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What we do see however, are the shameless contestants who don't have an ounce of talent --- contestants like William Hung. Additional Article Information: =============================== 738 Words; formatted to 65 Characters per Line Distribution Date and Time: 2007-03-13 18:00:00 Written By: Trent Lampe Copyright: 2007 Contact Email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] For more free-reprint articles by Trent Lampe, please visit: http://thePhantomWriters.com/free_content/d/index.shtml#Trent_Lampe ============================================= Special Notice For Publishers and Webmasters: ============================================= If you use this article on your website or in your ezine, We Want To Know About It. Use the following URL to let us know where you have used this article, and we will include a link to your website on thePhantomWriters.com: http://thephantomwriters.com/notify.php?id=4536&p=load HTML Copy-and-Paste and TEXT Copy-and-Paste Versions Of Article Are Available at: http://thePhantomWriters.com/free_content/db/l/american-public-william-hung.shtml#get_code --------------------------------------------------------------------- Why Did The American Public Fall In Love With William Hung? Copyright (c) 2007 Trent Lampe American Idol Unauthorized http://www.idolunauthorized.com The early rounds of American Idol, are clearly geared more towards amusement than actual talent. Generally, the performances of the great musicians that get their tickets punched to Hollywood are not shown. What we do see however, are the shameless contestants who don't have an ounce of talent --- contestants like William Hung. We tune in to watch them squirm and embarrass themselves in front of millions of viewers. The producers of shows like American Idol could care less about the humiliation that contestants face, as they are simply a means towards financial and commercial success. The reason why the early tryout rounds bring in the big draw of American Idol viewers, has to do with the fact that people want to see the judges put contestants through painful, embarrassing, and humiliating situations for the rest of us to watch - and, presumably, laugh at and be entertained by. We then continue to laugh out loud as Simon Cowell insults and boots them off the stage. It is almost encoded in a human brain to always focus on and find amusement in someone elses suffering. In fact, American Idol appeals to our baser instincts, including our perverse pleasure in seeing other people fail. A satisfactory explanation for man's inhumanity to man may never be reached. We always seem to want to see people do badly, and oftentimes we view these contestants as less than human. The discussion can extend to other areas besides the realm of American Idol. The idea of laughing at someone slipping on a banana peel or taking pleasure in the downfall of an enemy taps into the same kind of emotions that we experience while watching Idol. Perhaps we are simply happy that these bad things aren't happening to us, but it is okay as long as it's to someone else. So what causes us to derive entertainment from the suffering of others? The attitude of wanting others to fail means that we are allowing others to control our reactions and emotions. Wanting to see another person embarrass themselves is really a way of seeking satisfaction when our hopes or ideals are not met. Instead of mocking an individual who totaly butchers a song, what we really need to do is appropriately examine ourselves. We need to ask ourselves what the payoff is for seeing someone crash and burn. Why do we keep wanting the worst for others. Perhaps because we cannot bear to see others succeed, we stand and cheer so hard for their demise. Perhaps we do not know or believe that there can be anything better than supporting a stranger in their quest for a dream. Perhaps we enjoy seeing others as villains. Perhaps we enjoy feeling a sense of power while watching others be in a vulnerable situation. Watching someone torn down allows us to sit back in our couches and have reassurance in our own personal happiness. We simply get pleasure at other people's pain. Others have tried to put a positive spin in trying to explain this phenomenon. It's been said that by watching others fail, that we are really trying to learn by watching people overcome fears and acquire something that would otherwise seem impossible. If they can do it, maybe I can too. It has been said that we tend to learn more about how to conduct ourselves from watching people fail than we do from watching them succeed. So, by watching people make complete idiots of themselves on American Idol, we might end up feeling a lot more normal, and reinforcing a positive sense of self by acknowledging that at least we are not as weird as they are. Perhaps by watching hundreds of contestants fail, we will in turn get motivated and engaged in our own reality. However, it is almost impossible to argue about our appeal of seeing people fail without pointing out that the contestants on American Idol for example, put themselves in this situation in the first place. Many of these contestants waited in line for hours for an opportunity to follow their dreams. The only explanation that seems to remain on this issue deals with the fact that today's society is becoming one where personal interactions are almost non-existent. We feel no connection to the rest of the world, and this makes it very easy to objectify each other and fail to experience sympathy and empathy when others around us suffer. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Trent Lampe writes about entertainment and its impact on the world. Hands down, American Idol has been one of the most profitable and influential shows on television. Some pundits and commentators reflect that American Idol is bringing out the worst America has to offer, while others say that it reflects the best of America. Who is right? American Idol Unauthorized is an uncensored view into the world of American Idol behind the cameras. Is American Idol good clean fun, or just dirty, backroom politics? You be the judge. Buy the DVD today: http://www.idolunauthorized.com and discover the truth for yourself. --- END ARTICLE --- Get HTML or TEXT Copy-and-Paste Versions Of This Article at: http://thePhantomWriters.com/free_content/db/l/american-public-william-hung.shtml#get_code ..................................... TERMS OF REPRINT - Publication Rules (Last Updated: May 11, 2006) Our TERMS OF REPRINT are fully enforcable under the terms of: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c105:H.R.2281.ENR: ..................................... *** Digital Reprint Rights *** * If you publish this article in a website/forum/blog, You Must Set All URL's or Mailto Addresses in the body of the article AND in the Author's Resource Box as Hyperlinks (clickable links). * Links must remain in the form that we published them. 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