I gave into cultural pressure tonight and finally watched a season premier of "American Idol". Being at the office all day today, I had the radio on, and the DJ kept talking about how he and his wife (whom he described as "the prettiest woman in the world"...very sweet) had a date on the couch for the premier. Admittedly, I have seen the show on occasion, but only at the end of the season (after all the people who cannot sing are gone!).
I just don't get it! What is the entertainment value in watching people embarrass themselves? How far removed are we from Ancient Rome, where the main entertainment was the suffering of others for the amusement of the crowd? Couldn't that be a description of AMERICAN IDOL?
I felt so badly for those people. However, my feelings of compassion co-mingled with frustration at their lack of self-awareness. The people they show are not just bad singers, they are TERRIBLE. Seriously, how can these people not be aware of how horribly they sing? Has no one been honest with them before? Have they ever asked for honest feedback?
When I took voice lessons--for years on end--the teacher taped each session and I had to listen to the tape during the week. There were sessions that sounded worse than nails scratching on a chalkboard. It was the height of humiliation, listening to myself butcher famous Italian arias. There were things that I knew had gone poorly in the lesson, but it was not until I listened to the tape that I realized how bad it really was. The tape never lied! I could not deceive myself about my talent--or my need for improvement--while I listened to a tape.
So, did these people watch themselves on TV tonight and realize, for the first time, how out of tune they were? What an awful way to find out that you have no talent...on television!!!! The thing that bothers me most is that every one of those people had to have some friends and some family: would no one be honest with them? It infuriates me that we feel the need to lie to people, so they will have great self-esteem. Then these deceived ones think they have talents that they don't...and they end up on shows that exploit them for entertainment value. A few honest people along the way could have spared these people the years of costly psychotherapy it will take to recover from their public humiliation and shattered dreams.
I truly appreciate the people in my life who are honest with me. That doesn't mean the truth is always easy to hear...or that I always receive it without getting my ego bruised. But I do appreciate it! I don't want to be the same person I am right now, forever. I want to get better...to be better. But humans--me included--are prone to self-deception. Left to my own devices, I can convince myself that I am approaching perfection. Thank God for the wonderful, loving people in my life who have been honest with me and told me the things I needed to hear, when I most needed to hear them. That is my definition of a true friend. The world is filled with "yes men". I am NOT a 'yes man' (one of the MANY reasons that I will never be bishop or president! I am too politically incorrect!).
Speaking the truth--in LOVE--is, perhaps, one of the most valuable things we can offer to one another. Let's be honest, Simon (on American Idol) is the epitome of honesty...but he is a jerk in the process. If you are too much of a jerk, sometimes your message is overshadowed by the jerky-ness. You don't have to sugar-coat the truth...but you don't have to bludgeon someone with it, either.
Now, those pitiful Idol contestants are having to re-envision who they are and what their dreams should be. What they heard from the judges was different from what they'd been told all of their lives. Their identities were shaken up...which, in the long run, isn't such a bad thing. Reality is NOT the end of the world (who knew a reality TV show could actually help people understand what is real?!). But, the fall those kids had to take wouldn't have been as drastic, if people would have been pro-actively honest with them from the beginning.
By the way, of all the people I know who can sing, I think that my young friend, Gwen Smith, would ROCK on American Idol!!! If being on that kind of show wouldn't steal your soul and take your focus off of what is most important, I would recommend that you try out, Gwen. I would sooooo vote for you. And, in response to the comment you last left on my blog, my lock-in experience was bittersweet...because it made me think about being with you guys, at a lock-in in Lima, exactly one year ago...and I missed you all A LOT!
I just don't get it! What is the entertainment value in watching people embarrass themselves? How far removed are we from Ancient Rome, where the main entertainment was the suffering of others for the amusement of the crowd? Couldn't that be a description of AMERICAN IDOL?
I felt so badly for those people. However, my feelings of compassion co-mingled with frustration at their lack of self-awareness. The people they show are not just bad singers, they are TERRIBLE. Seriously, how can these people not be aware of how horribly they sing? Has no one been honest with them before? Have they ever asked for honest feedback?
When I took voice lessons--for years on end--the teacher taped each session and I had to listen to the tape during the week. There were sessions that sounded worse than nails scratching on a chalkboard. It was the height of humiliation, listening to myself butcher famous Italian arias. There were things that I knew had gone poorly in the lesson, but it was not until I listened to the tape that I realized how bad it really was. The tape never lied! I could not deceive myself about my talent--or my need for improvement--while I listened to a tape.
So, did these people watch themselves on TV tonight and realize, for the first time, how out of tune they were? What an awful way to find out that you have no talent...on television!!!! The thing that bothers me most is that every one of those people had to have some friends and some family: would no one be honest with them? It infuriates me that we feel the need to lie to people, so they will have great self-esteem. Then these deceived ones think they have talents that they don't...and they end up on shows that exploit them for entertainment value. A few honest people along the way could have spared these people the years of costly psychotherapy it will take to recover from their public humiliation and shattered dreams.
I truly appreciate the people in my life who are honest with me. That doesn't mean the truth is always easy to hear...or that I always receive it without getting my ego bruised. But I do appreciate it! I don't want to be the same person I am right now, forever. I want to get better...to be better. But humans--me included--are prone to self-deception. Left to my own devices, I can convince myself that I am approaching perfection. Thank God for the wonderful, loving people in my life who have been honest with me and told me the things I needed to hear, when I most needed to hear them. That is my definition of a true friend. The world is filled with "yes men". I am NOT a 'yes man' (one of the MANY reasons that I will never be bishop or president! I am too politically incorrect!).
Speaking the truth--in LOVE--is, perhaps, one of the most valuable things we can offer to one another. Let's be honest, Simon (on American Idol) is the epitome of honesty...but he is a jerk in the process. If you are too much of a jerk, sometimes your message is overshadowed by the jerky-ness. You don't have to sugar-coat the truth...but you don't have to bludgeon someone with it, either.
Now, those pitiful Idol contestants are having to re-envision who they are and what their dreams should be. What they heard from the judges was different from what they'd been told all of their lives. Their identities were shaken up...which, in the long run, isn't such a bad thing. Reality is NOT the end of the world (who knew a reality TV show could actually help people understand what is real?!). But, the fall those kids had to take wouldn't have been as drastic, if people would have been pro-actively honest with them from the beginning.
By the way, of all the people I know who can sing, I think that my young friend, Gwen Smith, would ROCK on American Idol!!! If being on that kind of show wouldn't steal your soul and take your focus off of what is most important, I would recommend that you try out, Gwen. I would sooooo vote for you. And, in response to the comment you last left on my blog, my lock-in experience was bittersweet...because it made me think about being with you guys, at a lock-in in Lima, exactly one year ago...and I missed you all A LOT!
3 comments:
OK, I do love idol. But I agree, has no one ever been honest with these folks?? I love music, understand it, played for years, but am tone deaf, and I KNOW IT!! Since losing my hearing in one ear, I CAN'T sing and usually don't in the presence of people. Alone in my car, watch out! (Key word-alone!) So, how can these people not know they are bad??? But, all in all, Idol is good, cleaner entertainment than what we usually get-past the jerk-i-ness. Keep watching
:-D
Amy Woods! Shut up! I feel so honored that you would leave comments on my blog! Regardless of what I said about "American Idol", I am already hooked! HA HA HA! One night was all it took. I knew I had Idol-addiction potential...perhaps that is why I avoided it for so long. It's definitely a step up from "America's Next Top Model" :-)
How much do you love that brother and sister who got the "golden ticket"?! I am rooting for them! Keep rockin' the conference office with your coolness!! ~Tina
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