And More TV

I was listening to NPR yesterday and some blowhard music critic comes on bashing American Idol and the fact that Kris Allen won over Adam Lambert.  Now, if you didn't watch the show, Adam was a kind of glam-rock, goth, musical-theater-type and he had the most amazing range and technique.  Kris was the boy-next-door-type, but with an interesting voice and style.  I didn't really have a dog in that fight, since I was rooting for the 3rd and 4th place contestants, Danny and Allison, but for the record, I did vote for Kris because I didn't personally like Adam's voice, even while being blown away by his skill and creativity.

Anyway, this pompous creep starts out by bashing the entire show, saying how he's hated it every single year, and how an artist like Little Richard would never have had a forum on the show, the implication being that the show caters to the lowest-common denominator of poor taste and lack of originality.  He hated it, that is, until this year when Adam Lambert showed up.  Then this jerk spent a few minutes explaining why Adam Lambert is a god.  Thanks, mister, for your opinion.  And, of course, Kris was the most boring and pathetic singer of all time because, 1) he is handsome, 2) he is not "threatening", and 3) he can sing well in a way that pleases many people.

When Kris won and Adam took 2nd place, this guy said that a friend texted him, saying, "Adam Lambert's defeat was the delayed red-state backlash against Barack Obama's victory."  The critic said, "He was kidding. But not really."  I turned off the radio at that point to note his exact words.

Let's set the angry-left irrationality aside.  Still, I think this windbag missed the point:  American Idol is a popularity contest, by definition.  And Adam Lambert, a guy who wears eyeliner and turns a Johnny Cash song into a freaky, dirty, middle-eastern song (my favorite performance), came in second, and will now become a huge star.  I never thought he'd make it as far as he did.  If anything, his success on Idol mirrors the Obama victory.

The critique reminded me of a time when I was a little girl, watching the Miss Universe pageant on TV.  When the winner was crowned, I said, "Wow!  We're looking at the most beautiful girl in the whole wide world!" and my dad said, "No.  She's just the winner of this contest.  There are surely many other women out there even more beautiful than she is."  I was disappointed because I thought it was amazing to see the absolute best of something, and I'm not sure I was ready for that lesson.  But a grown-up music critic has no excuse for making a child's mistake.

Maybe we shouldn't let children such as him watch TV at all.