"Not Everybody Won"
i do not watch american idol. i do not follow american idol. i don't really care about american idol. that said, i heard a really thought-provoking comment this morning on the radio in the batch of post-season-finale call-ins from american idol fans.
a man said that he liked to watch american idol with his kids because it shows them that, unlike in public schools, "not everybody won". wow. so, as much as i would like to take credit for all of my ideas on this blog, i have to give the credit for today to that dad...
his comment got me thinking about all of the sick, twisted ways that the tv viewing public enjoys seeing other people hurt, humiliated, devastated, and utterly beaten. although i don't watch, i know about shows like fear factor. a friend told me recently about a show called dog eat dog. i saw the millionaire show a few times where the lady says, "you are the weakest link. goodbye." i know about donald trump and martha stewart firing people in their quest to find new worker bees. i was unlucky enough to see an episode of america's top model- basically american idol with no singing, i guess. and i am aware of shows wher the whole fun is that you vote people off the island.
so, my question is, what's up with people that they find joy and entertainment value in other people's suffering? i thought it was just a symptom of society gone wrong in general, like the roman hedonists who liked to watch christians being fed to lions. anything for your pleasure...
but, i think this dad on the radio captured the essence. maybe people are so sick and tired of rigidly enforced feel-good policies that praise mediocrity while ignoring (or punishing) superiority, that maybe they are ready for some payback. the kid who gets sidelined on the soccer team so the slower, weaker, less dedicated kid can have a turn? he wants to see someone voted off the island. the mom who tries to teach her kids right and wrong and provide firm guidelines, only to have the school give condoms to 10 year olds and the neighbor down the block host a co-ed sleepover party for the class of 13 year olds? she needs that model to get taken down a few notches. the man who gets passed over for a promotion at work so an undeserving minority candidate can get shored up? yep, a little simon cowell will blow off some steam. maybe if people can't be competitiove in real life, they will live it vicariously through others. the politically correct climate is so super-charged with over-sensitivity that any speech unfavorable to leftist positions is classified as hate speech. rather than rewarding achievement, we strive valiantly toward total middle-of-the-road-ness, to avoid offending anyone.
so maybe american idol is the backlash. maybe if boys could play tackle football with other boys at recess, they would get the difference between some good, fair competition and rude, mean treatment of people on tv shows. maybe if women didn't have to take mens' jobs to show that they are just as good as men (?????) then the men wouldn't have to either turn into softy sissy feminine shadows of themselves or become over testosteroned porn freak victimizers. if women could actually be valued for nurturing and raising a family instead of being told that motherhood is weak and a cop-out from a 'real' career, and not a respectable role model for their daughters, maybe they wouldn't delight quite so much in driving SUVs and seeing the models falling on the runway.
maybe if society would let people grow up with normal boundaries of competitiveness, and normal ideas about winning and losing, maybe we wouldn't need american idol. maybe if society would play itself out instead of being micromanaged as a social experiment, we wouldn't need to watch people eat bugs. maybe when there is recognition that men and women are different, and boys and girls are different, and that people have different skills, talents, and abilities, and that becomes okay, maybe then we won't need to watch people getting voted off the island, or scheming against their 'friends' to be able to stay on it. or at least we wouldn't laugh at it.
a man said that he liked to watch american idol with his kids because it shows them that, unlike in public schools, "not everybody won". wow. so, as much as i would like to take credit for all of my ideas on this blog, i have to give the credit for today to that dad...
his comment got me thinking about all of the sick, twisted ways that the tv viewing public enjoys seeing other people hurt, humiliated, devastated, and utterly beaten. although i don't watch, i know about shows like fear factor. a friend told me recently about a show called dog eat dog. i saw the millionaire show a few times where the lady says, "you are the weakest link. goodbye." i know about donald trump and martha stewart firing people in their quest to find new worker bees. i was unlucky enough to see an episode of america's top model- basically american idol with no singing, i guess. and i am aware of shows wher the whole fun is that you vote people off the island.
so, my question is, what's up with people that they find joy and entertainment value in other people's suffering? i thought it was just a symptom of society gone wrong in general, like the roman hedonists who liked to watch christians being fed to lions. anything for your pleasure...
but, i think this dad on the radio captured the essence. maybe people are so sick and tired of rigidly enforced feel-good policies that praise mediocrity while ignoring (or punishing) superiority, that maybe they are ready for some payback. the kid who gets sidelined on the soccer team so the slower, weaker, less dedicated kid can have a turn? he wants to see someone voted off the island. the mom who tries to teach her kids right and wrong and provide firm guidelines, only to have the school give condoms to 10 year olds and the neighbor down the block host a co-ed sleepover party for the class of 13 year olds? she needs that model to get taken down a few notches. the man who gets passed over for a promotion at work so an undeserving minority candidate can get shored up? yep, a little simon cowell will blow off some steam. maybe if people can't be competitiove in real life, they will live it vicariously through others. the politically correct climate is so super-charged with over-sensitivity that any speech unfavorable to leftist positions is classified as hate speech. rather than rewarding achievement, we strive valiantly toward total middle-of-the-road-ness, to avoid offending anyone.
so maybe american idol is the backlash. maybe if boys could play tackle football with other boys at recess, they would get the difference between some good, fair competition and rude, mean treatment of people on tv shows. maybe if women didn't have to take mens' jobs to show that they are just as good as men (?????) then the men wouldn't have to either turn into softy sissy feminine shadows of themselves or become over testosteroned porn freak victimizers. if women could actually be valued for nurturing and raising a family instead of being told that motherhood is weak and a cop-out from a 'real' career, and not a respectable role model for their daughters, maybe they wouldn't delight quite so much in driving SUVs and seeing the models falling on the runway.
maybe if society would let people grow up with normal boundaries of competitiveness, and normal ideas about winning and losing, maybe we wouldn't need american idol. maybe if society would play itself out instead of being micromanaged as a social experiment, we wouldn't need to watch people eat bugs. maybe when there is recognition that men and women are different, and boys and girls are different, and that people have different skills, talents, and abilities, and that becomes okay, maybe then we won't need to watch people getting voted off the island, or scheming against their 'friends' to be able to stay on it. or at least we wouldn't laugh at it.
posted by BlogBlond @ 9:00 AM
1 Comments:
At Friday, May 26, 2006 4:19:00 AM,
Mata Hari said…
blondie - i think your comment about the romans was on target (actually i had the same thought as i was really your post). we're lucky that we live in times when they boot people off the island instead of feeding them to the lions. i don't have the stomach or the interest in the reality shows - although i admit to watching some of The Bachelor episodes. I don't really see the correlation between these shows and the lack of true competitiveness in real life. i just think they're voyeuristic and let people sit passively and watch other people live life.
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