American Idol 2007--Live Thread (Part II)

FOX ^ | 3-13-07

[Squat]

Suckjaya - justSuckjaya, what the hell is going on? There are not that many people that live in Seattle, something is rigged.

[design engineer]

Dont you all know something why this suckjaya/mangina/vagina/etc is still there and bothering you by his “unholy” Indian presence on national TV ?

No, its not the thousands of teenage girls who formed armies of strong voting blocs.. its not the normal people attracted by the way he is handling his critics at that tender age.

Its us INDIANs.. We killed Jesus.. And wiped out the Dinosaurs.. we control all the stock markets.. And now a days, we do nothing but rig American Idol so that a HALF-INDIAN, HALF-ITALIAN 17 yr old AMERICAN kid can win this competition and somehow benefit our entire nation of 1.1 billion people ?

Sweet.

And how can you forget ? ALL Indians even those with PhDs, work at Call centres and 7-11s have nothing to do except root for this Sanjaya Malakar dude.

Further, as one Freeper from Alabama refers to this kid as a “dothead” (derogatory word for hindus and as I understand according to him, for anyone with more than 49.99% Indian blood).. Even though Sanjaya is a Christian like me, he is a “dothead” ? why ? is it because of his half-Indian heritage ? So, does the half-Italian heritage make him a “mobster” ?

I doubt if its ok to call black people as ni***** but calling Indians as Pak** or dothead is acceptable on this forum ? wow.. didnt know that.. I hope the mods provide a list of racist abuses that are allowed on this forum.. I doubt if I can call anyone hon***, cra****, etc etc. Not that I never abused anyone that way - black, white, hispanic, arab.. every one is cool.

Even though only 0.5% of Americans are of East Indian origin, and not even half of them even watch AI.. and of them, only a fraction even like this kid, we have to bear this onerous burden of somehow being responsible for this kid sharing HALF of our RACIAL GENETIC COMPOSITION ?

Most of you guys are extremely ludicrous in your hatred of a 17 yr old boy.... already some people are going on fasts in protest of this kid being on this show ! This never happens even in India (ya, its a not so rich country filled with “dotheads” as you freepers might like to call us), the country where people sometimes kill themselves over cricket matches and idolize movie stars, but no hunger strikes over TV shows.

I’m not a big fan of Sanjaya, but I do admire his guts.. he is just 17 and considering the amount of hatred, vitriol and ridicule he has to put up with each and every day, and he always has the courage to be polite and gracious to one and all. At 17, I doubt many people have that kind of personal culture and maturity. Definitely not most of you, who are ganging up on him in such an obscene way. Thats why I’ll support him, just for that (please dont find the Indian, dothead angle).

[FreedomForce]

I tend to agree with you. The amount of abuse that has been directed at Sanjaya is ridiculous. Even the mainstream media has gotten into the act by suggesting that Sanjaya still being in it has tarnished the show, possibly beyond recovery. He’s not very good and in my opinion should have gotten the boot weeks ago, but obviously some people like the kid enough to keep voting for him which is what the show is all about. I wish he were gone, but I don’t begrudge him still being there. And yes, he has handled being vilified well, not just for someone of his age but for someone of any age.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Haley pretended to be offended at the “nice legs” comment but she’s a smart girl. She knows who’s voting for her!

I think the same thing, and have for several weeks now, and it's very sad....She knows she doesn't have a enough talent in the singing department, so she's buying her way up the ladder with her looks. Rather cheapens her, IMO.

[retrokitten]

I know you haven’t been around long, but it’s courtesy if you are going to talk about someone to ping them to your post.

Had you taken a few minutes to search through past AI season threads (okay, it probably would have been more then a few because past AI threads are pretty long LOL) you would have seen that yes, most of us had ton of negative comments not only to Kevin Covias, but Jon Stevens, Constantine Maroulis, Scott Savol, Ace Young, and Anthony Federov is a running joke around here. You don’t get any whiter then Federov!

Most of us could care less what color or “RACIAL GENETIC COMPOSITION” Sanjaya is. He’s completely out of his league vocally. His audition was great, but between now and then something happened and that something was not good.

Why are you even taking this so seriously?? It’s just a TV show. It’s American Idol, not a presidential debate. He doesn’t get to rewrite the tax code if he wins. If something someone on the thread says offends you or is against posting rules then hit abuse or ping the mods. But, it is the SBR and they don’t really pay much attention to us back here.

