Three Rights Make a Left

WE CAN BE HEROES

In the world of popculture, I have a few guilty pleasures. Mainly reality tv shows. I’m not talking about Jersey Shore, The Bachelorette or the Bachelor, The new Fantasy Island, Naked and Afraid, or Married at First Sight. I couldn’t be forced to watch one of those shows, unless it was at gunpoint.

I do like watching Survivor, and I have literally watched every episode of every season of Survivor. It appeals to my childhood imagination of what it would be like to be stranded on a desert island like Robinson Caruso. However, when I watch I have to put reason on hold as I ignore that every cast member is literally surrounded by an army of camera and sound crews that you never see.

I have to say that I don’t enjoy Survivor nearly as much as I used to. That is ever since the show went “woke”. Now I find that I don’t find myself invested in the cast members like I used to be. I guess things began to change when Russell Hammond from Houston showed up in the show and brought a purposefully mean and negative villainization to the show. For me, the show has become more woke and less interesting ever since.

I have to say that all of them are a poor substitute for watching my ultimate favorite reality shows, the National Football League, The National Hockey League, Major League Baseball, NCAA Football, and High School Football.

The other reality shows I still like to watch are American Idol, America’s Got Talent, and The Voice. The season just started for American Idol last week, and I have been impressed with the auditions the first week. During the show on Sunday night, I saw a commercial for The Voice that included two young coaches that I have never heard of: Niall Horan and Chance the Rapper will join Blake Shelton and Kelly Clarkson. It was only one commercial but, so far, I’m not really looking forward to tuning in.

The show that I had reservations whether it would catch my interest is America’s Got Talent All-Stars. I knew from the start that it would be different. In the contestants’ initial competitions, they were complete unknowns and many became break-through sensations on the show. Now many of them are multi-millionaires with huge careers. The exceptions are the winners from other countries that America has never heard of and the ones from a category I call the “Freak Show Contestants” like “the human contestants who spit water into each other’s mouths to music”. Truly disgusting.

I was disappointed when Ventriloquist Terry Fator from Dallas Texas didn’t make the cut to the finals. As a result of his win in season two, he has gone from obscurity when he won the million dollar prize to a regular in Las Vegas worth an estimated $160 million.

Last night, however, restored my faith in humanity. The last act of the finals was my absolute favorite contestant, Kodi Lee, a blind autistic young man who is universally called a musical savant. He finished the show with a unique interpretation of the David Bowie song Heroes that left the usually cheering audience practically silent during most of the performance, just taking it in. At the end, they erupted in cheering and applause. At the end of the show, Simon Cowell turned to Heidi Klum and asked, “Who do you think is going to win?”

Heidi said, “I think Kodi.” Simon said, “Do you?” Heidi replied, “Well look at them (the audience). They love, love, love him.”

I think with that conversation, the judges put their thumb on the scale a little bit, but I don’t care. Kodi Lee’s talent mixed with his purity and innocence are something that we need to see as human beings. He reminds us that everyone has value. We know who he is because he has a mother who sees the remarkable gift her son has and encouraged it. Next week when the winner is announced you will hear the name Kodi Lee, and the crowd will go wild. Count on it.