So out of the blue the Oldest Boy asks "How on Earth did Adam Lambert not WIN American Idol - HE BROUGHT KISS! KISS ROCKS! What was WRONG with people?"
We were sitting at the dining room table, having our afternoon snack when he brought this up. I pondered pussing out on my response.....but decided against it.
We might be the kind of parents who shield and protect from the realities of violence in the world but to my husband's credit.....we do shine the light when it comes to some things that matter - the sort of things that shape little minds.
Such as, bigotry.
So I just said it. "Adam Lambert lost because he's gay. A lot of people in America don't like gay people, we've talked about that, remember?"
I calmly talked about how it's WRONG to judge someone based on whether they love women or men, and the people in OUR lives that we love VERY much who are gay....and how we hope someday people don't act like that but that right now, they do. So, unfortunately, Adam Lambert lost because he was gay - most likely anyway.
The boy sat there digesting this. He knows what gay means (ok not the squidgy details but from an OVERVIEW sort of way) and he shook his head. "Mom, that's just WRONG. I mean - he BROUGHT KISS! You would think bringing KISS on the show would change their mind and show people how cool he is."
You would think. 
4 comments:
I think you needed to tell your son that you THINK Adam was not voted the winner because he's gay. You don't know 100% that's why he didn't win.
Personally, I don't like the way he sings. I don't really care who he likes to sleep with. I also don't watch A.I.. If I did, I wouldn't have voted for him for his singing, not his sexual orientation.
You are exactly right. He did lose because he's gay, and there are too many people out there with hate in their hearts. You can't seriously tell me that whoever won that year was a better singer/entertainer than Adam (and "what's his name" is about as close as anyone will get to remembering that guy). As if bringing KISS wasn't enough, he sang the crap out of a Queen song that probably stirred ol' Freddie Mercury right out of his grave. Adam ROCKS!
Dear Anonymous: Learn to read EVERY line. Such as this line, that you obviously missed:
"So, unfortunately, Adam Lambert lost because he was gay - most likely anyway."
That indicates that it is an opinion. Also, why does she have to include EVERY word that was said to her son, verbatim, in her blog? That would make for very long blog posts, don't you think?
Since you don't watch AI, you don't know a few facts:1-He was praised by the judges for every song except a NIN version of Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire. 2-He was never in the bottom three of vote getters until the show was down to only three people. He was pretty much the #1 vote getter the entire season. When White Bread #3 contestant left, most of his voters turned to White Bread #2, giving him a much undeserved win.
Have a great day! Love your name, BTW. All the great thinkers on the Blogosphere seem to have that name.
I have watched every episode since the beginning. Pretty much have a crappy memory of it all,so I'm only left with my impressions of how I felt at the time I was watching... I do agree Adam was a little too outre for middle America, and it is also true that voters tend to vote for the next person who is like the guy they were voting for or stop voting. So Kris Allen got the Gokey bump. That's exactly American Idol for you.
I don't know how much of that is homophobia or just plain demographics. I know that as much as I enjoyed Adam's performances(but had wearied of "The Scream" that was inevitable, I was not moved to pick up a phone and vote, and I know a lot of people who feel the same way about AI. It's a pleasant show to watch, but I sure as hell am not going to spend the next two hours frantically calling/texting. And personally for me, once it was down to three:Alison, Kris and Adam, I was going to feel okay with any of them winning. So no additional motivation to vote, so I can imagine other people feeling the same. It never occurred to me that I should vote for the gay one to send a message.
Also: As much fun as an energetic Rock Show with lights and volume and all kinds of flashy dancing and movement onstage is, sometimes it is okay to just stand there, play guitar and sing. It's a different strokes/whatever your mood is thing I guess.
I do think Kris Allen (that's his name BTW, and a freaking awesome first name!) is a talented musician, but I don't know if he will come out of his shell and develop more personality(like Carrie Underwood did post-AI)
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