When Untalent Becomes a Talent


While passing by my very own TV today, I caught a glimpse of Channel U's "Star Search". I was most appalled to notice the infamous William Hung, sitting there as one of the judges. The question that first popped into my mind was "In what capacity can an American Idol Reject become a judge for a competition of talent??" The only answer I can came up with was his infamy which had propelled him so rapidly to "stardom". Thus we see the greatest irony of a world where the Internet and the Mass Media played such a powerful role. Bad publicity can be good publicity and not to say profitable too. And you no longer need be ashamed of your own lack of talent, stupidity and ugliness, just flaunt it, as blatantly as possible and if your luck is with you, you might just join the ranks of William Hung and that nightmare of a woman, Xu Chun Mei of Taiwan, who are both making a healthy living out of being "different". In fact, in today's world, the saddest thing that can happen to someone is to be plain, downright ordinary.

I remembered reading that in the bad old days, humans who were deformed or lunatic were kept like animals and shown as exhibits either in circuses or asylums to generate profits for their captors. So been ugly or abnormal did generate money in the past too except that the money went to someone else's pockets. Now that wasn't very ethical of course, it was really straightforward, but I am quite stumped as to what I could say for a person who make a healthy living out of been untalented, stupid and ugly like William Hung. Surely, not unethical... but still I can't help feeling that this offended certain sensibilities of mine. I wonder what message we are sending to the public or today's young generation when we are rewarding people without content. I can imagine a father saying to his son, "Look boy, you don't have to be good at anything at all, in fact you can turn it to your advantage and make yourself an icon of "good for nothingness" and be rich and famous!"

I was also curious as to if William Hung got invited to some celebrities gala, what kind of small talk could other celebrities make with him? Lines like "Hey, I saw/ heard your latest movie/ album, you were great!" were definitely out. (Alright, those could still be said provided that the celebrity isn't Pinochio himself.)Given that William Hung got famous due to his lack of talent and been an object of ridicule, he might instead find the following lines flattering "Hey, William, I accidentally overheard your song, I threw up my whole dinner, perhaps you should buy me dinner some time to compensate me. haha." or "Goodness, William! Was that a potato or your head?? You look even uglier and stupider than on TV."

Now, after talking so much, what's the positive message? (We should always be optimistic and see the good in all things). It is simple: If you want to be famous, it matters not whether you are talented or any good at all. Just be shameless enough."