American idolatry

Tonight whilst reading Zuleika Dobson I began wondering about a news item I had come across this morning. One of the saddening facts of the case is the fact that it was a front page news item. This item, on the front page, mind you, was about the latest news from a television programme. It seems that there is a programme in the US called "American Idol", it appears to be some sort of "amateur hour" show, where the contestants are abused by smarmy judges (one of whom is English) who possess no apparent talent themselves, with the exception of smarminess. I could not for the life of me figure out why this was "news". So I checked on the programme and it seems to be very popular with the great unwashed, some 33 million or there about, tune in to this drivil each week. To think it has come to this...You mean to say that educated, literate people actually watch this garbage, to the point that who wins the amateur talent show is covered as front page news? Do you have no books in the house? A computer game would be more intellectually stimulating. I think this explains the old saw that, "the sheep get, what the sheep want". No one should be watching television to start with, but that the most watched programme is one which would get hissed off the stage as below them at any respectable pre-school milk time. Two thousand years of civilization down the drain if you ask me...Well, it is "American" idol afterall, so what did I really expect from mere colonial riff-raff...Turn it off! If only Beerbohm were here to write about this...