I suppose it’s all academic because I’ve never voted for an Australian Idol contestant in the past and I don’t intend to in the future (and I must admit that I haven’t even seen a minute of this year’s offering) but I’ve encountered a couple of instances recently that have had me shaking my head.
At work a few days ago I took a phone call from a lady who wanted the radio station where I work to promote the cause of two of the Australian Idol contestants. Why? Because they are from Western Australia and so “we need to get behind them and encourage locals to vote for them”.
Last night I received an email which was sent on behalf of a church in Western Australia. One of their members is a contestant and they are encouraging those in the larger family of churches to vote for this young lady.
Correct me if I’ve got this wrong, but aren’t we meant to vote on merit rather than a loose association with a contestant? I know that it’s not purely on singing talent. I know that looks, personality and the complete package all play their part. After all it is Australian Idol not Voice of Australia. Never-the-less there should be some kind of fair basis for choosing who should receive our votes.
I know full well that contestants all over the country are receiving this kind of ‘unfair’ support from well meaning supporters and friends but personally, I don’t really want to be a part of rigging a talent contest based on where someone lives or what they believe.
Posted by Rodney Olsen
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I was just passing through…but…
I totally agree.. it should be about there talent.. not where they live or how they look.. But sadly not many people feel the same way..
God Bless
I do agree that Sonshine shouldn’t promote an individual in this way for the same reasons you have said here. I know who this person is, I don’t go to the church who called you but the contestant they were referring to went to the same church as me for many years. I can understand why this church would ring the radio station, they are showing loyalty to someone who they see could make similar inroads as Guy Sebastian for example. For an individual who knows her (or a family member) it would be difficult to vote for someone else due to personal loyalty. I’ve never voted for anyone on Aussie Idol but this week I’ll vote for the first time. If this girl could further the cause of Christ in this setting then I’m willing to show her whatever support I can, besides, she really is extremely talented.
I dunno…
There’s also a message in this ‘vote for x because she’s one of us’ type of stuff.
I agree with Rod. If I happened to watch AI (unlikely) then I would vote for the most competent all round perfomer – not the one with the most similar faith background.
Just to clarify, the lady who rang the radio station was simply asking people to vote for the two Western Australians. I got the impression she was phoning all radio stations trying to build support.
The church circulated an email asking for support.
I think that it’s valid for the church to highlight the fact that one of their own is part of the programme but I think that requesting votes based on anything less than a contestant’s performance is a different issue.
I love American Idol shamelessly. Canadian Idol sucks, I’m sad to say…so much for Hollywood North, eh? I don’t even care if its rigged or not. I just want my fix of reality tv!
I agree, if you’re going to vote then it definately should be talent based. It’s harder though if it’s a close friend or family member up there. Those two WAussies will get promotion here in WA anyway, even without the church emailing anyone.
Hi Rodney! That’s why in America the other members of the house do the voting, not the public. We did it that way the first time.
BTW, I’m adding you to my QOTD blogroll. Your answers are GREAT!
Personally I wouldn’t be too purturbed about this. While it’s “rigging” in a sense, it wouldn’t surprise me if examples of far more blatant rigging took place in the vote counting in a bid to drum up TV ratings.
Take for example the guy who gets no votes, but a lot of vitriolic comments because he’s supposedly “bad”. I’d be very surprised if they let him be “voted off” while he was generating so much attention for the show.
Hey… I agreed with Rodney! I’ve felt this in the past when people like state premiers even started encouraging people to vote for a particular person. No, we should vote (I’m like Rodney and haven’t been a voter and am not into that) but the person whould win because he or she is THE BEST according to everybody. Well said Rodney.