April 9, 2008.

I don’t usually watch “American Idol”, but today was a special “Idol Gives Back” episode on Fox, and I tuned in. (recorded it and skipped the commercials) The show was a well-done charity drive for the under-privileged, mostly children, around the world. There were many excerpts of A-list celebrities visiting those less fortunate among us. They visited Katrina victims, aids and malaria victims in Africa, poverty stricken folks in Appalachia, and others. The presentations were genuine, especially Annie Lennox’s, and no one but the most callous among us would not have been moved by the plight of so many human beings across the world in such dire situations. Even I was persuaded to call in and give, and I never give to the charity shows and commercials I see on TV. I am cynical of most of them. But this was a very moving 2-½ hours. Oh, and they sang too.

Any viewer could not help but see that most of the attention of the show was on Africa, and aids and malaria victims, then on Katrina victims. These people are in serious need of aid, and I also could not help but notice that Americans (and Great Britain too) were offering up that aid to the tune of millions and millions of dollars, as well as thousands of man-hours and hard work to assist these people. This is as it should be, and is typical of The United States of America.

I also could not help but think about the news clips I have been plastered with over the last few weeks of our presidential candidate Barrack Obama’s pastor, Rev, Wright, advising his congregation that “God Damn” America, that America injected blacks with the aids virus, that America is worse than Al Queda, that we live in a static society which has made no strides towards racial harmony, that blacks should condemn the United States, and other such false and hateful remarks about his country. His attitude is one of racial hatred, of total distrust for anyone white, and of condemnation of the very people I saw on “Idol Gives Back”, donating millions to help the plight of mostly black people in Africa, the U.S, and around the world. 

I guess the Reverend doesn’t watch American Idol much either.

One hateful lunatic like Rev. Wright does not bother me. It’s that the people in his congregation rally around him, actually agree with his hate message, applaud him, believe in him, and habitually attend his church to hear his hate-rants. Some do so for decades, because they apparently must buy what he is selling. One such person wants to be the President of the United States, and a lot of idiots are actually going to vote for him. 

That does bother me.

How can Rev. Wright’s congregation, his student Obama, and those who would vote for the student, not see this snake-oil salesman for the hate-monger he really is? Doesn’t a night when a stupid reality-show is one of the biggest charity drives ever for blacks and whites across the world not tune these folks in to the real America?

OK, so American “Idol Gives Back” does not redeem the United States for mistakes it has made as a country. But it does paint a valid picture of what is going on in our culture today. When it hosts a charity special, and millions give millions, it is a true statement of what kind of people really inhabit this great nation, and we are not the people Reverend Wright tells his followers we are. Not even close.