In the Kingdom of the Blind (update: April 16, 2009)
Paul Potts and Susan Boyle (click on pic for youtube video)
I absolutely love the string of talents coming out of UK’s Britain’s Got Talent (from which US borrowed and turned into American Idol). First Paul Potts, now Scot singer Susan Boyle.
It’s not that I would listen to anything from Les Miserables, but what stood out for me was the moment she got onstage. The horrendous looks from the “beautiful” people in the audience, though no great surprise, shocked me more than anything that could come out of Boyle’s lips.
How did we, as an enlightened society, get to the stage where we presume that certain appearances guaranteed quality, and others did not? It could be argued that all this can be traced back to the days when primates selected their partners based on healthy physique and complexion, instinctively knowing they will improve their chances in the next generation. Darwinists could go on about the survival of the fittest, and phrenologists can sell you the Brooklyn Bridge. Maybe Denzel Washington got his honorary Ph’d because scientists claim he has the most symmetrical face. I think Mt. Fuji may be next in line for a doctorate.
I think it’s really Cultural Darwinism at work. Jared Diamond, in Guns, Germs, and Steel posited that technology played a heavy role in the West’s eventual dominance over Eurasian continents. Technology today, in the form of media, continues its relentless march towards molding our expectations, and shaping the way we think.
Through movies, tv, internet, and CGI films, it’s the “beautiful” people who make it to the end of the story. It’s the “beautiful” people who can do more, fight better, think quicker, sing better. What BGT judge Amanda Holden forgivingly calls “cynicism” (on behalf of the audience) is really nothing but downright brutality in the social caste system of our supposed Rousseauian mindset. Even Christian Amanpour uttered the phrase “lowered expectations” when reporting Boyle’s story on CNN. Had a gorgeous girl stepped onstage, there would have been no pre-performance frowns, no surprises, no ecstasy, no twitter showboating from Hollywood stars.
Why do we trust appearances so much that we assume people can’t deliver before we even see the results? I think it’s better to assume people can, and detract only when you need to.
