Susan Boyle Is Not Ugly - She's Simply Not Self-Obsessed

When an unlikely Scottish woman came out of nowhere and made millions teary-eyed with her vocal performance on Britain's Got Talent, followers split into two camps - those who loved Susan Boyle and those who mocked her. The love is understandable once you hear her sing. But the hate, the ridicule, the mockery? What's that all about?

Attack of "The Pretty People"
TV talk show host Bonnie Hunt had some choice words yesterday for how people are reacting to Boyle, saying:

This is the part that kills me. She starts to sing, and the shock on the pretty people's faces, like, "Well, how could it be? Someone who looks like this that has something to offer any of us? It can't be possible." It's like a Star Trek episode, I'm not kidding you.

"Anybody Who Could Live on Your Street"
There's already been talk of a makeover for Susan Boyle, but one of the show's judges said she needs to stay exactly who she is because that's why we love her - that she "looks like anybody who could live on your street."

Whether or not Susan Boyle gets a makeover is a moot point. She'll get one eventually, and she certainly deserves the pampering and attention (which she'll surely appreciate).

The real issue is this: Susan Boyle "looks like anybody who could live on your street" because she's not self-obsessed. She hasn't spent a lifetime constantly working on herself as most celebrities and many ordinary women do. Why? Because she's never have the time, the luxury, or the support.

A Hard-Knock Life
According to the Sunday Times, Boyle's spent much of her adult life as a full-time caregiver, living with her ailing mother who passed away in 2007 at age 91. The youngest of nine children, she suffered mild brain damage when she was deprived of oxygen during a difficult birth; she was diagnosed with learning disabilities and was the target of bullies in school.

Untweezered and Untouched
Boyle is a plain-featured woman with thick dark eyebrows, an unruly head of hair, a ruddy complexion, and a bit of weight on her smallish frame. In short, she hasn't spent ountless hours worrying about - and 'fixing' - her appearance.

She's what many of us would look like if we didn't pick up a pair of tweezers or have our eyebrows waxed; if we didn't go to the salon to have our hair cut and styled on a regular basis; if we didn't wear eyeshadow, mascara, liner, lipstick, or foundation; if we didn't head to the gym or jump on the treadmill on a regular basis; or if we didn't follow trends in fashion and dress accordingly.

The Hair-Makeup-Clothing Thing
Susan Boyle is not ugly. She is simply unadulterated, unaffected by a force which seizes most women in their early teens and progressively tightens its grip over time - a common form of self-obsession we call 'taking care of ourselves.' How many of us will not walk out of the house unless we undergo a daily beauty routine to appear more presentable to others? We can argue that we 'do it for ourselves,' but when we're home alone on a day no one will see us, do we put on makeup or fix our hair? Do we wear flattering (albeit uncomfortable) clothes, or do we bum around in jeans, running pants, sweatpants and t-shirts?

If you plunked us down on a busy street or at the local mall without allowing us to do our hair-makeup-clothing thing beforehand, how many of us could go about our business without feeling highly self-conscious and out of place?

Content With Herself
Yet Susan Boyle seems oblivious to all that. Unlike many women who aren't conventionally attractive, she carries herself with confidence and appears content with herself. Fortunately for her, she doesn't own a computer and is unaware of the frenzy she's causing online and the cruel jokes made at her expense.

What's so wrong with a middle-aged woman who lives alone except for her cats -- her dress, appearance, and habits unaffected by fashion and the latest trends? We all know a woman who fits this description, yet we tend to be cruel in our assessments. We typically see them as incomplete or a caricature; we use labels like 'cat lady' or 'spinster' to describe them. These figures don't register as real people. We would never think (as Bonnie Hunt points out) that they have "something to offer any of us."

Susan Boyle shows us how wrong we are. And we respond, not out of pity, but with admiration and joy.

Why Do We Like Her So Much?
Some have credited the power of our response to her due to

• our desire to root for the underdog
• the excitement of finding a diamond in the rough
• an unexpected rags-to-riches story in a time of gloomy economic news
• an illustration of the Biblical saying "the meek shall inherit the earth"
• an example of how you can't judge a book by its cover
• the comeuppance of an older person over a youth-obsessed younger culture

The Triumph of Ability Over Looks
There's a little bit of all of the above in Susan Boyle's story, but it may also be something much simpler.

We have been swept away by her voice and her undiscovered talent, but we embrace her all the more eagerly because in an age of overnight success, TV reality shows, media celebrities who have no real accomplishments or abilities, and a generation that wants to be famous just to be famous, Susan Boyle represents the re-emergence of old-fashioned virtues. Hers is the triumph of hard work, innate talent, ability over looks, and perseverance in the face of ridicule and scorn.

Making People Happy
In a world that glorifies the antics of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, and the Kardashians, we have spent too much time focusing on those who do little to enhance the greater good or help us move toward happiness and personal fulfillment.

Watching Susan Boyle prove a theatre full of supercilious, scornful, mocking viewers wrong - and feeling the magic that happens when someone unexpected does something great, like pull a sword out of a stone, come from behind in a race, or captivate the entire world with a song - makes us feel understandably optimistic.

With so little, Susan Boyle has created so much. What a glorious change from the status quo of those who have so much - money, fame, physical beauty - and fritter it all away.

When Simon Cowell gets his image-perfecting mitts on Susan Boyle and she begins her transformation into an international vocal superstar, things will likely change. But for now we embrace Susan Boyle for her extraordinary voice, her ordinary looks, her lack of self-consciousness and self-obsession, and the way she makes us feel.

Also read: Who is Susan Boyle?

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