Why Didn't I Feel Manipulated?

Last night on this blog and this morning on 100.5 FM WKEE, I predicted that Lauren will be crowned our new American Idol tonight.

Today, I scoured the Internet to see if anyone agreed with me. And both EW.com and BuddyTV do agree, but my Idol, Michael Slezak of TVLine.com predicts Scotty will win.

But interestingly, their reasons revolve around the same thing—the show manipulating us into voting for Lauren. EW.com and BuddyTV believe the manipulation worked, while Slezak thinks it rallied the Scotty fans to vote for him.

My question is this: Why didn’t I feel manipulated? Looking back on last night’s show, it’s clear that the judges were pushing Lauren, so why didn’t I say anything about it? You know how I love to point out manipulation…

Maybe I was so busy concentrating on the performances I didn’t notice. Or maybe I was so manipulated I didn’t care. Or maybe I had decided I wanted Lauren to win…

I agree that last night’s show could have caused Scotty fans to rally. But I still believe in my gut that Lauren is going to win this thing…

We shall see...