So, like just about everyone else with a blog and two sentences to string together, I want to write about Susan Boyle. Susan Boyle, she of the unkempt eyebrows and stunning vocal talent, who has been all over the news this week for, apparently, shocking the hell out of everyone with the news that physically "unattractive" people aren't totally worthless.
There are a number of approaches to take with this story. This is a really great piece about how satisfying it is to watch all of those rude, smug, eyerolling motherfuckers have those smirks wiped right off their faces as soon as she opens her mouth. And there is a lot of truth to that, and she's right, there's something very inspirational about watching it happen.
But here's what's chapping my ass about this story: the fact that international news has been made by the idea that this woman is an "unlikely talent" because she isn't pretty and she's older and she's kind of awkward. In some of the news coverage, she's presented as something akin to a dog that can do trigonometry, like some kind of astonishing conundrum. Which is so unbelievably offensive and such a depressing statement on what we as a society value and how we make snap judgments on the worth of another human being.
The fact that all of those people were scoffing at Susan Boyle, ready to dismiss her without hearing one single note of her singing is fucking gross. And not one of those judges, who were rolling their eyes and reacting in exactly the same way as the teenage mean girls in the audience before she started singing, expressed any shame at their shallow judgment of her; their comments after the song all equate to, "Wow, good for you for having something so amazing to offer, who'd have guessed."
I guess success is the best revenge and it's not like anyone would actually expect any of those shallow tools to engage in anything approximating serious soul-searching, but it would be nice to see some kind of reflection on why this story has become international news. It says so much more about our values than it does about Susan Boyle. But in any case, I hope she becomes incredibly rich and famous and stays true to herself, and only waxes her eyebrows if it's what she really wants to do.
