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553 Comments
- JazzFlight, on 04/17/2009, -6/+982What I find interesting about the media's apparent "moralizing" of this story is that they keep saying "don't judge a book by its cover" because someone who looked like Susan Boyle was actually an amazing singer. This seemed to rationalize the argument that if someone looks like Susan Boyle and CAN'T sing, that person SHOULD be ostracized and ridiculed.
After hearing Susan's story, if she couldn't sing, would people still have mocked her? The real moral here should be that you shouldn't judge a person even if they don't have a particular talent. That takes some real integrity. - Spudster, on 04/17/2009, -50/+479I couldn't really give a ***** either way. I bloody hate these musical talent shows. Simon's manufactured cynicism is getting old.
- digitalpencil, on 04/17/2009, -9/+405not true. lots of people are just ***** filled with *****. not everyone has a special skill. some people are just retards.
- foofoobee, on 04/17/2009, -7/+267I doubt it's manufactured. He sits through the auditions of thousands of contestants that don't have a lick of talent. I know I'd be a little cynical after that.
- sodoh, on 04/17/2009, -23/+256She is not ugly. She is just British.
- kelvinlls, on 04/17/2009, -81/+313Another lesson to people: never judge the book by its cover. There is always something golden in each person.
- Shazbuckle, on 04/17/2009, -2/+169Thank you, finnaly someone gets this.
But it is human nature to judge and ridicule so we can feel better about ourselves - FulcrumVitesse, on 04/17/2009, -13/+164Hey, I know I'm ugly - that's why I loved what happened to Susan Boyle. It could have been me!
- KenSPT, on 04/17/2009, -31/+168"Is Susan Boyle ugly? Or are we?"
No, I'm pretty sure it's her. - inactive, on 04/17/2009, -4/+100"But a woman has to have the bright, empty beauty of a toy - or get off the screen."
Good line, sad truth. - Vaiper, on 04/17/2009, -4/+90Here is why this is true. Men don't give a ***** what other men look like. Unless, of course gayness is involved. However, women CONSTANTLY nag on about what other women look like. So essentially you have men and women vs ugly women. While ugly men just have to worry about what women think.
- pungen, on 04/17/2009, -0/+85that description of her is UGLY. no matter how special she feels from all the media attention, think how horrible she is going to feel about herself after repeatedly reading stuff like "She wore a gold lace dress, which made her look like a piece of pork sitting on a doily." why do people think that just because we are praising her that they are allowed to make as many rude and nasty comments as they want? if she hadn't had an amazing voice people wouldn't feel so open about making fun of her appearance for the "greater good"
- mildinterest, on 04/17/2009, -2/+76Maybe you should re-read, she does use the word 'we' rather than 'you.'
- inactive, on 04/17/2009, -7/+77Susan Boyle is not ugly, she's average. Look around you on the street, how many beautiful people are there? TV and other media don't reflect the real world.
- serpanterra, on 04/17/2009, -15/+71"She read the Qur'an in Arabic, a language she does not understand."
That best sums up the level of stupidity this journalist has. Didn't say anything we couldn't work out for ourselves by watching the video. - mordea, on 04/17/2009, -2/+56Yeah, ***** Growing Pains.
- deathtap, on 04/17/2009, -8/+62I don't understand why people are getting angry over this. Judging a book by its cover is a natural thing. It's a human thing. Does that mean it's wrong? Probably. But everyone does it. Beauty is a large part of the human condition, and external beauty is no exception. This is why the beautification industry is huge. If you use your brain and think about it, then it makes so much sense. Besides, her voice is beautiful, right? So, in a way this article is being a tad hypocritical. She is still promoting beauty (although her point is that she is physically ugly and that people were judging her based on this).
But still, a good read. Thanks for the digg. - sockpuppets, on 04/17/2009, -1/+53Someone's got to make the french fries.
- peteymack, on 04/17/2009, -2/+53Beauty is not a talent
- pbuschma, on 04/17/2009, -7/+56If she couldn't sing she would just be ugly. But because she can people now ask questions about her looks? It is quite simple. She is not attractive physically and thats not controversial. She can sing. No story here.
