which one is the autist? the monkey-faced one (no offense), or the big one?
I think the big one is, judging by the fact that he said "Alright" or "Okay" to everything that was said to him. I tend to do the same thing, so I noticed that when he did it. I don't know what's up with the little guy though.
the "monkey-face" guy looks like he has like a mild Apert's Syndrome (the big eyes and stuff)
" 'American Idol' should be commended for providing Jayne with the same opportunity to succeed as any other contestant."
Okay, I call bullshit. Here's why: 12,000 people show up for an audition. Are we supposed to think Simon, Randy and poor drunk Paula see all 12,000?
A contestant wrote a great article about the process. There are a number (I think 8) of preliminary judging stations set up and the contestants are sent in groups of four to these 8 stations. each of the four has 15 seconds (yes, four contestants in one minute) and they are either rejected immediately OR they are sent forward to be judged by the Holy Trinity 0f randy, Paula and Simon. The rejects (98% of those who "auditioned") are never seen on TV except in a few massive crowd shots.
Who is the lucky 2% that gets sent forward? The very best and the very worst. Yes, the preliminary judges are looking for two types -- 1. the ones who might be good enough for the big Top 12 (or whatever) competition that goes on the air for weeks and weeks, and 2. the ones who can be laughed at and ridiculed for these first two or three weeks of "audition" shows.
So the HUGE majority of auditioners get their obscure, unseen 15 seconds. All we see is the ones they want us to vote for and the ones they want us to ridicule and laugh at.
Now -- which group do you think "fat, autistic Jonathan Jayne" was included for?
If it was just a matter of Jonathan having the "same opportunity as everyone else" he would have had his 15 seconds and gone home like 11,000 others. He was specifically selected to be laughed at.
Who is the lucky 2% that gets sent forward? The very best and the very worst. Yes, the preliminary judges are looking for two types -- 1. the ones who might be good enough for the big Top 12 (or whatever) competition that goes on the air for weeks and weeks, and 2. the ones who can be laughed at and ridiculed for these first two or three weeks of "audition" shows.
So the HUGE majority of auditioners get their obscure, unseen 15 seconds. All we see is the ones they want us to vote for and the ones they want us to ridicule and laugh at.
Now -- which group do you think "fat, autistic Jonathan Jayne" was included for?
If it was just a matter of Jonathan having the "same opportunity as everyone else" he would have had his 15 seconds and gone home like 11,000 others. He was specifically selected to be laughed at.
If that's the case, then Jayne failed the test because he was too good of a singer. --Seriously, he wasn't that bad of a singer, he just needed to stay within his vocal range, and lose most of his vibrato. Even though he didn't get to go on the show he at least ducked out of being roasted in front of a national TV audience.
Yeah, he's got talent. Not enough to be an actual famous singer, but he could get into just about any college choir or even sing a solo part in a musical. He's better than most people who sing at my church, anyway. He wasn't very off-key at all--I easily notice people being off-key, even professionally recorded people, so that's saying a lot. Range is a little narrow, but practice can expand it... A little more time spent learning skills, a little more vocal control, and he could definitely have a lot of fun with that voice of his.
Those two guys actually were very sweet, and Jimmy Kimmel snagged them to do interviews for him. Jimmy Kimmel said he liked them, and thought they were good people, and he had them interview celebrities at a charity golf tourney.
The fact that people picked up on Idol possibly putting these guys on for Americans to laugh at backfired to a good extent. That was good.
But the best bit--those two didn't know each other before Idol, and now it looks like they'll be good friends.
In the end, those guys won.
Metta, Jaye.
I saw that show too.
I only watch the audition shows. I think Mr. Cowell went too far when he called one of them a "bush-baby".
However, some of the people there are definitely delusional regarding their singing talent.
That said, I think the computer programmer from metropolitan Salt Lake City, Utah is DEFINATELY an Aspie, in my view. He even has the quintessential occupation of an Aspie. Mr. Cowell, however, said his voice was "almost not human".
According to a cursory Google search, Mr. Zitzmann has produced freeware for Macintosh computers and is a frequent poster on Usenet on newsgroups on software and related matters.
He has a website here:
http://seiryu.home.comcast.net/
As I said before on this ~
Some NT friends of mine talked about it. I bit my tongue. {Barely anyone in real life knows about my autistic diagnosis.} There are rants I've read online about how cruel the judges were to this man. Hm. I despise blatant cruelty, but I also despise being lied to.
A.) It's certainly not true that all autistic people can't sing. That's the impression the NT world is going to get out of this.
B.) If I suck at something, I don't want to be lied to about it. And I don't want pity. I want the honest truth so I can improve myself. Please don't think in terms of, "Poor girl must have a problem, I'll just dish out fake compliments." I will eventually find out the truth and that will only make me furious with you when the truth is found out. The world may also get the impression from the rants that anyone "disabled" should not be told the truth about their flaws, whether or not their flaws are related to their "disabilities."