I just have one question for America: Why are we so obsessed with idiotic TV like American Idol?

Or let me put this more specifically: Why is America all over idiots like American Idol’s Sanjaya Malakar?

American Idol never mattered to begin with – what has the TV show really given pop culture? The only highlights have been the bitchiness of Simon Cowell and the I-don’t-drink-I-just-happen-to-act-drunk antics of Paula Abdul, but millions still flock to their televisions to watch the show, even six seasons in. I just can’t figure out why.

It isn’t like previous winners have impacted our top-40 playlist in any way (to this day, Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood are the only ones that have ever seemed to make anything of themselves, and that was with careful marketing and promotion or dozens of American Idol-funded tours). And the only American Idol who has really impacted Hollywood is Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson, and she didn’t even win the show – she was a Cowell-reject. Good job, American voting public.

And the different seasons of Idol don’t offer anything new in the way of contestants. It’s just the same group of untalented hopefuls over and over again, with a sprinkle of pity-performers included for good measure (see: Chris Sligh).

This season has especially reached the heights of pathetic television, with guest appearances – Gwen Stefani showed up, but only to command contestants to sing her songs and mimic her over-the-top fashion sense; Jennifer Lopez will probably do the same thing this week – and trite themes (“the British Invasion?” How unique!) that force contestants to butcher classics they shouldn’t even attempt to sing.

But it’s not even like American Idol takes itself with a grain of salt. Instead, it’s all seriousness for everyone involved; the only banter you see is between Cowell and Ryan Seacrest, and that’s because one of them needs a punch in the face. Or both of them. Whichever. And their banter isn’t even about contestants most of the time – it’s usually about how Seacrest might be gay. How mature.

Yet Cowell and Seacrest pale in comparison to the king of the useless, Sanjaya, the amazingly horrible hack who has been depending strictly on his not-so-pretty locks to continue on the show. Somehow he has captured the hearts of screaming little girls nationwide – I guess someone had to fill the spot left open by Britney Spears after she went batshit insane – and divided the pop culture spectrum into factions of love and hate.

On one hand, we have 13-year-old Ashley Ferl, the Sanjaya superfan who sobbed beforefinally hugging the contestant; on the other hand we have MySpace blogger “J,” who went on a hunger strike for 16 days to get Sanjaya voted off of Idol. “I have no problems with Sanjaya personally; he seems like a very personable and charming young man. However, he does not belong on American Idol,” J said to gossip website TMZ.com.

And the rivalry has even continued on to the mainstream media, with Washington Post columnist Lisa de Moraes calling Sanjaya a “talent amputee” and MSNBC contributor Craig Berman defending the contestant as having “nothing but good cheer for everyone each week, and indeed tends to come across as one of the calmer, more self-assured competitors.” Howard Stern also has gotten into the action, calling on his listeners to vote for Sanjaya to piss off American Idol devotees, and so has www.votefortheworst.com, an entire website devoted to “support voting for the entertaining contestants who the producers would hate to see win on American Idol.”

But here’s the thing: Why should anyone – be it 13-year-old girls or adult journalists – care about American Idol this much anyway? Popular attention is fixed on useless crap like this television show – myself included, with this column – while people keep dying in Iraq, our administration is knee-deep in a scandal concerning Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and global warming seems to be spiraling even further out of control.

Our society is one fixated on trivial entertainment issues instead of ones that really have a stake in the long haul, and American Idol is just part of the problem. No, the entire American public won’t become better educated or more aware if they stop watching trite television and start reading the news more often instead, but we can at least try. After all, what’s more important – some stupid kid’s faux-mohawk or the future of Iraq, our administration and the environment? I’d go with any of the latter.

Contact reporter Roxana Hadadi at roxanadbk@gmail.com.