2006-03-22 - 6:07 a.m.
Self-escream
I apologize for the extreme paucity of wit in my recent entries, but the opportunity for other writing has opened up with the completion of the embroidery, so a lot of my energy is going into that right now. Not so much, though, that I can't write about my utter disgust with Paula, Randy, and the "American Idol" audience every time they boo Simon for saying anything they remotely construe as negative. Yes, I watched it last night. I thought most of the kids did rather well, though a few demonstrated my theory that you can be technically brilliant and still boring rather well. It's all about understanding the meaning of what you're singing, as well as the musicality - if you do a perky, brilliantly-sung version of "Ain't no Sunshine When She's Gone", you've done very well musically, but also completely missed the point. It's why Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits can be so powerful even though they suck at singing (be honest!), and Debbie Gibson is, sadly, rather forgettable. I get the giggles something awful when I read that last sentence - I just compared Leonard Cohen and Debbie Gibson. Go me. But back to Randy, Paula, and the audience - I'm getting heartily sick of the boos that start up as soon as Simon starts speaking - it's like no-one's allowed to say anything negative at *all*. I don't like this trend. I don't like this trend because it's the same idea that rears its ugly head in schools and colleges, in the SCA, in every venue where people are judged in any way. (That would be life, then, wouldn't it. Yes.) It's the idea that feeling bad is bad, and everyone should be praised at all times, no matter how lame their performance is. I don't buy this. Praise, like everything else, is a commodity that is valuable when scarce, and cheap when it's flying all over the place. Hence, praise from Paula is worth less (a LOT less) than praise from Simon - when Simon praises you, you know you've done well. When Paula praises you, you know you've done... something. (Who knows what's going on in that addled little brain of hers.) When everyone gets a prize, no-one wants that prize anymore. Everyone starts casting their eyes on the prize that's hard to get. Some work their butts off to deserve it, others whine that they deserve it, and they should get it even though they haven't really done anything, and that it shouldn't be kept from them because it makes them feel excluded. Of course, when that prize is then devalued because enough people whined and were given it that it was given to *everyone*, that prize is no longer worth anything, and they want the next one, which if the world is fair in the least, will be a long time coming. (Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. All I know is you can whine until you get the prize, but no amount of whining wins you respect.) We all want to feel special. The trouble is, you have to *be* special for other people to treat you like you're special. When you want to be special, and demand gifts to make you feel special, and whine that it isn't fair that other people get to be special when you don't, then the people who actually believe you and give you stuff will also believe all the other whiners, so they'll get the specail gifts, too. ...And you're back right where you started, because if everyone gets a medal, then no-one gets to stand out from the rest. Lost in all the self-esteem blather is the fact that you have to *earn* your place in the sun. So, shut up, Paula. When Simon speaks, he's being kinder to the contestants than you are - at least with Simon, they know where they stand. With you, all they get is puffery and smokescreens. How can they hope to compete properly when all they get is "you did great!"? When Simon says it's good? It might just be good.
Dorsal - Ventral
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