So being polite is threatening
Thursday, January 22, 2009 at 
8:54 pm ()
It was so interesting to see everyone’s reply to the Paula Abdul situation I posted about last night. I am glad that some of you didn’t interpret what the guy, Mark Mudd, said as a threat. I finally found a video of the whole thing. The video of the audition can be seen here. I liked this article found here and quoted below:
In defense of Mark Mudd’s “Be Careful,” or how American Idol played cultural elitist
Guess what, American Idol. There are people all over this great country and there are all kinds of colloquialisms out there. Some might call it local flavor, but it’s all America so you’d do well to do a little bit of homework before you smear a guy’s name across national television. For those who were inclined to tune into the trainwreck portion of the newest season of American Idol, you might have caught poor Mark Mudd getting harassed by Paula and Simon after they rejected him from the show. As Mr. Mudd was leaving he said to the judges “Take care and be careful.”
At this Paula freaked out, accusing Mudd of threatening them. He tried to explain that it was just a general statement of farewell but she was having none of it and Simon was right there with her. Even more offensive was the Idol hype machine jumping all over this as well. We got teasers on Tuesday’s show and all the way up to Mudd’s performance about how he “threatened” the judges and was all crazy and dangerous. Horseshit! See, I live in a small town in the Midwest and went to college in the Ozarks. I can’t count how many times I’ve been advised to “be careful” when I was leaving someplace, or someone was leaving mine. It’s used interchangeably with such phrases as “See you later,” and “Take care.” Oh wait, Mark did say “take care,” too. Guess what guys, he was being friendly. In fact, “Be careful” is often reserved for people you care about, because you don’t want anything bad to happen to them.
But of course American Idol should know all about that, right? After all, they truly represent all of America! As long as all of America talks like people on the West Coast. I guess it’s a shame that Mark Mudd was raised in a Midwestern rural community where he learned such values as caring for his fellow human beings and respect for others. Certainly the judges showed him very little respect during his audition as they do so many of the contestants.
Then they made a mockery of Mark Mudd, putting him on television because he has a certain look of danger (which he does, but so did Scott Savol and you let him through … oh wait, that’s more of an urban dangerous; I get it now!) and he said something that they didn’t understand. Hell, they were in Louisville. Couldn’t they have maybe asked a few locals what that expression was if truly none of them had ever heard of it? Or check it out on the Internet. Maybe folks were laughing at Mark on the coasts and maybe they think this poor guy was actually threatening the judges, but those of us in the Midwest know better.
Despite how his admittedly bad singing and his image was received by the judges, Mark Mudd was being a nice guy. He was wishing the judges well. And they were dicks about it. And then American Idol was an even bigger dick about the whole thing, trying to sully Mudd’s name over the span of at least a week. I say shame on you American Idol, and I say Mark Mudd deserves an on-air apology. Maybe something like this: “We would like to apologize to Mark Mudd for making him look like a crazy serial killer in our promos and hype for the show American Idol. As it turns out, he’s just a really, really nice guy. And we’re assholes.”
The poor guy. He basically just got made fun of in front of America, and then he gets told he’s being threatening. I guess if you’ve never been to the South people just don’t get it. Yes, I guess it’s all a cultural thing, but I just don’t see how “be careful” can be a threat. If he said, “Watch your back” then year, that’d be threatening. :crazy:
Maybe when you read something in print with no idea about the context of something or the tone of voice used then I can see how some people would think, “I don’t care to” to mean that “I don’t want to” but maybe I need to post a video of myself saying it so you get the whole idea. Imagine, I have started helping out a friend move boxes out of their house. The friend says, “You don’t have to help me to this.” And then I say in a cheerful voice, “Oh, I don’t care to (help)!”
Yes, technically maybe the correct thing to say would be “I don’t mind,” but I say “I don’t care to” all of the time and so do tons of other people around here. It’s an accepted thing. It’s like potayto, potahto. Canadians (and others) say words like pasta, Mario, and Mazda weird. Is it really weird? No. It’s just that different areas use different phrases and pronunciations.
And for the record, Mark Mudd did not have a “horrible” audition. He wasn’s actually that bad. It’s just he is extremely old-school country sounding and that’s not exactly what the viewers of American Idol want to see.
9 comments
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Filed in: Rants, TV ()
9 Comments so far
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Cristina scribbled this note on January 22nd, 2009: [ Quote ]
I mean no offense to you Ashley, but I seriously think this is kind of lame to get all worked up over. I mean, how many times are people made fun of on that show? How many times do people look bad on that show?
