D’Arvit!

Websites like votefortheworst.com should NOT be condemned. In fact, people should even thank the webmaster and site staff for coming up with such a brilliant idea. Though sites like these are usually built for any or both of these reasons: (a) to communicate a certain idea, and/or (b) to get site traffic and earn money, website traffic is insignificant as compared to the controversy and attention that websites like votefortheworst.com stir up. These websites, through satire and mockery, serve as a wake-up call for TV audiences everywhere. By making fun of American Idol, people would clearly see the flaws in the show and help them make proper judgement about the notions of talent and TV rubbish.

American Idol has often been criticized for its contest rules, specifically, for its method of selecting the contest winner. The method of popular vote is one of the reasons that have made the show a big hit among people all over the world. However, this same method has posed a critical issue, and has raised many questions: How would the viewers know which contestant is truly “talented”? What does “talent” mean for the viewers? Isn’t this just a popularity contest? What would happen if people would vote for the worst contestant?

The last question is what votefortheworst.com addresses. Part-mockery, part-social experiment, and part-American Idol bashing, votefortheworst.com is telling everyone how “idols” are not made overnight and how gullible American Idol’s viewers have become. By making the worst contestant win the contest, this website hopes that people would see the flaws of the contest: how just because a person won the title, “American Idol” does not automatically mean that he or she is truly one.

Whatever happened to the musicians and artists who started off by making their own music, writing their own songs, and creating their own styles? American Idol has changed all that, and has created manufactured, put-together, “artists,” nay, “idols” who are fortunate enough to have an instant audience–moneymaking through music and television at its finest.

Votefortheworst.com puts a spin in all that. And even if they don’t, it’s fun to make a mockery out of American Idol’s “artists-in-a-box” anyway. Either way, FOX and Simon Cowell still earn money, the TV show and votefortheworst.com get lots of attention, and the people have a lot to talk about. Everybody wins.

PS: Too bad Sanjaya got kicked out of the game. Oh well. Sanjaya’s not the only sucky contestant anyway–all of these contestants suck. As I have said, everybody wins!