American Idol

Yes, I know that it's very fashionable to criticize American Idol as Exhibit A in the case for the decline of western civilization, and in a sense I agree with that, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy the ride... Obviously in a general sense I'm talking about the giddy descent into duncehood and depravity, but in a more specific sense I'm talking about watching people with the singing talents of an Alzheimer's patient who's afflicted with throat cancer, rage at the unfairness of the judges. There was one 16 year old last night, near the end of the program, who not only unleashed a string of bleeped profanities, nearly a minute in length, but then went on to pout because he wanted to be famous now!

As recently as a few years ago it was unthinkable to suggest that kids could be given too much self esteem, but recent studies on bullies have suggested that this is not the case. That in addition to the danger of giving kids an understated sense of their own abilities, that it is also possible to give them an overstated sense as well, my kids being a notable exception to this caution. (Actually it would be very easy to give my kids an overstated sense of their athletic ability...) In any case an excess of self-esteem is the only explanation I can think of for all these truly awful singers on American Idol, which makes, what I feel to be a very interesting commentary on the state of America.

Possessed of just the right amount of self esteem