Susan Boyle Doesn’t Win Britain’s Got Talent. Now Can We Talk About Something Else?

In a surprising turn of events, Scottish amateur songstress Susan Boyle didn’t win Britain’s Got Talent last night. I think the hissy fit she had earlier in the week probably had a lot to do with that. Fame is not for everyone.

You may be wondering why am I choosing to write about Susan Boyle now that the competition is over. Why didn’t I write about her weeks ago, when her talent was first brought to America’s attention? First of all, I was busy working on a couple of tech projects and my time was limited. I had to decide what was worth writing about with the little time I had to write. Susan Boyle was not at the top of my list.

Also, the thing at the heart of the Susan Boyle story is kind of ridiculous when you think about it. Let’s be honest; the story is not about her voice. She’s got a great voice, but there are a lot of other people out there with great voices that deserve our attention. The heart of the Susan Boyle story is this:

“How could someone so homely sing so beautifully?”

The logic behind this is absurd if you give it some thought. Why wouldn’t she have talent? Does Mother Nature not bestow talent on the fugly? Is this a rare case?

The truth of the matter is that behind the “feel good story,” hides a story about appearance-based prejudice. But that will not be uttered by the media, because then we would have to admit that even the best of us have shallow thoughts. People will insist that this story is about her voice, not how surprised they were that her voice came out of a plain face, and unattractively attired, pudgy body.

I have to admit; I did drink the Kool Aid when I first saw her video on You Tube. I was almost tempted to write about it. Then something horrible happened. I saw Susan Boyle being interviewed on the Today Show. Susan Boyle had jumped the shark faster than MySpace. When a story that breaks on the internet reaches television (unless it’s a legitimate news story), it’s time to drop it. Now your grandma knows about it. And sure enough, within days Susan Boyle was all over the television singing, “I dreamed a dream of times gone by….” The thing that was even crazier was that we’re in America. We can’t even watch Britain’s Got Talent! Why are we supposed to care?

Hopefully, now that the competition is over and since Ms. Boyle didn’t win, the media won’t think care anymore. Susan Boyle will be just fine. She’s probably better off not winning. She can chose what she wants to do with her voice and how much attention she wants it to bring her. And she can retire to a semblance of her former quiet life whenever the demands of the public become too great.

Besides, I’m sure the people at America’s Got Talent are frantically looking for the lead character in their own “feel good story” of the season. We’ll have our own Susan Boyle soon enough.

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