On judging
I’ve watched the first half hour of American Idol this evening. The contestants, invariably awful, rarely take the judges pronouncements about their talent seriously. They’ll respond with excuses–”I’m nervous”–or more often, disagree and claim that they’ll continue, because they “know in their heart” that they’re a good singer.
Now, I’m not going to blame this phenomenon on religion–I have no empirical proof linking poor self-awareness to religious beliefs. Yet I couldn’t help but hear religious echoes in this particular brand of rebuttal: “I know in my heart I’m good”, “My heart is in this, so I’ll succeed”, etc.
Is it just me, or has anyone else observed this connection? What do you think it means?