The Freak Show That is American Idol

I know its a day or two late, but I had to say something about American Idol. There is a phenomenon readily apparent on Idol, but which is also prevalent in churches and schools across our country: The tone deaf person who is completely ignorant of the fact they are tone-deaf, and instead believe in the fantasy that they are actually very talented at singing.
The difficulty lies in determining where such a false perception of one's own abilities is created. My personal theory is that somewhere in history, Ms Tone Deaf decided to sing in front of a group of friends, family, or the public. After butchering the song, the listener was confronted with a difficult choice: Do I tell Ms Tone Deaf she is horrible, or give her some positive encouragement? It is a difficult situation, one where truth, kindness, reality and fantasy all blur together. So, wanting to be nice, the listener made the mistake of saying "you sang really well" or "beautiful song." This positive reinforcement became embedded into Ms Tone Deaf's psyche, no matter how many subsequent performances resulted in loud sneers or boos, Ms Tone Deaf could always fall back on that one listener who lied in order to be kind. This is how we get the people on Idol who are totally unaware of how bad they truly are at singing. With gusto and enthusiasm, they screech their way through some song. As you may have seen, some even show up with glittery makeup and middle fingers erect, sure that their talent is far better than what Simon, Randy, and Paula give them credit for. How sad. So, lastly, I want to thank those tone deaf people who are aware of their limited singing ability, and choose to enjoy music by listening to it, not subjecting those around them to the complete and utter disaster that is their singing voice.