W. Edwards Deming once said that a dream without courage is delusion.
America – Notoriously bad at math – reversed the equation last night and showed that their dream equaled courage plus delusion.
While I hate American Idol and the behavior Americans exhibit in response to the show, I love the first few weeks of the show. I love watching clueless, arrogant, talentless, and maniacally self-assured people run head first into the brick wall that is Simon Cowell.
Courage and confidence are vitamins that talented people with carefully constructed skill sets need to take. They’re a supplement for a budding artist who needs the encouragement to let their talents flourish in the spotlight. However, courage and confidence are poison to the deluded and talentless.
Poison with a delightful side effect of hot, hot schadenfreude for me.
Oh! The inner joy received from watching the expression of hollow disbelief well up in the eyes of the contestants. They’ve just thrown their dumb guts out on the table with some crappy show tune. – Rhythm, melody, and dynamics be damned. I’m a STAR! – Then, the certainty of praise and fame that their subconscious minds had filed right next to “sugarplums” comes out from under their twinkletoes in an utterly silent crash.
“Wh… wha… What do you mean you don’t like it? What was wrong with my performance?”
It’s at this point, that the contestant refuses to be crestfallen, but is plainly shaken. They almost always will then offer to sing a different song. After all, it certainly can’t be that I can’t sing. There’s no chance that they won’t like ME! The contestant had already worked on how they were going to clear the hurdle of the “Country Song” 12 weeks later.
Delusion.
The American Dream can only be preached so much until people begin to assume that all worldwide fame takes is “putting yourself out there”. Never mind the fact that “fame” is all people want.
What people don’t want: A balanced mind, a loving relationship, development at a job, giving to your community, freedom from want – None of these things equal “American Dream” anymore. We loathe our lives so much that being notable and idle is all we seek. And after all, my friends said I should totally try out for American Idol.
On an afternoon where Port-au-Prince, Haiti was literally leveled, and a city of the impoverished became worse off if they didn’t die, America started its yearly search for a new set of deluded snots seeking un-deserved luxuries.
The Circus Maximus’ ratings will be out soon. Let’s discuss what Victoria Beckham wore, because those Canadians ain’t no Visigoths.