American Idols
Hard not to be seduced by the spectacle of the DNC nomination of Barack Obama, the epoch-making acceptance speech, on an already historical date, which was well written and delivered. Best fireworks since the closing ceremonies of the Olympics too! The idea that the US may be moving out of 18th century racism and actually flirting with an activist black president... well that seriously does warrant rapt attention. However, what's really impressive is that more people watched the big show than tuned in to American Idol. CNN, proud of its lion's share of viewers, boasted the very fact the next day. So the milieu is a society where almost as many people care about contrived, arbitrary fame as they do about who will be their next president.
But before we despair of the situation, let's try to understand it better.
Entertainment is the natural connection, and CNN rightly made the comparison... without a trace of irony; in fact the context is the only 'news' here, that corporate infotainment is as designed, constructed and responsive to its audience as is American Idol. Ratings drive the price of advertising and it matters little if they are watching great political theater or insipid pop music. (Never mind that the Idol format is actually a siren of deconstructionism, and as hard to avoid looking at as an accident scene.) Then there's the obvious parallel between the show's contestants and Barack Obama's meteoric stardom.
Needing to grab a bit of that limelight for their lackluster campaign, the GOP will feature its own talent-show winner: Sarah Palin. Conservatives everywhere, desperate to match the enthusiasm of their more liberal counterparts, are fawning over Palin with such unwarranted effusion that one has to wonder if they could have been disappointed, even with Rush Limbaugh in heels and a wig. This is partisan politics at its worst. Witness the conservatives claim that the negative reaction to what they see as pandering to their vote, is just the "feminists" being jealous. "They had their thing with the nomination, so now we made history too." Easy as that, apparently. We're expected to tolerate the fact that McCain made the most important decision of his political career in a way that utterly undermines the main criticism he had of his opponent. Namely, lack of experience. When you get to know her, assures McCain, you'll think she's as great as I do... but won't he be getting to know her with us? He's only met her once before the interview after which he hired her.
The mayor of a small Alaskan town, less than 2 years ago, Palin has now been put in
a position that could conceivably, if the unlikely result of tragedy, make her President of the United States for Christmas. Talk about impressing the judges at your audition! Nothing against Palin, of course, as we don't know her yet, but what this illustrates is the effect on portentous decision making by a medium focused on commercial feasibility and an electorate addicted to entertainments.
So, two months of song and dance, then, America, its time to vote for your favorite Idol.
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posted by Atomos @ 21:57
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