American Idol Racist?
Elton John sez so
Tell me, how can a show with 4 out of the 7 semifinalists being black be racist? How can the voters be racist when they elected a black man the winner last year?
This smells like nothing but sour grapes to me. Anyone with a single ounce of business sense can see how over-competition in any area can hurt business for all involved.
If you want to vote for a male voice be it black or white, you only have two choices, where as for women you have five choices. However if you enjoy a a black female voice, you have three choices to choose from which means of course the votes get split up more.
What's your take?
Nick
Quote:
"They have great voices. The fact that they're constantly in the bottom three -- and I don't want to set myself up here -- but I find it incredibly racist," John said at a news conference promoting his Radio City Music Hall concert backed by an orchestra of students from London's Royal Academy of Music and The Juilliard School of New York.
"They have great voices. The fact that they're constantly in the bottom three -- and I don't want to set myself up here -- but I find it incredibly racist," John said at a news conference promoting his Radio City Music Hall concert backed by an orchestra of students from London's Royal Academy of Music and The Juilliard School of New York.
Tell me, how can a show with 4 out of the 7 semifinalists being black be racist? How can the voters be racist when they elected a black man the winner last year?
This smells like nothing but sour grapes to me. Anyone with a single ounce of business sense can see how over-competition in any area can hurt business for all involved.
If you want to vote for a male voice be it black or white, you only have two choices, where as for women you have five choices. However if you enjoy a a black female voice, you have three choices to choose from which means of course the votes get split up more.
What's your take?
Nick
Comments
Sad.
Is it racist? What do you suppose the average intelligence is of people that care enough to vote?
Originally posted by ipodandimac
America (the teenage girl part of it) is stupid. Last week was a joke. The redhead guy shoulndt have even made it to Hollywood at all.
My ass sings better than that guy, I really don't understand how he has made it as far as he has.
Originally posted by Wrong Robot
My ass sings better than that guy
Bass, baritone, tenor? Can you do a falsetto? That'd be good.
Originally posted by crazychester
Bass, baritone, tenor? Can you do a falsetto? That'd be good.
are you talking about my ass? no, it can't sing better than him, but that doesn't change the fact that he is much worse than others competing with him. aside from sinatra, he is really lacking.
me, I can sing just fine(read, in tune), I have a ~3 1/2 Octave range, 2 octaves regular and 1 1/2 in falsetto.
What the ****in authority is he?
The title is a bit misinterpreted. Was the article supposed to be titled "the 20 million voters of the American Idol are racists"?
My point to the view: If someone has a great voice, he or she has a great voice. Actually, if I think of the artists of which I like the voice, more of them are black than white: Cesaria Evora, Etta Jones, Etta James, Dinah Washington, Nina Simone, Andrea Bocelli (he is white), Ana Carolina (latin .. thus more white than black) ...
In other forums I have heard people (presumably white) say that they are happy that the three black divas are split up stating that 'that will teach them a lesson'. If that statement isn't racist, I don't know what it.
Originally posted by rogue master
It certainly is racist when people vote on skin color or gender before they vote on talent, but that is what you get in a democracy. A racist/sexist vote counts the same as a non-racist/non-sexist vote. If John Stevens makes it to the final two, and I think he will (unfortunately), it might be enough to kill the show. He won't sell as many records as Justin Guarini from season 1.
In other forums I have heard people (presumably white) say that they are happy that the three black divas are split up stating that 'that will teach them a lesson'. If that statement isn't racist, I don't know what it.
Well I haven't read about it in any forums since I only know about it from the article. I've seen about 30 minutes of the show total ever.
What I was getting at though is how having too much of a good thing (three female black singers) can end up dividing up the vote. If a basketball team had too much talent at one position no one would claim it racist if they traded away one of those very talented people.
The three women could have ended up with 400k votes each which would end up being 1.2 million votes of support. That John guy could end up with 425k votes and still lead because everyone that likes his style only had one person to demonstrate it.
It would be very easy to understand if we did this with genres of music instead of skin color. If you had on three great rock acts and only one rap act, everyone who likes rap is going to vote for only the one act.
That wouldn't mean that rock sucks, or even that rap sucks. It would mean the votes are being diluted.
Nick
Originally posted by Wrong Robot
are you talking about my ass? no, it can't sing better than him, but that doesn't change the fact that he is much worse than others competing with him. aside from sinatra, he is really lacking.
Aaaw gee. When did you turn into Mr Serious?
I couldn't give a rat's arse about American Idol, Australian Idol, UK Idol, Billy Idol or even Eidelweiss. It's just a TV show. It's not real, you know (despite what they say).
