I probably won't get much of a chance to blog over the next couple of days, but there's one thing I just have to get off my chest.
Anyone who thinks that American students suffer from a lack of self-esteem, or thinks that that they need to be built up and told that they are special, or thinks that they need to more coddling and shielding from the rough world outside, should be tied to a chair and forced to watch last night's American Idol premiere over and over again.
I mean, good God. There were stadiums full of teenagers who waited in line for days for their chance to get on TV and in front of a group of tough judges, and the majority of them could. Not. SING. Many of them had no talent whatsoever, but they were not shy about barging into a room and warbling horribly in front of cameras. There were oodles of fascinating mental problems on display in those rooms last night, but low self-esteem wasn't one of them. One young fellow sang like your maiden aunt crossed with a parrot; when he got booted, his granny stormed inside to confront Simon. Another young lassie cursed during her song - seriously, they had to bleep out a lot of the lyrics - and when she was dismissed, she told them they could kiss her white ass. The interviews with those who were rejected involved more bleeping of nasty words than your average episode of COPS.
Anyone watching this premiere would come away convinced that, if any group of teenagers needs a class in lowering self-esteem - or at least in forcing their self-opinion to conform to reality - it would be American teenagers. I also now think that Simon Cowell should be teaching at schools of education.
Posted by kswygert at January 18, 2006 08:37 AM