controversy: March 2007 Archives

I've created two posts, two days in a row, about American Idol. As much as I hate to do it, I'm going to post again - about American Idol. But this post isn't going to be a prediction of the outcome, who did what and how well ( or poorly ) they did it, or who should be sent home.

I think it's time I moved beyond that and open a discussion of what is driving this season's decline from what started as a great idea to the beacon of mediocrity it is quickly becoming. I suppose that's an unfair statement. It isn't that the producers made a conscious decision to drive the show into the ground. And perhaps, as demonstrated by the popularity of the show, it isn't really being driven into the ground. But it would appear that there is a concerted effort to invalidate the integrity ( well, I'm using the term integrity very loosely here ) of the show.

American Idol has willingly fallen victim to the stupidity of the mob. Let's face it . . . there are people making gazillions of dollars off of the show. As consumers, is it too much to expect that there is at least some semblance of an attempt to remove any air of impropriety? Or are they merely basking in the riches that the publicity is giving them? Allow me to explain . . .

It doesn't take too much to start trouble in this booming metropolis called Topeka.

According to the local newspaper a state employee has a bumper sticker on her vehicle that states, "F*CK WAR." Although I prefer to replace the appropriate letter to complete the "F" word with an asterisk, the bumper sticker leaves no letters out. The state employee parks her vehicle in the statehouse parking garage. Evidently House Majority Leader Ray Merrick came across the car in the parking garage and he found it rather offensive. From there, he registered a complaint.

The owner of the vehicle was reminded:

. . . a research department policy restricting employees from participation in partisan political activities.

What does a bumper sticker that portrays that message have to do with partisan political activities? There's a bit of controversy brewing here as well. According to some sources, the owner of the vehicle's job was threatened if she did not remove the bumper sticker. However, Merrick denies that he suggested that she be removed from her position. So, who's not being 100 percent honest?

The Governor has come out in support of the employee's right to free speech. And clearly this is free speech. While I may not necessarily agree with the way the message reads, it is entirely non-partisan and the opinion of the owner. It could be phrased differently, for example, "WAR SUCKS" could send the message just as effectively.

If you would like to read this article, follow this link. However, this newspaper doesn't seem to understand just yet that people don't really want to have to create a login just to read one piddly news article. So, here's a link to bugmenot.

Don't read me wrong . . . I haven't suddenly stumbled into unexpected riches.

A long, lost relative didn't die and leave me a gazillion dollars.

I bring it up because this morning as I sifted through the feeds I subscribe to, this one kind of jumped out at me. The headline read, "Why I quit my six figure job." The author points to this article that was the inspiration for his post. I'm sure anyone would want to read that. I mean, what normal, red-blooded person doesn't want to quit their job? But, to quit a job that pays a person six figures? Certainly that person has to enjoy the money. Of course, there's always someone so satisfied with everything in life and are more than happy to point out, "Money can't buy happiness." Well, either they are brain dead, on dope, or just rich and have always had money.

Perhaps it can't buy you happiness, but it sure can help.

The article documents a guy that was a vice president at a huge corporation. One day, after pursuing something that gave him a kind of satisfaction that he wasn't getting through his job ( acting ), he quit. No severance - he just up and quit. He did something that he had wanted to do for a long time. He became an actor. Now it isn't the part about becoming an actor that is most surprising. Certainly that is a profession that is glamorous and can be lucrative. I can relate to the guy in the Men's Health article. I'm not a vice president. I don't have a six figure salary or an expense account. I don't play golf. By all measures, I'm probably a pretty ordinary guy who gets up and goes to work so that my family can have food, clothing and shelter. I don't get a huge amount of satisfaction from the work that I do. Like the guy in the article, I expect that most people do hate their job. However, I do believe that I could enjoy my job. But, I'm not going to go into that today. I do envy that guy. I'd be more than happy to wake up tomorrow morning and not have to go to work another day for someone else. Although I haven't put any ads on this site ( yet ), that doesn't mean I'm not hoping that one day this is what I will do instead of my regular job.