[Sue Perkick]

Had you taken a few minutes to search through past AI season threads (okay, it probably would have been more then a few because past AI threads are pretty long LOL) you would have seen that yes, most of us had ton of negative comments not only to Kevin Covias, but Jon Stevens, Constantine Maroulis, Scott Savol, Ace Young, and Anthony Federov is a running joke around here. You don’t get any whiter then Federov!

I'm series.

There's at least one every year. This year it's Suckjaya. He's not being singled out because of anything other than his suckatation factor. And it's rockin' on 11.

[retrokitten]

Exactly. He could be green, purple, blue, or Simpsons yellow and he’s stink just as bad. I’m sure he’s a nice kid. All the guest mentors say that he’s really charming. But nice and charming don’t mean you can sing well.

BTW, I love “suckatation factor”. LMAO!!

[Pure Country]

Does anyone have the words to the song that Blake sang a couple of weeks ago? Something like “It’s the time of the season” or close to that anyway.

[Wolfstar]

Its us INDIANs.. We killed Jesus.. And wiped out the Dinosaurs.. we control all the stock markets.. And now a days, we do nothing but rig American Idol so that a HALF-INDIAN, HALF-ITALIAN 17 yr old AMERICAN kid can win this competition and somehow benefit our entire nation of 1.1 billion people ?

Whoa! Take a deep breath, there, fella. On your FR personal page -- on the interent where you can choose to remain totally unidentified -- you identify yourself as "27, brown skinned Indian male, Christian, with a PhD in Electrical Engineering."

So after your age, the first thing you want to tell people about yourself is your skin color, followed by your ethnicity, sex, religion and education. In fact, you don't just tell people your skin color and ethnicity, you push it in their faces.

You know what that tells me about you? It tells me the way you self-identify; that you are hyper-conscious of and hyper-sensitive to your skin color and ethnicity. And because you are that way, you assume everyone is that way.

You know what? You are dead wrong. Some people may react to you (and someone like Sanjaya) only on the basis of your skin color, but I'm certain the vast majority do not. I work in the information systems field and live in the Los Angeles area. Every day, I go to work, I see and interact with a veritable United Nations of people, including many people from India. The latest hire in the group where I work is a Sikh who started this week -- yes, wearing his turban. Trust me -- no one gave him, or his ethnicity, or skin color, or his choice of wearing a turban the least concern. Here it's all about doing the job. Period.

On the streets, in the neighborhoods, stores and restaurants where I live, again one encounters a veritable United Nations. And you know what? We all get along pretty much peaceably.

As for Sanjaya, I can't stand him in the context of AI. You know why? Because he's a really lousy singer. His performance skills are weak, breathy, effiminate. He has poor lyrical phrasing and a vocal range of about a half-octave (I'm being facetious about the latter). None of that has anything to do with his age, ethnicity, skin color, religious, education, or any of the other things you identified about yourself -- and think we dislike about Sanjaya.

Oh, and by the way, his being 17 is no defense against his being a lousy singer. Some of the best there ever were started their careers at that age or younger. Ever hear of Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra? (Just to give two examples.) Heck, on this year's AI, there's another mixed-race 17-year-old who is a spectacular vocalist and performer. I'm referring to Jordin Sparks. Most comments about her are very positive because people recognize her talent.

Last year, most of us here strongly disliked Kellie Pickler and Katharyn McPhee. In the light-hearted, joke-filled spirit of this thread, we skewered both of them thoroughly. Speaking for myself, the list of people I have not liked during AI's six seasons is way longer than the list of those I've liked. The whole premise of the show is that the public is invited to judge the contestants. I judge their vocal and musical ability and their performance skills. I think most people do the same.

A lot of us here want to like Phil, because he's in the Navy and we strongly support our military. And yet most of us don't like him -- again, in the context of the show -- because he's not the best singer, has poor performance skills, and has apparently deliberately chosen a creepy look for himself. So we call him Nosferatu.

So the next time you want to blow off steam about race and ethnicity, just remember that is how you see the world, and not necessarily how the world sees you -- or Sanjaya.

Oh, and one last thing -- as mentioned, I work in the information systems field, yet I have NEVER heard the term "dothead" in any context, let alone in the suppposed perjorative context you claim it means.

[retrokitten]

Here ya go!

Artist: The Zombies Lyrics
Song: Time Of The Season Lyrics
It’s the time of the season
When the love runs high
In this time, give it to me easy
And let me try
With pleasured hands

To take you and the sun to
Promised lands
To show you every one
It’s the time of the season for loving

What’s your name?
(What’s your name?)
Who’s your daddy?
(Who’s your daddy? He rich?)
Is he rich like me?

Has he taken
(Has he taken)
Any time
(Any time to show)
To show you what you need to live?
Tell it to me slowly
Tell you what?
I really want to know
It’s the time of the season for loving

What’s your name?
(What’s your name?)
Who’s your daddy?
(Who’s your daddy? He rich?)
Is he rich like me?

Has he taken
(Has he taken)
Any time
(Any time to show)
To show you what you need to live?
Tell it to me slowly
Tell you what?
I really want to know
It’s the time of the season for loving

[Netizen]

Everything you said is true.

I can't wait til Zabasearch starts posting their charts. Then we will get some actual numbers on the contestants. If he gets eliminated right off the bat, I'll be suspicious that the judges passed him on to Hollywood and then the top 24 and the PTB kept him there just for the ratings.

Nobody cares what nationality he is, he SUCKS, and people that sang better than him have been eliminated.

[Palladin]

If you go back and read my posts, I have praised Sanjaya for his originality and his chutzpah (Yiddish for “nerve” or gutsiness).

I also remarked on his good looks, his sense of humor, and his excellent stage presence.

It’s interesting to note his half-Italian, half-Indian heritage. No wonder he is so handsome.

I am sorry you were offended by some posts here. Indian-Americans have been making outstanding contributions to our country for the past 60 years. My own doctor is of Indian descent. Half our highway engineers here in PA., the same.

You are now second and third generation Americans. Here’s a clue: we all were immigrants once, and our forefathers, whether German, Irish, Jewish, Italian, or Hungarian—had to put up with stereotyping and with nicknames like Hunkie, Mick, Wop, etc. We got over it. You should, too.

[Miss Didi]

Round of applause to you all for your spot-on comments to our FRiend design engineer. Might I add, if you want to be angry at someone...why not lash out at Howard Stern and his buddies at Vote the Worst who are deliberately trying to keep this kid on the show, even though he is light years away from the other talents, just to make fun of him.

Our gripe is that week after week we see talented singers getting the boot, while Sanjaya remains grinning with another "headline stealer" hairdo and snotty little comments to the judges. As Simon says, this is a singing competition and we, like most Idol fans, think he is out of his league.

[Netizen]

This is an excellent read. It's long, 3 pages, but it reads fast and is very interesting. It goes through all of the contestants and talks about what the “Artists & Repertoire” people see in each of them.

The Idol Analyst: Sanjaya and the Angles

[Netizen]

Might I add, if you want to be angry at someone...why not lash out at Howard Stern and his buddies at Vote the Worst who are deliberately trying to keep this kid on the show, even though he is light years away from the other talents, just to make fun of him.

I'm not sure if they have that much influence, but, IF they do, then you are astute in pointing out that they would be the ones working to keep him in there and subjecting him to ridicule.

[Lucky9teen]

Why Sanjaya is still on the show is beyond me, except to say, that apparently, American Idol has truly lost it's credibility for what the show is truly for - A SINGING COMPETITION.

It's now an entertainment/popularity contest, otherwise, Sanjaya would have gone home long ago, Gina would still be on and Phil or Haley would have left last week. I shake my head every week now...and am not surprised anymore by who goes home. It's sad....I like American Idol and I hate that this will probably be it's demise.

I wonder if I'm alone....

[retrokitten]

She looks like that part in the horror movie right before the monster gets her.

[TonyWpi]

Idol hasn’t been a “singing competition since season 1.

Season 2 Clay was the best singer and he came in 2nd
Season 3 Jennifer Hudson was voted off way early. Even so, Diana Degarmo was “technically” a better vocalist than Fantasia.
Season 4 Carrie won....OK...we got it right that year.
Season 5 Mandisa and Elliot were the best singer and we got a McPhee (and her McPee’s) vs Taylor final. (Taylor was a terrific entertainer but not technically a great vocalist.

Personally, I think we’d have a better show if WE did what VFTW do and vote for who GOES HOME instead of who stays.

Voting for your “favorite” screws up the tally because people (myself included) vote for those you think are in danger of going rather than the “best” singers.

If we could vote for the singer we think is the worst, people like Sanjaya would never get this far.

[retrokitten]

I totally agree.

[Miss Didi]

Good article indeed. Thanks for posting. Mailing a print version to Mom.