The world is all a-twitter with the demonic rise of Sanjaya Malakar in this season of American Idol. Lately all the talk has been about his hair, but really the story here is about the fact he's been the weakest link for week's on end and yet somehow stays in the competition.
The secret is not his over the top hairdos. And it's not his smile either. Or the fact that every week he becomes more Michael Jackson-ish (weird) It's the "power of us". Its Vote for the Worst.
[update: I've been asked to remove the screenshot from VFTW; I'm not sure why and I'm trying to get to the bottom of this]
"One vote cast for Sanjaya is a vote against Simon" was one of the quotes in 3 (count 'em) articles in USA Today which asked the question for the first time, "could he actually win this thing?"
Suddenly MSM wakes up to realize that the very voting mechanism that is set up to democratize (read: mask and hide the DIRT CHEAP, artificial and seamless creation of a pop idol, whilst selling advertising at the same time - how sweet is that!!!!!????) the process, may very well bring it down.
In fact, many people believe that if Sanjaya won the whole thing, this would cripple the whole AI franchise.
The articles go on to single out VFTW and Howard Stern as being responsible for keeping Sanjaya in, but its really VFTW. Howard Stern does not have the audience (or influence) he once had....this is all about the many-to-many.
Rest assured, he won't win the competition. Although Sanjaya is enjoying his charmed life, the Wisdom of Crowds will prevail as soon as the numbers get manageable enough to counter the voting fragmentation. At the end of the day, talent will shine (go Blake!!!) and Clive Davis will get his boy/girl.
...but along the way, it sure is fun to see Simon Cowell squirming. He said it best last night (paraphrased), "at this point there's really nothing we can say that's going to make a difference. If America wants you in, good luck to them"
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