The only thing that amazes me about all the "Idols" I've seen is that the standard is so low.
Who cares?
Who cares?
Who cares?
Fellowship
Originally posted by Wrong Robot
are you talking about my ass? no, it can't sing better than him, but that doesn't change the fact that he is much worse than others competing with him. aside from sinatra, he is really lacking.
me, I can sing just fine(read, in tune), I have a ~3 1/2 Octave range, 2 octaves regular and 1 1/2 in falsetto.
what note to what note in your normal range? (if i remembered mine from the last time i checked my range i'd tell you)
Originally posted by rogue master
[B]It certainly is racist when people vote on skin color or gender before they vote on talent, but that is what you get in a democracy. A racist/sexist vote counts the same as a non-racist/non-sexist vote. If John Stevens makes it to the final two, and I think he will (unfortunately), it might be enough to kill the show. He won't sell as many records as Justin Guarini from season
Funny, I've never heard of anything about racism or sexism ... when like electing presidents. Could someone make a list of ALL the NON-WHITE and NON-MALE presidents of USA so far?
Does that make that 100 % of the people enabled to vote are racists / sexists?
Originally posted by trumptman
What I was getting at though is how having too much of a good thing (three female black singers) can end up dividing up the vote. If a basketball team had too much talent at one position no one would claim it racist if they traded away one of those very talented people.
The three women could have ended up with 400k votes each which would end up being 1.2 million votes of support. That John guy could end up with 425k votes and still lead because everyone that likes his style only had one person to demonstrate it.
It would be very easy to understand if we did this with genres of music instead of skin color. If you had on three great rock acts and only one rap act, everyone who likes rap is going to vote for only the one act.
No one buys the music of Britney Spears (or, insert any big-boob white famous female singer here) because of the music.
Why don't they keep the music in the radio? Or is it that no one listens to the radio any more unless they are in their car and have forgotten their iPod home? You don't have to SEE how the music looks like to enjoy it. Besides, most music shows in TV are about as enjoyable as good zombie movies in bad radio interpretations.
Originally posted by Giaguara
No one buys the music of Britney Spears (or, insert any big-boob white famous female singer here) because of the music.
Why don't they keep the music in the radio? Or is it that no one listens to the radio any more unless they are in their car and have forgotten their iPod home? You don't have to SEE how the music looks like to enjoy it. Besides, most music shows in TV are about as enjoyable as good zombie movies in bad radio interpretations.
Couldn't the same be said for Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin and their ilk as well?
Obviously too much music today is overformulated, has any edge cooked out of it, and is preprocessed to the point of tasting like a McDonald's hamburger. However a big part of that is also CRAMMING tons of the merchandise down our throats that is exactly the same.
So it isn't just that Britney Spears shakes her ass. It is the fact the second that ass-shaking sells a million records, there are 10 more Britney's doing jumping jacks across the T.V. screen. A band like Nirvanna creates a great album and suddenly next month, everything you see and hear has greasy hair and is angst-ridden.
When this happens it kills the actual original act, and also dilutes the market to the point where no one can make a dime.
My point is that this is what American Idol has done. It doesn't mean the show or it's voters are racist. There is simply too much of one product available. If you had 10 shampoos and only one conditioner you could buy, all the shampoo makers would be broke (comparitively) and the conditioner maker would be rich. (comparitively)
When it is votes instead of dollars this should be just as easy to understand.
Nick
Originally posted by Giaguara
Funny, I've never heard of anything about racism or sexism ... when like electing presidents. Could someone make a list of ALL the NON-WHITE and NON-MALE presidents of USA so far?
Does that make that 100 % of the people enabled to vote are racists / sexists?
I don't disagree about racism/sexism when it comes to the US presidents. Part of the problem is that the Republican and Democratic parties are afraid to promote any black person or woman on the presidential ticket. The rest of the problem is racism. I would bet that there are many Republicans who wouldn't vote for Condoleeza Rice for president because of her sex and I would bet that there are many Democrats who wouldn't vote for Al Sharpton for president because of his race.
I didn't call ALL people who voted (on Idol) racist. I just stated that that it is very likely that race played a factor in a lot of votes. We will never know what percentage of votes were affected by this, but if we did, then it would show how pervasive racism and sexism are (or are not) in this country.
Originally posted by ipodandimac
what note to what note in your normal range? (if i remembered mine from the last time i checked my range i'd tell you)
C below Middle C ranging to about D or E 2 octaves above.
I have no problem switching into falsetto though, it's perfectly smooth(well usually) so, it's a little blurry on the line between the two.