NB quoted by "Journal News" - American Idol

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Here's a tidbit.

I just read on the NB Yahoo forum that NB has been quoted by The Journal News about the popular TV show, "American Idol." (Thanks to Michael R. Brown.)

The text is given below.

Michael

What Simon says — helpful or harmful?

By THE JOURNAL NEWS

THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: February 28, 2006)

Marianne Walsh, a social worker at R. P. Connor Elementary School in the Ramapo district, says the spectacle "desensitizes" people.

"Instead of being tuned in to the fact that they're hurting someone else's feelings, they're instead laughing and thinking it's great sport," she said. "Basically, Simon is a bully, and people enjoy watching him bully people."

But Pomona psychologist Marc Rauch, who works for Clarkstown schools, thinks Cowell's comments, while sometimes inappropriate, are not harmful. He said his young clients realize the show is entertainment and see his remarks for what they are.

"A lot of the kids that I've spoken to see that he's very reality-based — he just says the truth where the other two are more just trying to be nice," Rauch said. "The other night...I had a kid say to me, 'sometimes the truth hurts.'"

To avoid being hurt, contestants should approach the show as a learning experience, said Los Angeles psychotherapist Nathaniel Branden, author of "The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem" and "The Art of Living Consciously."

"If they lose, then they get a chance to find out who they are by how they handle it," he said. "If they disappear into depression and go into the sulks and can't eat for a month — better stay out of show business."

"We're living at a time in history where there's this insane idea that everybody should be protected against all conceivable forms of events, behaviors or speech ...where nobody ever has to hear anything unpleasant," he said. "Well, that's not how the real world operates, so to raise children in this way is not to do a good service to them."

[Rich Engle]

That's a damn skippy quote!!

American Idol: a trainwreck I love. I don't even watch it, because all I have to do is turn on the early morning news to see the train wreckage I want to see.

"The horror. The horror." - Joseph Conrad In The Heart of Darkness

Did you catch what I just said? I can see American Idol on the morning news. Every day. That's just so wrong on so many levels.

American Idol and all of its red-haired stepchildren are about a couple of main things. The first and foremost is the purposeful spread of narcissism, via vicarious experience. The second, and this is key to the first, is the purposeful spread of mediocrity. Mediocrity is the key ingredient- it is not too difficult for most anyone to imagine themselves in the place of the mediocre, er, I mean finalist participants.

It's all there- trainwrecks to make the talentless feel semi-talented, accessible mediocrity to identify with. Goofy, pathological authority figures.

I wouldn't hit a dog in the ass with any of the American Idol winners, because, and there is no better way to put this, they all suck. As a seasoned musician, I am putting that stake in the ground. I play in a little regional rock band, and my 44 yr. old singer can make mincemeat out of any of them. And she's better looking, too. And she has a personality, even.

You want to talk self-esteem implosion and general weirdness? Let's talk about The Biggest Loser. Two words: Chastity Bono.

The horror.

rde

A side of me I only bring out on special occasions.

[Fran]

"They keep finding new ways to celebrate mediocrity" - Mr Incredible.