This week, as we celebrate the lives of the brave men and women who have died in the name of this country, who have protected you, me, our ancestors, and who will continue to protect our offspring, we waived our interest in that most important of rights; democracy.
I am of course talking about the X-Factor and the furore concerning Simon Cowell’s decisions on Sunday night.
I’m not a big X-Factor fan, however, I live with people who are, and as such get the chance to see the show on occasions, and find it nigh on impossible to avoid the week long discussions that it produces, and whilst the content might not be my thing, I have nothing but respect for a concept that has completely taken over the weekends broadcasting schedules, and has become the most talked about show this year.
Even those of us you who detest the show will be aware of the twins “Jedward,” a pair of Irish lads full of enthusiasm, lacking in talent, and in need of a couple of doses of Ritalin. They’re probably the most hated act to ever appear on the show, and whilst other novelty acts such as Chico shared their shortcomings in the vocal department, they were carried by charisma, something Jedward must have left on the Ryanair flight over. The problem for the viewing public, was that despite their shortcomings, someone somewhere was voting to keep Jedward in the show, and with Robbie Williams ‘fessing up to voting for them this week, it’s a good indicator of the sort of people who are.
The frustration was evident as protest groups sprang up the length and breadth of Facebook, as cyber warriors vowed never to watch the show again till they were gone, before tuning in in record numbers just to see if this was the week that they went. And this week, it so nearly was...
When the rigmarole of the Sunday public vote was over Jedward sat in the bottom two with Lucie, a young singer with a big voice, and now it was up to the judges to send home the worse act. Louis of course wanted to keep the boys in, they are after all, his act, and they’re also Irish. And boys. And twins.
When the rigmarole of the Sunday public vote was over Jedward sat in the bottom two with Lucie, a young singer with a big voice, and now it was up to the judges to send home the worse act. Louis of course wanted to keep the boys in, they are after all, his act, and they’re also Irish. And boys. And twins.
Tweedy-dee and Tweedy-dum voted them out and all that was left was for Simon Cowell to wield the axe and let the British public savour the moment of watching two Irish hearts shattering live on TV. He didn’t however. What he did was put the show into “deadlock,” by voting for Lucie, and thus putting the decision in the hands of the British public, who in turn, booted out Lucie and kept the twins.
And this is where things went a little silly.
The papers and the public spent much of Monday lambasting Cowell for “saving” Jedward, and voting out Lucie, but, hold on a moment.I thought the British public did that? Let me just check...
No, I was right, Lucie was removed by the public vote, not by Cowell’s. Not that seems to have registered with everyone, especially the 3000 people who complained to ITV, and the 750 people so incensed by it all, that they went to OFCOM. But what exactly where they incensed about? After all, the notion that the contest is fixed is preposterous. For me, a fix is when the result that was supposed to happen, is overruled or cancelled out, and that didn’t happen here. The correct result when taken over a cross section of the country, was for Lucie to go and the terrible twins to stay. It might not be the result some wanted, it might not be the result a lot of people wanted, but in the voting system employed by the show, it was the correct result.
Let’s put this in a way that even those at the bottom of the class could understand. I hope.
If we had an election, and the Tories came to power, and David Cameron wandered up to Buckingham Palace to ask the Queen’s permission to form a government, but the Queen decided that the British public had dropped a bollock on it, she could of course decide to appoint her own Prime Minister. And what do you think would happen then? Other than, pure chaos?
And yet with this current situation, the British people have admitted their own failure to act responsibly. In blaming Cowell for this, they’re actually blaming themselves. They’re questioning the very concept of democracy, of allowing people the vote, simply because they don’t agree with the choice they make.
And yet with this current situation, the British people have admitted their own failure to act responsibly. In blaming Cowell for this, they’re actually blaming themselves. They’re questioning the very concept of democracy, of allowing people the vote, simply because they don’t agree with the choice they make.
Personally, I don’t agree with anyone who votes for the BNP, and there appears to be a growing number who are happy to do so. But would I be happy to see the Queen dissolve a government should they ever reach power? No. I wouldn’t want their government, but what would scare me even more would be the abolition of democracy. In life it’s important to accept that decisions are made that you don’t agree with, and some that are downright wrong, but as long as these decisions are made in the right and proper way, they have to stand. The thing is, the X-Factor thing isn’t downright wrong, it’s insignificant and inconsequential to everything, bar the Christmas number one.
It reeks therefore, of the selfishness that people can display at times. That spoilt attitude that exists whereby they feel they have the right to complain, just because someone dare express a view that doesn’t agree with theirs. Those people who have took the time out to make official complaints will probably not understand the implied meaning of the actions, but when you break down what they’re saying, then it’s a complaint about democracy, and the freedoms that our society allows. And whilst people didn’t die on the beaches of Normandy for their right to vote on the X-Factor, a vote is still a powerful tool, and to complain about people’s use of their vote is an affront to society, and an affront to those who’ve died in wars gone by.
In this case however, it’s also very, very funny to see people’s need to get so bent out of shape over something that ultimately won’t mean anything to them in a couple of months. Jedward won’t win the X-Factor, and if they do, then it’ll be because people voted for them to win. Lucie wasn’t going to either, the voting this week clearly shows that, so why cry foul? In fact why blame Cowell. True he’s created this pantomime villain persona throughout the shows history, but in this occasion is he really the villain?
For my money, no. The real panto villain is the voting public. And for the moment Jedward, they’re still behind you.
