America's Got Talent...Or do they?

I'm hoping that blogging will help me forget about losing my Chancie dog, as nothing else is working. I feel like i can't function normally... Can't look at the couch where she slept, or at the grave where her poor sweet body is, or at the dog dishes... I was calm finally yesterday and then a florist came with flowers from the vet's office. Nice, I know, but I lost it again. The flowers are on her grave... My other dog, Echo, is depressed. She won't eat, and wanders the house looking for Sweaterdog.

Anyway. Blogging about things that irritate me tends to make everything else go away, if only as long as I'm actually typing out the post... Any respite from my sadness is great. So here we go.

Why, on shows like America's Got Talent, is it such a big deal if a contestant is autistic, or has an autistic sibling? I've seen so many people post on their blogs "so and so contestant is autistic! I vote for them!" or "He's got an autistic brother, everyone needs to vote for him!"

I remember the little boy on AGT, he was adorable. don't know if he won, I don't watch that stuff. I just saw it on a youtube video. I thought it was an absolutely cute song, and was thoroughly impressed at the kid being able to go on stage and sing, autism or not. Good for him! But really... These shows are a contest. I know if I were a contestant, I'd rather win because I -had- talent, not because I had a disability or knew someone with a disability.

These shows are often based on a viewer voting system, aren't they? Isn't it kind of stupid to vote for someone in a way that has nothing to do with how well they did? Could I go on the show, and sing in my horrible off key voice and win because I have an autistic child? Because ya know, I could use the money. Is that really how it works?

I'm curious (not curious enough to look it up, mind you) as to the background stories of those who win these shows. Remember Fantasia, on American Idol? Great example of a sad, sad backstory, PLUS real talent. Maybe no more talent than thousands of other girls with equally depressing stories, but talent nonetheless. She ended up with a Lifetime movie based on her life- crazy! Do you think she would have won Idol if she were from the private school, trust fund crew? Not knocking Fantasia, she was talented, she probably deserved to win.

I guess my feeling is that these people should be judged on their actual talent- not their misfortune. It's not a big contest to see who's got the more horrific past. You can overcome a shitty past, and you don't need Idol or AGT to do that for you. True, money is nice, but you can still overcome things without the green.

Those of you who watch these kinds of shows- what do you vote based on? Looks? Age? Singing voice? Behavior off-stage? Religion? Color?