliation Pays - but to the wrong people
I have never seen one of the biggest shows of the last five years - "American Idol" - nor will I ever watch it. I have no idea how Kelly Clarkson or Clay Aiken sound - nor do I care. I have seen several small segments and they were enough to turn me completely off this game of humiliation. This morning the New York Times published an editorial that expresses my feelings about this show so much better than I could ever have done. Click on the title of this post to get the full editorial. Below is an excerpt.
Most of them are extremely young, naïve and deluded. Many appear terribly vulnerable and some seem to border on mentally impaired. The fun is supposed to come from seeing the celebrity judges roll their eyes, laugh, and tell them that they are tone-deaf, fat, funny-looking or, in the case of one young man, "atrocious" and "confused." (The cameras followed him out of the audition room, the better to make sport of him crying with his family.) The producers so treasured the comment of one judge, Simon Cowell, who said an overweight woman would require a bigger stage in Hollywood, that they used it to promote the segment.
Throughout my fifty years of fighting with my weight, I have been subjected to such terrible humiliation. Luckily for me it was usually done in front of ten or twenty people - not millions. I won't be on the giving end of such cruelty by watching.
One can say that the contestants, by the very act of auditioning, (in the words of John Edward)draw "that big old bulls-eye on their butt." However, the editorial states that the way the show progresses gives the less-than-talented room for hope - false hope. It seems humiliation makes for more viewers and higher ratings and therefore, more money. I guess "we" can laugh at the poor untalented and unbeautiful in the privacy of our homes, thankful that it was not us on that stage getting hit with the barbs of has-been judges.
But a more disturbing thought comes to mind. Are the children who watch "American Idol" getting the message that bullying,taunting and nasty comments are okay? Are their parents telling them something different?
The likes of Simon Cowell may have a difficult time getting into heaven. Even more so for the people who make money on this program.
I just don't get it. Thank you. Goddess.
I am so happy that I just don't get it.
Most of them are extremely young, naïve and deluded. Many appear terribly vulnerable and some seem to border on mentally impaired. The fun is supposed to come from seeing the celebrity judges roll their eyes, laugh, and tell them that they are tone-deaf, fat, funny-looking or, in the case of one young man, "atrocious" and "confused." (The cameras followed him out of the audition room, the better to make sport of him crying with his family.) The producers so treasured the comment of one judge, Simon Cowell, who said an overweight woman would require a bigger stage in Hollywood, that they used it to promote the segment.
Throughout my fifty years of fighting with my weight, I have been subjected to such terrible humiliation. Luckily for me it was usually done in front of ten or twenty people - not millions. I won't be on the giving end of such cruelty by watching.
One can say that the contestants, by the very act of auditioning, (in the words of John Edward)draw "that big old bulls-eye on their butt." However, the editorial states that the way the show progresses gives the less-than-talented room for hope - false hope. It seems humiliation makes for more viewers and higher ratings and therefore, more money. I guess "we" can laugh at the poor untalented and unbeautiful in the privacy of our homes, thankful that it was not us on that stage getting hit with the barbs of has-been judges.
But a more disturbing thought comes to mind. Are the children who watch "American Idol" getting the message that bullying,taunting and nasty comments are okay? Are their parents telling them something different?
The likes of Simon Cowell may have a difficult time getting into heaven. Even more so for the people who make money on this program.
I just don't get it. Thank you. Goddess.
I am so happy that I just don't get it.
posted by Mitzi at Sunday, January 22, 2006
2 Comments:
I don't get the draw to "American Idol" either. The one time I peeked in to see what the roar was about, I thought it was too excruciating to watch.
See?
I'm not the ONLY one who wonders what the attraction is?
Mitz
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