Idol Discrimination

Another season of American Idol kicked off this week with the tryouts to make it to the next round in Hollywood. People that showed up to audition were like the title to a Clint Eastwood movie - "The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly." Like a box of chocolates, you never really knew what to expect.

Of course, there were a lot of bad performances. Invariably, the majority of the people shown that didn't make it to the next round were pissed off that they didn't get picked. They usually went down the path that the judges didn't know talent when they saw it, they should have been picked, it was nothing they did, yadda yadda yadda... It wasn't until the boy who literally looked & sounded like a girl, got rejected, & started mouthing off that it hit me - this show discriminates!!

Of course this show discriminates! Exactly what do you think it should do? Give everyone a pass on bad notes, bad attitude, bad looks, & bad performances? Considering that some of the performances were so bad that my wife muted the TV just goes to show that not everyone who gets their 15 minutes of fame deserves it.

To those of the contestants that were rejected, I would like to ask: Did you or did you not sing into a tape recorder and listen to yourself? Really listen? How many of you actually came prepared, practiced your song, and had that critical eye on yourself? From what was shown, not many.

Talent aside, this show did not boost the majority of the loser's self-esteem. Sorry, life is harsh & does not give warm fuzzies to those who don't measure up. This is a lesson that seems to have been lost on lots of people. For example, my son's high school has a mission statement that goes:

"The mission of XXXXXX High School is to teach for understanding so that all students learn for a lifetime. In this task, a positive learning environment will be continually promoted, evaluated, and adjusted in order to provide opportunity for achievement and self-esteem."

Awwwww - doesn't that just give you a warm feeling? They care about your child's self-esteem, will not bruise his or her ego, and make sure that the environment that they will (hopefully) learn in will be encouraging. What about being held to an educational standard? Oops, can't do that - it's not in the mission statement! But I digress...

The point is that a lot of these people have gone through life getting their ego stroked, never really were held to a standard, and when they don't measure up, take the classic "it's not my fault" mentality, and blame someone else for them not succeeding. Sound familiar?

Finally, comments to the aforementioned boy-dress/sounds-like-a-girl contestant: The judges were not racist, not accepting of you or anything else that you spouted off about after the audition. In fact, they were damn courteous compared to some of the other people that auditioned. You were OK in your performance, but you didn't measure up to their standards, and you definitely confused the hell out of them with your appearance. Think of this as a prelude to a job interview - if you confuse the interviewer and have a mediocre interview, don't expect to get hired. Last, if you truly believe that Americans are racist, don't accept you for who/what you are, or any of the other drivel that you sobbed about, I would suggest that you find another country that would accept you as you are and emigrate. Hate to break it to you; other countries are not as accepting as the US. I know - I've been to several.

OK, ranting is over (for now).