by Mary Clark

Created on: January 13, 2009

Simon Cowell, is he a real villain or the last honest critic in the music industry?

Never before in the history of entertainment has one person dominated the core of controversy. Leave it Simon to capitalize on his ability to be derisive. After seven successful seasons, Simon remains at the center of Idol chatter and we, the masses who draw the lines between our love and hate for him prepare to glue ourselves in front of our television sets this evening waiting for another season to begin.

Simon Cowell, the eccentric and often outspoken judge from American Idol who tells it like it is without feeling the need to sugar coat his comments or apologize to America for them is a TV personality that many love to hate.

The reasons why others love to hate Simon are the same reasons why I love him and his honesty, albeit at times tactless. We all need a Simon Cowell in our lives to offer us that blunt, in your face, reality check. We have enough people ready and willing to fill us with fluff. Simon is the one voice that we will forever associate with being brutally honest amid a sea of superficial compliments.

He is blunt.

Simon does not dance around the issues. If your song was dreadful, you can count on Simon to say it was dreadful in five words or less. Why fluff someone for failing to perform. He is a judge for American Idol not the show's therapist. Some may argue that many contestants need therapy after facing Simon's critique of their performances week in and week out. However, music is not an industry for the faint of heart. If they cannot survive one season with Simon, they will never survive a career in music when faced with the fickleness of their fans.

He is arrogant.

Simon's arrogant persona did not simply appear out of nowhere. It has been cultivated through the years with knowledge, experience, and success. Simon is a bit of a Midas. Everything he touches turns to gold so if his success gives him a tendency to be a tad arrogant and tout his experience, so be it. He earned them and continues to earn them to the tune of forty million dollars a season with American Idol.

He is right.

You can hate Simon all you want but when you listen to his comments to the contestants even if you do not like the way he addresses them, or the words he chooses to describe how they have fared each week, you have to admit to yourself that the guy is usually right.

He says what many others are afraid to say.

I came across an American Idol fan one day who hates Simon for the simple reason that she wants to be able to speak her mind bluntly, as Simon does, but cannot find it in herself to speak with such unbiased truth and freedom.

If I ever had the chance to meet Simon, and it would never be at an Idol audition because I cannot carry a tune, I hope that I would find him exactly as he presents himself on television; the brutally honest, sometimes harsh, yet captivating character that we have all come to love, or hate.

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