American Idol, a chance to earn fame and fortune! The key words in that sentence, if you didn't get them, are CHANCE and EARN. No guarantees come with the auditions, just a chance to stand out in the crowd and earn a trip to the big time. You have to have talent and earn your way through the rounds of judging; without talent, you won't get beyond the first round of judging. (Frequently the judges have to remind contestants that American Idol is a singing competition.). Somewhere along the line, we have created a generation of young adults who didn't read the fine print in the American Idol information packets. Chance? Earn? Foreign terms to far too many of the contestants.
When some contestants fail to make the cut and are sent home, they pay attention to the criticism from the judges, all of whom are experts in the field of vocal music, and then leave graciously. But far too many contestants react to being cut by flipping off everyone in sight, letting a string of expletives fly, announcing to everyone waiting to audition that the judges "don't know nothing," and then storming from the audition facility, still letting the bird and curse words fly. Some stop outside and let themselves be filmed while they criticize everything from the judges to the quality of contestants who were chosen to go on in the competition, all the time screaming that the audience will see them again, as big stars, because they are absolutely the best singers on the planet.
The most alarming thing to me when witnessing the drama from a contestant after he or she has been eliminated is hearing, "They're making a mistake. They call themselves experts? I am the best singer this competition has ever seen." (Be sure to add plenty of expletives and waving of the middle finger throughout those sentences.) Hey, kids, I watched your auditions and the singing was off-the-charts awful. I'm not a music expert, but I'm pretty sure that when you are off key, sing through your nose, forget the words, have no rhythm, wail and warble at the top of your lungs, and add screeching runs to the end of every phrase, you are NOT a singer, much less the next American Idol. And some of you didn't get the memo about wearing appropriate attire to the auditions, right? What else could explain your decision to cross-dress, wear a clown costume, display inappropriate amounts of body flesh, don a lime green wig, or appear in a bikini?
I think I know how we've reached the point where a young adult decides he or she wants to be the next American Idol and immediately transfers that thought into the "I deserve to be the next American Idol just because that's what I want" belief. Remember when schools started putting happy face stickers on every paper a student did, no matter how awful the work actually was? Remember the "no one loses, everyone wins" movement that's ruined all kinds of competitions for kids? Remember the lowering of standards in education so that no one fails and everyone could be the best and pass every class? Remember how we were told that the most important thing anyone could give a child was a healthy, never-questioned dose of unearned self-esteem? Now we have a whole generation of young adults who believe they're entitled to anything and everything they want, unearned, even when they're unqualified for whatever it is they desire.
When kids grow up being told that everything they say and do is wonderful, they are pretty quick to believe what they're told (because that's easier than having to actually work to be wonderful or successful). One day one of those wonderful kids wakes up, decides he or she is the next American Idol, hotfoots it to a nearby audition, and then has a meltdown when confronted with a reality check from the judges.
The "don't give up your day job" admonishment from the judges to many contestants no longer applies. If you watch the info blurbs (name, age, occupation) that appear when a contestant steps up to audition, you'll notice that the last piece of information this year frequently reads "unemployed." Not student, not waiter, not receptionist, etc. Just unemployed. How can you be 19 or 22 or 27 and be unemployed? Maybe you wanted to be a doctor, lawyer, or Indian chief, and that didn't work out for you? And other jobs are too menial, even though you have no education? So now you'll just be a recording artist like Carrie Underwood or Keith Urban and make millions, never mind that you have no talent? Well, hey, if that's what you want, then you certainly are entitled to be just that.
If it just weren't for that pesky reality check offered at the auditions . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment