She Watches The People And Ponder

Ah... I finally manage to recall what I wanted to blog about previously. It was something I observed from American Idol.

Simon Cowell (like the way Ryan Seacrest pronounced his "Cowell" as "Cowww"... Hahaha :) is a judge on the show and most often, been boo-ed at when he made "bad" comments on the contestants. Actually, I only hear of it on seasons 1 - 3 and finally saw it from AI4 onwards. His name has been making the news every now and then because of his frequent straightforward comments on the contestants. He make comments from their hair to their dressing, how the songs sound to him, how it began, how it end, who will pack their bags and leave the show etc etc...

Whenever he make "bad" comments or comments that are not pleasant to the ears of the fans of the contestants, he get boo-ed. And I mean BOO-ed. The auditorium of fans and non-fans boo him, even his fellow judges boo-ed him and tell him off. He just shakes off the boos nonchantly (gotta give kudos to his attitude) and look like the most detestable judge among the three at that point in time.

The funny thing is, when he says something nice about the contestants, the same group of people who jeered at him will applaud loudly for that comment. In agreement.

I mean, this group of people don't agree with him when he insults their favourite contestants, but if he says nice things that they like to hear, he gets the acclaimation. Kinda like the crowds who persecuted Jesus.

Ok, to be fair, not the same groups of people attend every show. But still, I think it's very ironic. So do they, or do they not like the comments of Simon "Cowww"?

Personally, I think his comments are pretty harsh and direct. But compared to Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul's patronising comments, Simon does not mince his words of advise/judgement just to look nice on tv. That is the kind of advice I appreciate personally. Honest advice without the fluffy wools of patronising words that do nothing to tell me where I went wrong.

Anyways... just my observation.

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Another observation arose when I was watching the 11.30pm current affairs programme "Was I Rude Or...?". It followed-up on the responses from viewers after the earlier programme "Why My Vote Matters - A Dialogue with the Minister Mentor" " was telecast on tv.

By now you should know that the way the young people spoke to MM generated much debate from the man on the street. I personally did not watch the programme, hence cannot comment on that. I only know it's difficult to "fight" with MM, given his depth of knowledge in history, current affairs and almost under the sun and moon has. :)

Ok, back to the programme... Not all who appeared in the earlier programme were present in the follow-up session, one was out of town and another two "prefer to stay out of the limelight". I think the turnout consists of about 5 women and 2 men.

My observation is this: The young women are much more vocal in expressing their response to the feedbacks that they have received from the Singaporeans, whereas the men are pretty much sit-back audience. The girls (consider that they are younger than me :) were very excited to share with Diana Ser on why they asked what they asked, and their ponderings over the feedbacks. And they REALLY had a lot to talk about.

I am just wondering... If this is what the new generation, or rather, if this people represents the new generation of Singaporeans... Our country might become a nation dominated by female leaders. It is true that the Singapore girl (not the aeroplane ones) nowadays is not shy to express her views and make her voice heard. I myself have friends or acquaintances like that. Whereas the Singaporean man... They are just too laidback. IMO, they seemed uninterested to be involved in complicated matters like these. Somehow, I have the impression that it also resulted them being the follower and not the leader. Or, even worse... Someone's gonna take care of it somewhat (that person was their Mommy until they get married, maybe they can also rely on others to take care of them after that).

The programme director probably saw the overpowering YING force coming in and purposely slotted 3 MALES who contributed their comments to the tabloid to appear on the show and expressed their views.

Interesting eh? I am just happy that finally local political topics can be expressed out in the open in recent years. Of course, the programme were edited. But overall, we can be thankful that door has been opened for the exchange between the people and the government. Finally, we get to tell the government how we feel. And are we ready to receive the fruit of the changes we propose?

But are we ready to respond to our views and quantify it with supporting statements? Some of us are not. I for one, admit that I am a lazy citizen. (Yes, yes... So what gives me the right to point the finger on Singaporean men when the 4 fingers are pointing at myself? I know...)

I think I will continue to observe and go with what I think is better.

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Related Article:
One of the girls, a journalist writes to TODAY and shares her puzzlement to the reaction.

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PS: Election is on 6th May 2006. Darn, a Saturday. That means no extra holiday...