Columnist Cal Thomas wrote a very nice piece on Susan Boyle, the Scottish singer who stunned millions with her singing ability. Click here to read the Thomas column that was published in today's Fresno Bee.
Here's a portion of the column:
The music begins and not 12 bars elapse before a stunned audience erupts in applause. All those hypocrites who thought nothing good could come from this dowdy woman because our narcissistic culture has taught us that the only thing that matters is beauty, not depth of character, suddenly want to embrace what seconds ago they had instinctively rejected.
More music, more words and the audience is on its feet cheering.Slowly, the gorgeous Amanda Holden rises to applaud and the contrast could not be starker. Two women are standing, one the incarnation of all we define as beautiful, the other exuding a depth of beauty that Holden and the entire audience wishes they possessed. The faux beauty is paying tribute to the reality.
People are crying, not from the external beauty represented by Holden, but because of the internal beauty projected by Susan Boyle.
Now I saw on AOL that they are saying it was all just something Simon conjured up for publicity or something. All I know is the woman can sing and hopefully people will be a bit less eager to judge people on their looks. Although she is not beautiful she isn't butt ugly either.
When the filmed bit was sent to MOI about Susan Boyle, made it available to Jim Boren, knew at 152 views that it made a powerful statement. Now, the whole world is aware of just how shallow we can be as people and it is fashionable to make note in some way of the message to be had in the filmed bit. Hypocrite comes to mind, Fresno is in love with 'beauty', it sells better than 'less than perfect'. Reigning beauty of Fresno, Mayor Swearengin can do no wrong, walks on water and ignore the less attractive troubles that ail Fresno. Trust MOI, when the curtain comes down on her singing the 'Tale of Two Cities' will wtill be very real. To be true, there is a moral in this, trouble folks may not be pretty but they give voice to a song that Fresno should be listening, more's the pity that they do not.
First of all please excuse my inability to weave this into an obsessive delusion about Mayor Swearengin.
Anyway, I heard Ms. Prejean, Miss California respond to a question by Mr. Lavandeira, a judge at the Miss America Beauty Pageant. Then I saw him afterward speaking of her on the internet. He is one footnote on the subject of why Proposition 8 was not defeated, inside and out, 100% ugliness.
Probably a publicity put on. How many opera singers, past or present fill the bill of the proverbial as ugly as sin? And who cares? Next stop; Madame Tussaud's?