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I hate American Idol. It is vile and phony and destructive.
I've never even watched an entire episode. I tried to, but I couldn't take it.
I hate "AI" (which is also aptly the acronym for Artificial Intelligence) because of the effect I see it has on people.
Here are my particular reasons:
Reason #1: Idols are bad and we have too many of them already.
America thrives on its idols, and our idols are always celebrities and movie stars. There was a day when we actually had HEROES, but our obsession with famous people and their lives makes me want to vomit. I can hardly stand in line at the grocery store without having the celebrity worship mentality shoved down my throat. In the check-out line we have junk food for the body on one side, and junk food for the mind on the other. Some stores now have check-out aisles without candy in them; they should also offer one without tabloids. Just have racks with books on philosophy, psychology, spirituality, philanthropy. A check-out line for intelligent, powerful people.
Reason #2: It perpetuates dangerous illusions.
The whole point of the show is that these very annoying and self-important people decide whose "dreams come true" and whose don't. The message is that permission to be successful comes from someone other than yourself - that you need permission to succeed or that someone else must come in from outside of your life to make success happen for you. This is Cinderella thinking, and it has ruined more lives and wasted more potential than we can ever imagine.
If you want to go to the ball, go to the friggin' ball. Don't ask your wicked stepmother for permission and for God's sake, don't wait for Prince Charming to come and get you. He doesn't exist.
Likewise, if you want to enjoy success - regardless of what that means to you - you have to be willing to do the work. It's hard, and it can take a long time, and you might want to give up on a daily basis. But fortitude and diligence pave the only way to the top; no one can wave a magic wand and make that happen for you.
Reason #3: Who ARE these people, anyway?!
Not only is it dangerous for us to indulge in the illusion that someone else can give us permission to have dreams and to realize those dreams, but who the *&^% ARE these people anyway? Simon WHO? The only ones I've ever even heard of are people who used to be celebrities in entertainment. Again, this points to our insistence on granting reverence and respect to people because of their fame. Let me know when someone of substance serves as a judge, because...
Reason #4: Being famous isn't a contribution to the world.
Some people have become famous for making wonderful contributions to the world. Mother Theresa, Albert Einstein, William Shakespeare, Gandhi - you get the picture. Some people have become famous for their destructiveness and for what they have taken from the world. But being famous in and of itself is not an accomplishment. We Americans act like the best thing you can do with your life is to become well-known, and AI perpetuates our fascination with fame; but fame doesn't mean a damned thing. It's an empty goal.
Being well-known for doing good in the world is fine, but any real hero will tell you that they never did it for the fame. Even a seemingly "good" show like Extreme Home Makeover leaves me scratching my head and asking, "But how many MORE people could you have helped if you'd taken the money you spent on making a TV show out of the good deeds you did and just helped more people with it?"
Reason #5: It is Valium for the masses.
Back in the 1950s, when women started getting restless and asking themselves whether there wasn't more to life than whiter-than-white shirt collars and plump-perfect rice, their husbands got nervous and went to the family doc, who suggested giving the little women a Valium or two. This was intended to squash their spunk and make them docile and obedient, which just made life so much nicer for everyone. After all, who wants to see all those women running around in pants questioning the status quo and longing to do something productive with their lives?
Since AI became so popular, that's all people seem to talk about anymore: who they think will win, how rude Simon was, who got eliminated. It's become like a drug that keeps
