Some would look at American Idol and think it was the living and breathing personification of the American dream. Nobodies getting a chance to be international superstars. A once in a lifetime chance at fame and fortune. Only in America! But somehow I don’t see it as a great testimony to hope and the American dream. In my eyes, it shows just how hope-less so many of us have become.
Celebrity is our new religion. You don’t want to be the best, or the smartest or the most honest or the person who worked the hardest. You just want to be the most famous. However you get there, its fame that counts now. Those poor schmucks just want a chance to be somebody, anybody. And America has taught us that celebrity is the only thing that really counts. The only time YOU count. Its no wonder that so many of those young people break down in tears because to them, they missed their chance. Not their chance to be on a TV show, but a chance to be somebody, for once in their lives. Our obsession with celebrity and money has made us all feel inadequate in our daily lives. Compared to the lives of Beyonce and Paris Hilton and Puffy and Jay-Z, it would seem that our lives totally suck.
Whereas a generation ago, men and women were happy if they achieved more than their parents. If they got to college or got a good job and had a family. That was success to them. Now, we deem ourselves failures if we’re not millionaires by thirty. We are lost in what we see, what we don’t have, what we’re not. We don’t feel like somebody in our personal lives, so we go audition for American Idol hoping someone will deem us worthy. Will make us feel as if we matter.
If there was any doubt that the hope of overnight celebrity has indeed overshadowed the hope of achieving something substantive in life, then American Idol is it. Is there such a void of hope in this country that American Idol has replaced Jesus as savior to the downtrodden ?
Those poor people who cry. You wonder why they are crying. I bet its not only because they didn’t move through to the next round. For some of them, this is all they believe they can do. No one has told them that they are smart and beautiful and have something unique to offer the world. If you ask 20 elementary school students what they want to be when they grow up, the standard doctor-lawyer answer that has been around for a generation, has been replaced by entertainer-athlete. And it scares the shit out of me.
As Barack Obama preaches a message of hope, I cant help but watch American Idol and lament that this is the extent of hope for so many. We have lost those dreams of peace on earth and good will to men. Of family, of achievement, of community, ending world hunger. To hell with all that. We just want to go to Hollywood.
Peace people. (Go Barack!)
17 comments:
with each post of yours, after reading im left with the feelings of "o my damn" its nice to know that the world isnt full of idiots.
Your mind is SEXY AS HELL!!!!
u bout to cause some mental fornication round here!!
The picture really makes the point your going for with this entry. I kid you not. Self esteem and self love is mofo!
You are so on point! It's sad that the minds of today's children are saturated with materialistic things and fast money. We need to find a way to go back to simpler times...how...i dunno? but we need to find a way!
I agree with much more than the American Idol part. I can really relate to the "gotta be millionaires by the time we are 30." Part of me still really wants to join the Peace Corps, like I did when I was a child. However, now that I'm 22 and out of college, I'm afraid of falling "behind" my peers, socially and financially. I try to remind myself that there are more important things in the world, but this culture drowns out the message, if you let it.
This is all so true. I remember hearing someone say that at one point people were famous for being special, now people are special simply for being famous.
There has always been a cult of celebrity that was unique to America but it was never as pervasive as it is now. Given the changes in media where the nightly news resembles Access Hollywood and everyone has a reality TV show, its hard not to become obsessed with fame.
I rarely watch American Idol but I ALWAYS watch the auditions. Its not right but I can't stop laughing at the people who would make a deaf man ready to kick some ass to stop their singing.
In short, media is too pervasive to escape and fame will always be at the forefront of it.
Now, excuse me while I work on my reality TV show Sarge Is King.
Thank you for this posting. I came upon your site by accident, or perhaps by God's will. I am inclined to believe the latter as He works in mysterious ways. This was so on point and so relevant.
I agree completely!!
It goes along with 'instant gratification'...being famous doesn't take effort. Being a lawyer, doctor, teacher, astronaut, takes hard and years of work.
Those celebrities that are out there with nothing but a high-school/elementary school education (i.e Beyonce & them), can they really balance a check book? They they really know what's going on in the world when it comes to politics, crisies, etc..etc...besides Project Red & anything Bono has his name on?
They truly do not live the reality 90% of the rest of the world does.
Children need to be taught reality not reality tv shows and it's up their parents to do it! It may take a village to raise a child, but it all starts at home!
Totally with you, except where you shoehorned Obama at the end. Went through the guard rail there.
I first discovered your site because of an email of some of the ghetto pictures on your site. I had no idea that I'd find someone that saying all the things I've wanted to say for so long. Your voice needs to be heard, on larger level. Keep pushing on, you have something to say, that our people really need to hear!
Jenia
Ashburn, VA
REALLY INTERESTING: http://www.spymac.com/details/?2339829
Paris Hilton started all this crap. Being famous and wealthy thru no effort of your own.
jam, can you take all the ads off...keeps messin up my readin :)
man, you are so right. lol @ mental fornication. my mind just orgasmed then. lol but seriously, we can't blame the media. we must blame ourselves too. many things we do encourage what has been going on in society for so long. from since children are young they are encouraged towards entertainment. they dance, they sing, they act...its a perpetual cycle
I came across your blog after hearing about your site. You make a really good point, and I can't help but feel slightly jealous. I'm from the uk, we have all the same problems, just not an Obama to believe in or even our own Hollywood to go to.
You make a great point. I, as most Americans do, often see my life through a very narrow egocentric lens. The world revolves around us! I appreciate you reminding me and other readers that although we may have our problems with the US, we actually are doing very well in comparison with others all over the world. Did you know that the blacks in the US are, as a group, the richest blacks in the world? So thanks Ben for reminding me and other readers that the world is a big place and sometimes you just have to look around at the planet to see how well you really are doing. Im guilty of taking it for granted sometimes and I thank you for keeping me in check.
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