American Idol, Democracy and Racial Diversity

Filed in archive Latin Chat on March 19, 2007

Reading this article about American Idol, two things came to my mind. First, the idea of using the show's format in 2008 to choose the US president, sounds really good:

"Each candidate could deliver a five- or 10-minute speech on some issue and be judged on originality, conviction, the accuracy of his or her facts and hairdo.

They could even keep the same judges. I can hear Randy Jackson now:

"Hey, Obama. Check it out, dog. You said one thing in the beginning, and then a few minutes later, you said the opposite. Check it out - you can't have it both ways, dude."

Or Paula Abdul: "hillary, I find it hard to say anything bad about you because I remember all you went through with Bill. But you seemed so ? hostile up there."

Or Simon Cowell: "John, you have to stop smiling all the time. To tell you the truth, it's kind of creepy."

For that matter, Simon himself might make a good candidate, if he weren't British. At least he wouldn't try to please everybody."

Ha! That would be a really interesting show. I bet that if you could vote for president through a phone call, the election would be much more democratic and representative. Besides, the profits (you know, they charge you for voting) could be used to jump start the president's projects. LOL.

Second, have you noticed how they seem to be trying to be "racially correct" in American Idol, this season? Looking at the 24 finalists, you can see a good deal of racial diversity - Caucasians, Blacks, Latins, Asians... and even an Indian looking guy.

There are beautiful contestants, regular looking contestants, slim, fat, mid-sized... And that's so nice.

But I don't believe this is a coincidence. I think they are intentionally trying to be politically correct, and attract a broader audience. If so, the judges made their choices for the final 24 based not only in the voice of the contestants, but also in their race. And that really isn't that nice.