Be Careful?

I read the post about the American Idol judges over-reacting to a contestants parting comment, over at Little Mountain House... and I'm just flabbergasted!

See, they had a contestant by the name of Mark Mudd on the show, who auditioned with a pretty "iffy" rendition (hey, gotta be honest here) of George Jones "White Lightning". I mean, he wasn't too bad, but he certainly wasn't too good either.

But to back up a bit...
When Mark first walked on, the judges asked if that was a gun on his hip - when it was clearly a (I don't know the correct term here, so excuse me) a "holster" on his belt, for his Skoal or Copenhagen tin.
They were in the South for Pete's sake... and this was the first one they had ever seen? They were even common in California and I've seen 'em in the South, all of my life.

So.... eventually, Mark introduces his song and proceeds to sing it - and instead of the judges simply saying "Thank you Mark, but that's a "no" from us"
they just sort of sat there, stared at him and waffled about. The silence was painful for me to listen to, and I know it must have been agonizing for Mark.

They looked at him... he just stood there looking back at them... just waiting for a definitive response - one way or the other - and when Randy finally (decently)said something along the lines of, "Sorry Mark, good lookin' out Dawg - thanks for coming out baby."
Mark thanked them all and as he was walking off, he said "Take care, and be careful". And that's when the judges (particularly Paula and Simon) started in over-reacting.

They said things like "Was that a threat? You don't say things like "be careful"... "normal people don't say things like "be careful"... and IMO, they carried on like ignorant jerks. But then again, we're talking about Paula and Simon here.

Now, I don't know about you, but I was raised with the phrase "be careful" and it simply means "be careful". It's not a threat and no one I have ever said it too has ever taken it as a threat. Not fellow Americans and certainly not any Australians I've ever said it to... Australians who would have every reason in the world to misunderstand some of my American phrases.
When I've said "take care" or " be careful" no one has ever asked me if I was threatening them.

Now, just taking this at face value, it's sort of understandable that they were unsure of what he was saying. But they were auditioning in Louisville Kentucky, for goodness sakes. They had folks from Kentucky and other parts of the South in and out of there... auditioning all day.
I'm sure they had heard terms and accents that may have been confusing to them all day long and seen other people wearing Skoal holster thingies. I mean, you can't go much of anywhere in the south and still be that insulated.... can you? Or can you? Maybe if you're chauffeured around and your every whim is catered to, you can.
BUT... think about it. If it was a gun or a holster on his hip, don't you think that someone in the production crew, or even security - tight as it is -would have worried about him packin' a gun?

Maybe those 4 judges are used to big city ways and big city phrases... but there is a whole wide world out there, that doesn't think or act like big city people. Not that there's anything wrong with big city phrases or people - because we're all different, But hey, a little tolerance, decency and understanding goes a long way.

Mark was simply using his manners... and normal, every day Southern hospitality. But he was left to look and feel like an idiot - by a couple of ignorant, 'insulated from reality' jerks.
I felt sooo sorry for the guy.

You can see Mark auditioning for American Idol here ... and then I would love to hear your opinions.

Ya'll be careful now.