What do you think - are the voting results reflective of racism?
Please note - I don’t watch American Idol - in fact, that is one of the main reasons I am asking - I don’t have the data to form my own opinion. I have watched a couple of “summary recaps” at the end a show while getting ready for 24. I suppose I can envision a few options:
yep, the voting is racist.
no - the voting is not racist, it’s just teeny-bopper interest in that red-haired guy.
no - the voting is not racist - people are just cluelessly using criteria other than vocal skills when making their choices.
no - the voting is not racist - but this is a tricky one - however, the women singers contestants are not particularly attractive regardless of race. I heard a couple of people arguing this point at the local Starbuck’s. It didn’t sound like they found African-American women unattractive in general, just these contestants.
no - not racist - some other reason…
I only watched those recaps, but I wonder if #4 is a factor - I didn’t find the women particularly attractive, but that’s just me. Women like the African-American woman who was in the first year (Tamara?) was gorgeous and could sing; year 1 winner Kelly something is reasonably pretty and has pipes for days.
I am not commenting on the guys from last year.
I just wonder if this vote is more a commentary on requirements that a woman singer be attractive to a standard that guy singers are not held to…
I don’t get why people are shocked by this outcome. Jennifer Hudson has been in the bottom two at least twice before. She has a cocky attitude (“It’s Jenny’s world.”). If the horrors that were Carmen and Josh from last season showed anything, it is that a contestant can have a voting bloc behind them that isn’t interested in talent in the slightest. I might also note that both Carmen and Josh were eliminated when their attitudes veered from apple-pie-America’s-Sweetheart to arrogant.
Sigh. OK, I hereby resolve to be a more careful poster. Maybe despite the media spin on this, etc. Frankly, this is all just the show creating a narrative to promote the show with the media playing along.
Three African-American divas placing in the bottom three?
This really isn’t so surprising. Rather than assuming voter racism, a simpler answer would be that the diva-loving vote was split between the three contestants.
I really don’t think it was racism. I think that Jervoise is correct with his theory that the three divas were splitting the vote. Another factor would be that the voting demographic from what I understand is teenage girls. They may not be fans of the type of music and voice that Fantasia, LaToya and Jennifer Hudson possess.
For some reason, LaToya in particular leaves me cold. I find her to be a case of where the sum is less than the total of the parts. I recognize that she has a very good voice, and always gives a competent performance, but for some reason I always find them to be a little bland and unmoving. She doesn’t stir any emotion in me at all. As I sit here, writing this, I realise that I can’t recall any song that she has sang even though I watch the show regularly, and have a pretty good memory.
Fantasia definitely is memorable. I find her polarizing character to be a good thing. A least I can remember songs that she sings. People either love her or hate her, but at least that means that she’ll have a following. She was getting a bit too arrogant, and hopefully she’ll tone down the attitude.
To vear away slightly from the main topic, does anyone else find the contestants this season to be a bit uninspiring compared to those of previous seasons?
Eh, Jennifer Hudson was a chronic, brutal oversinger with an attitude who never did anything to acquire the swell of support needed for a contestant to win. I don’t see racism; I see a contestant who was similar enough to two others to cause a split vote and simply wasn’t as good as the people with whom she was splitting. Fantasia’s a great, memorable performer, and LaToya is IMO the best singer in the contest. Jennifer got left in their dust. The opposite would be John, who, while he’s a one-trick pony on his best night, is unique enough to be remembered and has a bizarre sort of charm that’s earned him fans.
All in all, brujo, I’m with you on the contestants being uninspiring. I root for LaToya by default and for John, although I don’t vote for him, because it’s amusing to see people pop a vein every time he survives. No real passion for either of them, though. Pretty steep decline for what Randy called the best group of finalists ever, huh?
Right, so nearly at the end of season three, let’s recap: Year 1’s top two- white female, black male. Year 2’s top two- black male, white male. Year 3’s top twelve- 8 white, 4 black and the first black contestant is voted off after 5 white singers, yeah, there’s rampant racism involved.
For there to even be a racism conspiracy, would folks like Elton be indicting the entire country considering it’s by call-in vote? If it were another reality show, say Survivor consistently voted off black contestants first or something, then maybe someone could cook up a theory. This one’s by public voting, though, so what the heck?
Everyone’s theories make sense, 3-way split diva audience, lack of hardcore fans, and probably a generous helping of “she’s such a great singer, surely she’s safe” apathy. No secret evil conspiracy. :rolleyes:
Four white and one Asian/Pacific Islander, but I get your point anyway, and agree with you. Just picking nits.
I speculate without evidence that there are more whites voting for the black singers than black voters voting for the white singers… and that’s not racism either, it just means that Mr. and Ms. White (John and Dianne) understandably don’t resonate with black voters.
People can vote for whoever they want. If they don’t want us to vote our preferences, why let us call in at all? The preachiness from judges and Ryan and the media is sickining, or would be, if I didn’t know it was just a ploy to create a “story” and promote the show.
What a stupid thing to say. They split the vote. People like John more than the “experts” think they should. Two far more logical explanations than racism.
When will people learn that this kind of comment just cheapens real racism?
Just out of curiosity, does anyone know anything about computer dialers?
It doesn’t seem to me to be racism (I’m of the “split the vote” theory), and I agree that this kind of thing “cheapens” the word, but it does seem odd that some folks are still around.
So my question is – is it possible that someone has a computer dialer that can blast AI with a ton of extra votes?
Plus, she got into the final 12 by virtue of being Randy’s wild card choice.
George is the last remaining wild card. Leah was Paula’s choice (why?) and JPL was “America’s Wild Card”. Simon picked George, despite having repeatedly told him he was “too old”*. So Jennifer blew two chances to get voted in, and now we’re supposed to think there’s a racist conspiracy?
*And what is the deal with him lately, anyway? I never agreed with Simon that he was “too old”. I liked him the way he was: a seasoned, smoldering brother. When he performed in the wild card round, females in the audience were swooning. Now, though, you’d think he was younger than JS, the way he’s making those goofy faces and clowning around. Shame, too, because I thought he’d have a real Bill Withers thing going on.
Shock news!! Popularity contests rarely focus on the supposed talent or ability of the contestants!! People let ignorance and bigotry influence their judgement in trivial voting contests!!
Is this fricking comment really necessary? Does it advance anyone’s cause? Elton deserves a solid pitting for this one. Yea, last year’s AI was racist too because everyone likes a fat lovable black guy. I mean please:
Diva vote split
Hudson and Latoya have no personality and Fantasia is arrogant. 50% of this vote is based on charisma.
They are female so the teeny bopper Tiger Beat demo are probably voting men.
When people feel their candidate is safe they are more likely not to vote. That’s been the case throughout AI. People vote when their favorite is an underdog.
Even if he thought the vote was racist, which is doesn’t really have enough evidence to believe, he should keep it to himself. A real prickly little fuck that guy is.
