Thursday, April 22, 2004
Idols and Iraq
"SHAME! SHAME! SHAME on the American public for putting the US back into a past we need to SHAMEFULLY forgotten. This voting makes us no better than Osama Bin Laden."
This is just one person's opinion of tonight's American Idol results, but it mirrors the thinking of many in message boards that look at tonight's voting debacle on American Idol as being racist. Is it really? Does the America voting public want to kick out the black singers on the show? Given that the last three bootees were white, I don't think so.
If there was this sort of bias in the music industry, current trends in sales would show it. But in looking at this week's Billboard Top 50, 28 of the artists are African-American, and these artists have 8 of the top 10 singles. I think the voting this week is more indicative of many factors. How the best singers are considered 'safe', so no one votes for them. How popular singers divide votes equally, while those who are voted on solely for personality have fans that vote exclusively for them and them alone. How a younger teenage demographic might react to perceived haughtiness, or to the fact that a contestant is an unwed mother. How voters react to judges comments, attitudes, and preferences for certain performers over others. And, the performances themselves.
Do I think that Jennifer should have stayed. Absolutely. Do I blame John Stevens for staying instead. Not one bit. All he did was be himself, and the audience responded. It's obvious to me that, given the unprecedented way that William Hung has been embraced as an instant celebrity, that this year naive but earnest personalities trump everything, including honed talent. Not that I am saying John is like William - John has great potential, but it needs to be more polished than any of the bottom three tonight. But America sees him as being genuine, a trait that is sorely lacking in most reality show contestants these days. Just look at Trish over on the Bachelor.
Besides, isn't there more important things to discuss than Idol, anyway? I find it funny how much energy is being spent on the vote outrage, while Congress ponders the possibility of reinstating a draft that would send these posters into conflict at a moment's notice. Or is the balm of quick entertainment an easy way to ignore the pressures of the adult world they are heading towards so precipitously?
I gave it thought today. Although I am now older than the age to be drafted, I have to ask myself how I would react if I were to be drafted. In the end, I would go, because it would be my duty, but it would scare the crap out of me. I think it would anyone. But how many people of my generation, or the ones right below me, would think of it as a duty?
I'm thoroughly depressed that so many countries are looking to pull out of Iraq, immediately. It seems no one is willing to stay the course, at least until the date that sovereignty is handed back to the Iraqi people in two months. How much do they think the situation will change in two months?
I think this is the moment for what could be the U.N.'s finest moment. No matter what they think of the war that led us to this point, the mission of the U.N. should be the exact type of peacekeeping effort that is needed to restore order in Iraq today. The Security Council should address the Assembly and declare it the duty of every nation in the U.N. to help ensure Iraq does not fall into anarchy, and that a stable government will be erected to lead that nation. It is a promise of support that every member nation of the U.N. should expect, because the U.N. is a fraternity of nations dedicated to the stability of all. And I think they would be perfectly justified to demand that the United States be responsible for the brunt of the logistics and financial support of the operation, as we precipitated the action. But for the U.N. to turn a blind eye to Iraq, to abandon its offices there and allow members of the coalition to leave the country undefended and unsupported, would be irredeemable.
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