GOODY TWO SHOES: You Can’t Judge A Book By Its Cover
The BBC News explores what 47-year-old Susan Boyle’s triumph on “Britain's Got Talent” (despite her “double chin, unkempt hair, frumpy appearance and eccentric demeanour”) means to some people – and says about others:
Boyle has shattered prejudices about the connection between age, appearance and talent. She has proved that you don't have to be young and glamorous to be talented, and recognised as such.
The YouTube millions have cheered on the underdog, and seen in her the possibilities for their own hopes and dreams. …
Lisa Schwarzbaum, writer for
She wrote: "In our pop-minded culture so slavishly obsessed with packaging - the right face, the right clothes, the right attitudes, the right Facebook posts - the unpackaged artistic power of the unstyled, un-hip, un-kissed Ms Boyle let me feel, for the duration of one blazing showstopping ballad, the meaning of human grace.
"She pierced my defences. She reordered the measure of beauty. And I had no idea until tears sprang how desperately I need that corrective."
Her post has been followed by comments from scores of readers saying they watched the clip repeatedly, with the same emotional response.
"I cried SO hard," read one. "There's something so beautiful about reaching your dreams... and knowing that age means nothing."
Another wrote: "I cry because she reminds us to hope, to never lose track of our dreams, to keep putting one foot in front of the other no matter what others say or think. She gives us hope."
But the New York Post’s Maureen Callahan smells a rat:
"[T]here is something disturbing about the collective rejection-embrace-elevation of Susan Boyle. There is the element of self-congratulation in the viral spread of this link around the Web, the idea that we, the secondary viewers, the judges of those who are judging, are far more evolved. There is the clip itself, suspiciously ready-made for online consumption: A 7-minute movie, slick and pithy in its perfect execution of the underdog narrative. … There is the classic David vs. Goliath subplot, the primal satisfaction of seeing the bully (Cowell) slain by such a seemingly inferior force. And there is the profound desire for this entire thing to be authentic, which in and of itself suggests that it probably isn't. Not since P.T. Barnum has there been a show business master of the trompe l'oeil like Simon Cowell.
Perhaps. But count The Stiletto amongst the saps who want to believe – who do believe – the fairy tale. The Stiletto knows several people in their 40s and 50s who can out-sing most “American Idol” contestants and has long hoped that the competition rules would be changed to drop the arbitrary age cut-off, or that Simon Cowell would develop another talent show to find hidden gems like Boyle.
If it weren't real, it would not have happened before. But it has . This person went on to win. He is an INCREDIBLE singer.
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