Why is Josh popular?

Date: Wed, 09 Apr 2003 18:21:14 GMT
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
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For several weeks the conventional wisdom is that the Final Two of this
competition will come down to Clay Aiken and Ruben Stoddard. It's certainly
the combination I would choose; they appear, week in and week out, to have
the best voices. However, Entertainment Weekly has now announced that Josh
Gracin is poised to take Clay Aiken's place in this equation.
Would somebody please tell me why? I agree that Clay now lags behind Ruben
and he needs to try some more adventurous song choices, but his voice
remains the clearest, cleanest and most perfect in the competition.
Last week Josh was absolutely dreadful - embarrassingly bad. While he at
least didn't sound sick this week, his *manufactured* twang would get him
laughed off Nashville Star, and there were several places in his song where
he either sounded very strained, singing high notes he could not reach, or
downright flat. He's not really very good.
Why all the Josh love? Is it because he's a Marine and we are a people at
war? If folks support Josh to support their troops, are they not aware that
he is actually doing absolutely nothing whatsoever to support the war
effort? He is not the one out there getting shot at, living in trenches.
He is living in a Hollywood mansion getting pedicures, backrubs and Nokia
phones - and while he says he could be called up for duty at any time, he
has lived for weeks away from his wife and infant. Wouldn't a man poised to
go to war cling to his family? Yes, he recorded a patriotic song. They all did. Are we to believe that a
vote for Josh Gracin is somehow a vote against Saddam Hussein? Does anybody
really think it's unpatriotic to vote for Ruben, or Clay, or the badly
neglected Kimberly Locke?
I have been unnerved by the degree to which shallow-headed, kneejerk
patriotic posturing (as opposed to real, soul-seeking sacrifice) has been
pushed by the present media, and Josh appears to be a symbol of this. I
really hope he doesn't push out people who are more talented than he is.