Sanjaya Malakar: Pride Or Racism?
Depsite his poor performance in comparison to his competitors he keeps making it to the next round. Why? How? Well the competition is based on votes from the general public. The Indian/Indian origin population in the US is going all out to support Sanjaya. In fact there was even a blogger on O3 who promoted the idea of voting for Sanjaya even though he/she admitted Sanjaya had inferior talent. The rules of the game allow any person to cast as many votes he or she wishes to. The voter has to pay for voting. Everywhere I go the Indian community is all ga-ga about Sanjaya and their support for him. And yes, they even admit that he is not as talented as his competitors. Yet they vote for him, multiple times, paying for each vote.
Good question. Though I have no idea whether Malakar’s performance really sucks; I don’t watch t.v. Perhaps, the specialists will share their thoughts.
Update- Uberdesi responds,
My contention is that Sanjaya does not possess the intangiables that make an American Idol. His performances are monotonous. He cannot dance to save his life, hit different notes, move and entertain the audience like a pop star is supposed to. He will be voted off at some stage but all this does not translate to “he is not talented�. He is just not American Idol talented. And as much as we would like to think that Indians or people of desi origin in general are making a significant difference in American Idol voting, that premise may not hold much water.
(Thanks Ash)
Update2- The specialist responds,
As far as my ’special opinion’ goes, I agree with Uber Desi that the blogger at O3 has it all wrong. If you count every motel-owning desi in the U.S., we are around 2-2.5 million and I’m sure not everyone is that enthusiastic about American Idol much less voting for a desi contestants. We may be all supportive and sing praises but vote we will not because it costs money. That said, there might be few thousand shrieking desi girls who go all awwwww when Sanjaya takes the stage and few of them might even instantly get on their cell phones to vote for him. But the bulk of the American Idol votes come from teenage girls in the demographic group of 9-16 of all hues and shades. White, black, brown, they are largely color blind (racist attitudes come at a much later age, according to me) and vote for the cutest guy on the block.
13 comments
Santosh
March 13th, 2007, 3:57 pm | #
I posted an update to my post explaining why I think “racist” is not the right word to use for this situation.
MadMan
March 13th, 2007, 11:13 pm | #
Yes, he sucks. He sucks a LOT. He sounds like he’s in some inconsequential school performance. I’ve said it before.
iconoclast
March 14th, 2007, 4:14 pm | #
Correction: The number is toll-free, so there is no charge to vote as many times as you wish.
cheryl
March 15th, 2007, 8:37 am | #
I dont think he’s bad, none of them is that great so why not him.
Racist motivations behind Sanjaya Malakar’s presence on American Idol? at Nerve Endings Firing Away
March 16th, 2007, 11:41 pm | #
[...] is not every day that I am called a specialist on American Idol opinions. But since Confused referred to me as such on DesiPundit, I’ll try to sneak in an opinion. [...]
zach
March 19th, 2007, 6:52 pm | #
Sanjaya is probably the worst singer I’ve ever heard to make it this far. I really wish people would stop voting on race and on hair and vote on skill. Remember it is a SINGING COMPETITION. If someone wants to make up a indian hair competion I’m sure Sanjaya would win deservidly. But he should be voted out of american idol.
Len C Z
March 19th, 2007, 7:10 pm | #
Am I the only one who realizes that the only reason Sanjya continues to porceed from week to week is the volume of India’s telemarketers who are calling in to voye in his favor?
Deepak
March 22nd, 2007, 12:28 am | #
Sorry, Sanjaya doesn’t deserve to be in Top 12 even though he has got a decent voice. There are better singers on the show.
(I’m Indian btw)
artemioolopez
March 22nd, 2007, 6:26 pm | #
support sanjaya! show the haters we’re out there!!
http://www.cafepress.com/malakarlove
.
March 23rd, 2007, 1:45 pm | #
i hate everything about sanjaya. if he wins they should enlist him into the marine corps. so he can grow some hair on his chest and not his head. the kid is a flamer in the making. YOU SUCK SANJAYA!!
ron
March 29th, 2007, 6:46 pm | #
OMG, an Indian on AMERICAN IDOL. i haven’t read so many racist responses in America for awhile now, and in so many forums or comment posts. The majority of the negative comments are 1) he’s a gay, 2) he’s Indian, 3) he dresses like a teenager 4) he isn’t a best singer. booowhoo.
1 and 2) prove it.
3) just because you have no style, or your style consisted of a t-shirt and jeans, doesn’t mean everyone else’s style should be like yours.
4)
He might not be the best singer in the show, if that the case..why not bitch about the other top 10.. why only bitch about him??
guess what.. Sanjaya is the best entertainer in American Idol right now. You might not like him, but you will remember him, the others, those “forgetful” idols that you listen to on tuesday night and forget 10 minutes later… who cares about them?
ps. HE’S NOT Indian. he’s American. he might not be the EUROPEAN american you want to see in AI or the one you feel more “comfortible” with, but since when the America Idol polls and opinions, of who should stay or go, revolves around YOU?
Anon
March 29th, 2007, 7:48 pm | #
This theory that all Indians are voting for him is utterly stupid. First, Indians are a small minority of the US population. Growing, yes, but still relatively small. From that group, I can’t imagine more than 50% actually watching the show, and that’s a max amount and in reality is probably way lower. From whatever that % is, an even fewer number would actually bother and vote (and pay) for ANY contestant.
ron
March 29th, 2007, 10:06 pm | #
-anon..but you forget.. you’re talking about american public. I don’t think the “indian” population you are referring to, the same Indian population those crybabies are talking about. they’re talking about the 1 BILLION Indians in India, which goes to show, no matter what city you’re born in the United States, what generations of Americans you’re in America. If you’re non-European-american, you will always always be thought of as an foriegner. It is this thought process that drives their opinions about Sanjaya and Not the other contestants more than anything else.
Leave a comment
Comments are closed for this post.