I had read your twitter about how AI makes Louisville look like a bunch of hicks right before I watched the show. When I watched it I totally didn’t get that impression at all. Perhaps are you reading a little too into it?
I dunno, I just find this a little silly to be all hot and bothered over, ya know?
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i felt sorry for Mr. Mudd since they obviously singled him out as the creep de jour
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Wow, really… I think you’re making this into a bigger deal than Paula did!
Not everyone interprets everything the same way, and it’s not always because of ignorance or lack of knowledge. Personally, I think that if you have the right to interpret “be careful” as a non-threat, then Paula has just as much right to interpret it as a threat. She’s obviously not an ignorant person, and she is more than entitled to like or dislike whatever she wants… just like you are, right?
They weren’t being dicks OR assholes, and the fact that you agree with this assumption is disheartening. If the “South” is supposed to be so friendly and welcoming, then this should come through in all aspects. So now I would be called a dick and an asshole if I thought “Be Careful” was a threat? What happened to being nice?
In certain countries, you can’t do certain hand gestures or say certain phrases because it will either get you arrested or get you killed. I’d say that’s a lot more scary than being embarrassed on TV.
But that’s just my two cents…
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P.S. “I don’t care to” literally means “I don’t want to”. I’m sorry, there’s no two ways around it.
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Yikes.. Ok ignoring others’ comments I am going to tell you what I think. At first when I simply read your blog, before I watched the video, I was ready to disagree with you. You are right that reading it without hearing it makes a difference. However, when I watched the video I could see that he obviously was not threatening her and I think Paula was indeed just making a huge deal out of nothing. She is just a rich bitch drama queen that wants attention, if you don’t mind my analysis.
I am also from the south and there are many phrases that northerners just don’t get, I hate to say it. I also say “I don’t care to” and no I am sorry to you who can’t grasp the concept, it CAN mean something other than I don’t want to. I hate the idiocy of people who don’t speak the same way and aren’t aware of the fact that things can mean something else. What you need to do Ashley is find a web site that has a bunch of southern phrases to explain to people what we mean when we say certain things.
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@ Miranda Adria: I didn’t say I agree with everything the article said (especially the harsh name-calling), but I did say I liked it. I think some good points were made. And of course everyone is free to think for themselves and make their own opinion, but living in this part of the country and the way people are here in Kentucky, I just would have never interpreted what the guy said as threatening and I found it a little unbelievable that someone would think otherwise. And yes, Simon originally made the remark about it being a threat, but Paula blew it way out of proportion (as she usually does). If you can’t tell, I’m not a big Paula fan.
@ Mimi: Well, I’m glad that SOMEONE out there reading this understands what I mean about the “I don’t care to” thing.
It just bugs me when people say there is only ONE correct way to say something when obviously, there are things in many different languages/cultures that mean something else depending on where you’re at and who you talk to. Of course people say things all the time that may literally mean something else, but that’s the power of language. It’s so complex! -
@ Cristina: I’m not all worked up about it really. I mean yes, I was a little irritated after the fact, but I was very interested with what everyone has to say about the previous post. I mean, of course American Idol always makes fun of people and that’s kind of the whole point of the audition weeks really. But most of the time people get made fun of for dressing weird or singing strangely and not for saying something meant to be nice.
I just always hate when America Idol goes to Kentucky because most of the auditions they show are not even of people from Kentucky. It’s just silly. I suppose they do that at other cities they hold auditions in too, but it’s more noticeable to me with Kentucky since I live here.
I’m just still really irritated when AI did Idol Gives Back and they went to Eastern Kentucky. Yes, I know Eastern Kentucky definitely has some rough places, but I hate when Kentucky gets stereotyped for one area of the state and makes it seem like we all say “Y’all” all the time and aren’t educated and live in little shacks and stuff. Personal pet peeve of mine. Kentucky is often made out to seem that way in movies, on tv, etc.
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Oh Ashley! You need hugs! *huuuuggggggs*
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American Idol is pretty lame in general. They just make a big deal out of things to get publicity. They complain about all the bad auditions yet they have auditions even before the televised ones and choose those people to come on. And I love how all the guys with dark hair and tattoos come on there and they think they’re like this tough rock star type. Get a grip you’re on American Idol. Corporate whoredom. There’s not even anything necessarily wrong with that, but at least admit it. And Paula Abdul is a fruitcake.
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