Outgrowing the “American Idol” syndrome

IT seems the very popular—let me rephrase that—the once very popular “American Idol” is hitting the rocks. Recent news reports say the current judges will all be booted out and replaced by much younger, more popular singers and celebrities.

            The show has been steadily losing its audience. Its ratings have plummeted. It now wants to recover, in a desperate effort to go against the law of nature that we all die or fade away sooner or later. It wants to be immortal, but for the wrong reason.

            It looks to me that the whole development is all about money, or at least that money is the main concern, the end-all of the whole affair. I know there is always a business part to any project, but it should not get stuck. Immortality has terms that go far beyond money.

            I find this very funny, of course, because no matter how good a show is, it can only have so much shelf-life. Yes, we can want our product to be popular and in demand for as long as possible. But all this ought to be done without compromising basic, indispensable laws.

            The laws that should guide us in matters like this should not just be purely economic, social or the ratings laws. Otherwise, there’s no way but to undermine the requirements of truth, justice and charity. Lies and deception will come, and all forms of unfairness, often in very subtle ways, will just swamp the whole affair.

            Without truth, justice and charity, we demean ourselves. We undermine our dignity. We demote ourselves to mere objects or products. Singers, artists, technicians, and the audience involved in the show lose their true identity as persons and children of God, and the worst cut, is that all this is done in the sweetest of ways.

            And here we are only talking so far about “American Idol,” or the entertainment world. If we go to the other fields, politics, for example, we find much worse situations. The greed for power has practically overturned things, even to the extent of redefining our human nature and the morality that flows from it.

            The way it is played now in many places, politics seems to be the last place to look for truth, justice and charity. If ever there are shreds of truth, justice and charity in this field, it’s more by accident than by intention.

            Is it any wonder then if we also suffer the consequences of these anomalies that seem to be made the new normal these days? These are consequences that also generate in their turn other variations, echoing the lesson of Christ’s words that the devil who leaves a soul, who continues to be complacent, can return, bringing 7 more powerful devils.

            There’s a lot of confusion, scepticism, cynicism, agnosticism, atheism, relativism, nihilism. We now see terrorism exploding in many places, not anymore imported but home-grown. And other bizarre happenings...

            Obviously, in the face of all these, our reaction has to be positive and hopeful always. There’s always hope. The good always triumphs, because that good comes from God. What we are being asked is to plumb deeper into the world of this goodness through the ways of evil that seeks to undermine it.

            In a way, these new forms of evil force us to discover the still hidden aspects of goodness and love. Let’s always remember that due to our freedom, our capacity to do good and to do evil is infinite. But we are told, however, by our faith, that it’s God’s mercy that limits evil and shows the boundless extent of goodness and love.

            Yes, we are entering a most tricky stage of human history, where the forces of good and evil get mixed up in such a way as to defy easy categorization. Evil can take advantages, and many times take cover under the guise of good. And vice-versa. Goodness is often shrouded now with the clouds of evil.

            But in the end, evil can only lead us to tap the still latent resources of goodness, while goodness can always dominate and cure evil. Our problem is that we often allow goodness to spoil us, to make us complacent and lazy.

            That’s why Christ showed us the way to resolve this predicament. It is through the cross, his cross, where the forces of evil and the goodness that comes from God meet and the drama resolved.

            Let’s shun purely worldly values and return to the spiritual and supernatural ones, as expressed by the cross, that truly serve us.