- mickstephenson, on 04/17/2009, -2/+50Nah, nothing golden in me mate, I'm a straight up *****.
- bratterscain, on 04/17/2009, -6/+48Same with Digg's. Cynicism is so last year.
- inactive, on 04/17/2009, -1/+42Um, just so you know, Simon doesn't sit through thousands of auditions on Idol or Talent. The producers of the show sit through all those. They pick the two dozen or so that Simon will get to see. On Idol, when they show the 10k people in the stadium screaming "Im the next American Idol", they insinuate that all those people will perform before the judges. They don't. The judges end up seeing about 50 people from each city.
- DouglasQ, on 04/17/2009, -1/+38In another dimension somewhere there's an ugly competition you need to be a bad singer to get into. Heartwarming.
- Rhydeble, on 04/17/2009, -3/+38dugg for honesty
- kamisama, on 04/17/2009, -0/+35Well I'm no big fan either, but if someone like this comes along and puts all those smug ***** in their place, I can only applaud it. She may not have looked like much but I'd much rather spend time with such a person than that Simon character. I wouldn't be able to resist rearranging his dining room.
- sodoh, on 04/17/2009, -13/+47Actually I'm not American but good job on not only making yourself look silly but alienating yourself from a whole country in the process. :)
Aren't generalizations fun.
ps. previous comments were humour. - Cl1mh4224rd, on 04/17/2009, -0/+34Also, I don't believe he was mentally challenged. Unless "singing badly" is now a mental disability...
- inactive, on 04/17/2009, -1/+34"Video killed the radio star."
Before MTV, the music industry was chock-full of ugly *****.
Now they're someone's ideal of "pretty" and the music sucks. - inactive, on 04/17/2009, -0/+32@AndrewDB
Comparing "Britain's Got Talent" to "American Idol" is pretty stupid and is like comparing apples to oranges... Especially when you could compare apples to apples: http://www.nbc.com/Americas_Got_Talent/ - inactive, on 04/17/2009, -2/+32When this first hit Digg, the comments were the exact same as the audience reaction in this show. People were acting totally shocked she was a good singer: http://digg.com/music/Amazing_Perf_by_47YO_on_Brit ...
Someone asked why her great singing was a big deal. My reply 5 days ago:
"Its a big deal because she was very ugly. When she said she wanted to be like the other singer, people were rolling their eyes and laughing. The judges were smirking at her. How could someone so unattractive sing so beautifully? The only reason this is interesting at all is because of her appearance. If she were beautiful to look at, no one would have been shocked by her talent. This is a product of our brains and our media. Our media constantly pushes attractive untalented performers at us ad infinitum and we suck it up like hungry sponges. Our brains make us watch horrible movies with an attractive cast. I remember recently in a comment on Digg about The Dark Knight, when the topic touched Maggie Gylenhol replacing Katie Holmes for "Rachel" a commenter said something along the lines, "I agree that M.G. was better in the role, but they should have kept Katie, she was so much hotter." They would rather see a prettier bad actress in a role than a slightly less pretty actress who is more talented.
I just read a story about how the more attractive a person is, the less likely a jury is to convict them, and when they do convict, pretty people receive lighter sentences. It sounds like BS, but basically what they did was show hundreds of pictures of people who had been charged with crimes, and have a number of people look at the pictures, and grade their level of attractiveness, on a 1-10 scale. The people with the highest scores had often been acquitted or handed much lighter sentences of those with lower scores. Another example would be sexy teachers who get caught with underage students, they get probation, and even no jail for violating it, but ugly teachers who do they same are imprisoned.
I'm probably making too much of this, but I find it incredibly interesting that when this woman walked on the stage, everyone expected her to fail, based on nothing more than the fact that she was ugly." - Cyberdactyl, on 04/17/2009, -11/+40Let's be honest.
