American Idol

One of the more tiresome stereotypes that elitist liberals love to throw at America is that we are uncultured, uneducated and lack the sophistication of our European allies. Lately, the popularity of the television show American Idol is used as evidence of American idiocy and simplicity. It probably doesn't help that all the winners of American Idol have been from red states, which some on the left falsely believe have lower IQs than those in the blue states. http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_voter_iq.htm


A recent movie serves to reinforce this. The tag line from "American Dreamz" states:

Imagine a country where the President never reads the newspaper, where the government goes to war for all the wrong reasons, and more people vote for a pop idol than their next President

To start, the votes for the final of the most recent American Idol totalled about 63 million, while over 120 million voted for president in the last election

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,197019,00.html?sPage=foxlife.foxnews/americanidol

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._presidential_election,_2004_(detail)#Grand_Total

Also, these numbers aren't even fair comparisions, because all you have to do to vote for American Idol is call on the damn phone. To vote for President, you have to be 18 years old or older, you have to register, and you have to haul your ass to a polling site to vote. My 10 year old daughter voted for American Idol. And unless you live in Chicago, you aren't allowed to vote for President more than once; on AI you can vote as often as you want, and you don't need to be a citizen to vote.

Another lame part of the complaint implies that this is a uniquely American trait. This ignores the fact that the show was based upon a British show called Pop Idol, that quickly spread throughout the world, to countries like France, Germany, Canada, India, Australia, and many more. But I guess it doesn't serve the left's agenda to say, "We Americans are just as dumb as the French, Germans and Brits."

http://www.fremantlemedia.com/page.asp?partID=349


The first Swedish Idols series, Idol 2004, also launched on TV4 in September last year achieving market shares up to 80% higher than the broadcaster’s average. In Norway, Idols is now the most successful programme in TV2’s history, with 1.47 million viewers watching the final results show. Meanwhile, in France some 6.4 million viewers tuned into to Nouvelle Star, the local version of Idols, making it the highest rated show on M6 in 2005.


Another example of this elitism was on a liberal website, "Democratic Underground." One poster made the usual moronic math error about the vote totals, while decrying the idiocy of the voters. He also went one further, complaining that those watching American Idol shouldn't be doing so, because it distracts the public from all that is going on in the world. How dare we watch people sing while the United States turns into a Nazi state?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2646695

I love how someone who doesn't understand 3rd grade math is making fun of the intellect of "63.4 million" people.

Like no one during the Great Depression or WW II ever watched a Three Stooges short. No wonder people turn away from this political philosophy, one that dismisses the majority as a bunch of rubes while those who "get it" are busy listening to Noam Chomsky lectures or the latest insane ramblings of Hugo Chavez praising Carlos the Jackal.