As a ‘creative type’ I normally love watching X-Factor – it’s often funny, entertaining and occasionally inspiring. But last week I was disgusted by it. I was disgusted by the lie of the devil to a generation of young people who are being treated like ‘talent meat’ while their hearts are puffed up or crushed.
There seems to be this mass hysteria, growing each year, that “if I can just make it then everything will be alright – I’ll get the future that I dream about and that my family deserves “, etc. Sometimes there are contestants that are so deluded about their singing ability that it makes me laugh hard but then there are those who are so genuinely crushed by failure to progress that it breaks my heart. (See below, 2 mins 40 secs).
This is the double-edged lie that is pandemic in our younger millennial and X generations: “If you have what it takes, if you have the xfactor and can win…you will have made it! But if you don’t have the xfactor you won’t have made it, you will have fallen short – it’s all or nothing!”. The reality is, it’s neither. The xfactor, (in this shallow, fickle sense), does not exist.
My concern is that, as important as it is to go after dreams and all that’s in your heart, hundreds of thousands of young people around the world are chasing a mirage. And that’s exactly where the spiritual enemy of Millennials, and Gen Xers, and you and I, wants us….chasing pipe dreams and fantasies that will never, and can never, satisfy.
I feel so sorry for the devastated ones from the week-end, as I do the others who can’t see the wood of reality for the trees of reason….but I feel equally sorry for the eventual ‘winners’ who take the bait that they really have won. Even Leona Lewis (the most successful Xfactor winner?) really hasn’t won, has she? Has she really got what she wanted? And needed?
“May the God of hope fill you (generations of young people) with ALL joy and peace as you trust in Him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” – Romans 15:13
firebrandnotes.com 
The X Factor was designed to line the pockets of one man: the longevous Simon Cowell, no other than the industry’s mack or pimp nonpareil. Forsooth, with his Ripleyan record of success in the musical annals of the entire world, he alone can pimp other pimps like the lickspittle Louis Walsh et aliter on his show who once waxed eloquent about Simon’s alleged bluntness and solecistic comments. But that is all part of the dissimulation that’s an integral feature of this show isnt it? The contestants who got through are wont to believe that they’ve won the plaudits of the celebrity judges on the merits of their baritones. Unfortunately, some are incognizant of the fact that they’ve gotten through to bootcamp or even the judges’ homes simply because their idiosyncracies provide for great viewing entertainment. These benighted souls who are eventually given the boot don’t realize that like winners of the show (including the the lickspittle Leona Lewis), they share one thing in common: they’ve all been pimped by Cowell.The X facor was contrived by the warped mind of Cowell that smacks of masochism and schandenfreude in Delphic proportions. I don’t watch the X-Factor or anything on TV, not even the news. Why would you want to be entertained by sitting down and listening to the lies of news anchors and personalities who are paid so much?
PS: Forgot to say, I completely agree with you; what you’ve said encapsulates how I feel about the relentless pursuit of glamour, fame and fortune . I hate the X Factor, the celebrity judges (who are not worth their money) and everything about the show.
Thanks, John! I just about kept up with what you said in your first comment! I think there is a very wicked (original meaning) root in the xfactor that is entirely different to, say, Strictly Come dancing (which is probably as popular). For any success that xfactor achieves; for any genuine gems that are found and chiseled and buffed, there is a very costly trail of emotional carnage en route…I really hope the xfactor bubble bursts.
Sorry about that mate, been down with flu this week and am not thinking or writing straight. I read over it and the tone of it appeared more like a political harangue. Back in 07/08/09 at around Christmas time, when I was teaching, I would tell my 1st and 2nd year students specifically not to be pimped by Simon Cowell and to stay clear from their phones. I became popular for a season when they just loved bringing up what I said (or my theory) about Simon Cowell. They really couldn’t stop laughing and if there is anything pleasant they remember about me it’d be what i said -viz. that he is a mack daddy and the world’s greatest and richest pimp – the father of all pimps who is so omniscient he can pimp other pimps like Louis Walsh on an international level. I even said Leona Lewis, and every winner on record were his whores. Whenever an album is released for a new ‘Idol’ or X Factor winner in any country on the globe, the puissant Cowell’s Simco and Syco record labels will pay the singer say a paltry one or two % of royalties and profit the rest. He’s a super pimp, just call a spade a spade.
On a separate note, I discovered that the private Christian school in NZ I attended made headlines when they fired a sports coach who turned out to be gay. In this school, every member of staff must sign a declaration of fatih and whilst there is no clause on sexuality, they had the gumption to exercise their right to ensure that 100% of their staff are Bible-believing Christians. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLSiRQT9xgA
I’m sure you’ve noticed that the contestants on these sort of shows are always required to declare their faith in the god of success. You are not going to progress very far unless you say the creed: “This is everything to me.” / “This is my life.” / “This is what I’m living for.” It is very sad – pure idolatry. If you substituted Christ for the Competition then it would sound like the Apostle Paul. Or to put it the other way round, the competition is a substitute Christ. I guess we are all naturally idolators in different ways but most of us have a portfolio of gods. The exceptional thing about XFactor and its like is the purity of the faith of its devotees – there is only one god. Surely the only antidote is to point our generation to the true God, the true Christ in all his soul-satisfying glory.
I love your picture!
Love your thoughts too, my friend.
For to me to live is a ‘record deal’ – Philippians 1:21, according to the spirit of the age.
I’m blogging tomorrow and will be all over yours 🙂
Much love
I ought not to have indulged in the moral didacticism and childish name-calling earlier (and when I was a teaching fellow) that’s potentially intellectually trite and offensive. The music industry is an Elysium reserved only for those who are willing to sacrifice themselves (and their precious souls) as votaries at the covert and pernicious altars of the god of this world and age. They will eventually live to regret it.
Following 1 John 2: 15, Christians should not be enamoured of the world’s music replete with lewd leitmotifs that glorify all that Jesus had to die for. Rhydian Roberts attends my church and whilst we were all hoping and praying for him to win back in 2007, the pageantry inherent in the X Factor renders it not only an inappropriate outlet for a Christian artiste to sing or stand up for God through worldly music, it would also be inimical to his/her faith; God is afterall not a god of two masters.
We all need a complaint, bro 🙂