It was a wake up call for the smugness in all of us. - mikepictor, on 04/17/2009, -2/+29She's no Venus, that wasn't the point. Let's agree she's ugly (and I for the record, I don't think she's all that bad, but I digress). Why would you let that influence your expectation of her vocal talent? Why would that skew your outlook into assuming that if she lacks looks, she more than likely lacks talent?
- mohsenxp, on 04/17/2009, -1/+28At least she can sing. What's your hidden talent, ugly guy?
- Flunk, on 04/17/2009, -32/+56You're not an ignorant arsehole, you're just American.
- diskoh, on 04/17/2009, -0/+23He isn't mentally challenged, he was a civil engineer.
- Rhendal, on 04/17/2009, -2/+24Keep trying. You're bound to make a funny comment eventually.
- AndrewDB, on 04/17/2009, -5/+27...
Britain's Got Talent is _not_ an American Idol show. It's a whole lot better..
It's sort of like if American Idol allowed ALL sorts of acts (jugglers, comedians, ventriloquists, dancers, etc) not just teeny boppers who think they can sing, then the nation decides who they like the best. The best performers again refine their act, and get voted off, the winner finally gets to perform in front of the Queen. It'd be sort of like performing in front of President Obama and Vice President Biden.
Britain's Got Talent blows American Idol away. - flaznog, on 04/17/2009, -1/+23German bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWztS6orv7U - MelissaOfTroy, on 04/17/2009, -1/+23it's true. And there are plenty of women who go for "ugly" men. Women have to deal with men caring what they look like, and women, which is far worse.
- staffell, on 04/17/2009, -0/+19Amen!
I thought what amanda holden said about everyone expecting her to fail was incredibly rude and insulting. Did she think Susan would appreciate being told that more than if she hadn't said it at all? What a *****. - awtripp, on 04/17/2009, -0/+19Out of the around 6 billion people on the Earth -- Eddie Murphy was the best you could come up with?
- crackerjohn, on 04/17/2009, -1/+20she didn't just get hit with the ugly stick , she got beat down with it.
- rotundo, on 04/17/2009, -2/+21You are correct. There are a small number of truly ***** people out there. But there is, in my experience, no correlation between looking nice and being nice. That is, lovely looking people can be nice or be *****. And homely people can be nice or be *****. And it is stupid that people tend to make assumptions and judgements either way -- there's just no connection.
- rotundo, on 04/17/2009, -1/+19Who cares whether you (or I) would do her? There are people I seek out to *****, and there are other people whom I seek out to read their writings, listen to their music, or whatever. I don't need to want to ***** someone to appreciate them on some level... male or female.
I'd love to have a pint with Susan in any case. Which is more than I can say for some. - ChromaVita, on 04/17/2009, -0/+18I wish I could digg you up a hundred times. Most of the articles on her boil down to "Can you believe it? She can sing well even though she's SO ***** HIDEOUS!!! Just goes to show you that you can't judge a book by it's ABSOLUTELY NAUSEATING COVER!"
Terrible. - foofoobee, on 04/17/2009, -3/+20You totally missed the point. The primary point of the article was the difference in our reactions to an ugly male vs an ugly female. And I didn't see the article mention anywhere that we can't say Susan is ugly. The article *begins* with a description of how ugly she is. The secondary point of the article is that we judge ugly people before they even have a chance. Being ugly is wholly unrelated to singing ability, but look at the crowd's reaction to her before she even voiced the first note.
- inactive, on 04/17/2009, -2/+19She's 47. That is hardly old.
- evilEL, on 04/17/2009, -0/+16I saw the discovery article earlier and had to take a look at the youtube video. I wasn't sure exactly what to expect, but when I heard her voice as she started singing my jaw dropped. I came into work and played the video to a few people to gauge their reaction and they thought I was showing them some horrible woman who is going to squeal and shatter their eardrums. I just watched their reaction that went from preparing for horror to ear to ear smiles when she started singing. Everyone agreed that if that lady put out an album, they would buy it. I never judge a book by its cover and I am glad that Susan Boyle is getting the credit she deserves do to her talent. Props, lady, much Props!
- SawButter, on 04/17/2009, -1/+16Except that he has no talent at all.
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