Martha Paskoff at The American Prospect wonders if the recent voting habits of 24 million American Idol fans topples the conventional wisdom on why young Americans don’t vote. In brief, American media should be more like Simon Cowell. At length, Paskoff writes:

Another popular theory holds that young Americans are turned off by the negative tone of political campaigns. But American Idol proves that it’s the quality of the negativity, not the negativity itself, that matters. In fact, negativity was one of the show’s main selling points — as judge Simon Cowell’s comments became more caustic, the program’s audience grew larger — but the show largely stuck to substantive negativity rather than opting for mere nastiness. That substantive negativity may have been somewhat overshadowed by Cowell’s biting tone and fellow judge Paula Abdul’s vapid comments, but the show contained an ample amount of real criticism that helped the contestants improve each week — and encouraged viewers to vote off the performers who couldn’t measure up. Think how much better off the American democratic process would be if the media offered candidates honest, hard-hitting criticism rather than focusing on superficial issues, such as candidates’ personal relationships, the color of their shirts or how much they pay for haircuts. Too often the candidates themselves seem eager to play along with this distracting game. But if the media forced candidates to take real positions on issues and articulate proposals, young voters might feel more enthusiastic about choosing among them.

In other words, pundits like Matt Bai are killing the political process. American Idol is an unlikely place to learn lessons about (re)forming civil society, but as we used to say in the preaching trade, you have to hit them where they live.