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Wonderful clip, thoroughly enjoyed it and now if you would just put on the link to the video clip of the resurrection, you'd be flying, as they say.

I'm still wiping tears from my eyes

I have argued on other threads that human experience is often more revelatory than stories from the Bible.

This beautiful lady is a case in point.

Over seven million hits on the net so far. Blogg sites full of people who have been touched deeply, who are now questioning their own cynicism, questioning what the media present to them as beauty. People with low self esteem and low self worth, given a ray of light, hope.

The best preacher on the planet could explain the parable of the mustard seed, the stone the builders rejected, the widows mite, hiding things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children, etc... etc... and it would not have had the impact this lady has had/is having.

The Bible is certainly at times a framework with which to view the reality of life. But the real stuff of revelation is actually all around us and often from the most unexpected of sources.

Listen, those of you who have ears to hear...........

Tanya Gold of the Guardian asks some uncomfortable questions about this here

Excellent comment piece by Tanya Gold, thanks Neil.

There are also 177 comments posted after Tanya Gold's piece. Many of them scathing about her article which I found petty and mean. If she wants to complain about women being treated as bimbos, she need look no further than her own profession for creating such a culture.

Take a subject which is enjoying massive exposure then.......... find a coherent argument to demolish it.
Result - you enjoy the benefits of the massive exposure.

Far more demeaning to women was the 'stripper' on the show. Yet Tanya says nothing about it. I rest my case.

Tanya was, in a much more pre-meditated way than anyone so far, not trying to derail the bandwagon, she was jumping on it!

I'm not sure how many times I have viewed Susan Boyle's performance thus far. Yet each I hear her heartfelt rendition of "I dreamed a dream." I feel an unexplained hope to acquire dreams that were lost in my own life. I have to say that Miss Boyle has brought the world a message of hope, as well as a warning that stereotyping and prejudice should be removed from all societies. We may never realize, as humans all that we have missed by refusing to listen or failing to look beyond the surface. If Miss Boyle does not win the singing competition she should be a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. I am American and reguarly view American Idol. Yet regret that I have never been so emotionally moved by any American performance, as I was with Susan Boyle's presence on Britains Got Talent. Not only does Britain have talent it has a willingness to allow others to persue their dreams!! To Miss Boyle I would like to say thank you for giving us hope ! You have my vote, and God bless you!!

Well this is one of those feel-good stories that has everyone rekindling the idea that there are diamonds in the rough, that there is more good beneath the surface than we sometimes think, that anybody can be great at something no matter how they look, that judging the book by its cover can cause one to miss out. I may try an experiment on my radio show - play the clip and find out if anyone can figure out why it's such a big deal.

Isn't it also the case that such a stereotype is only built upon the fact that it's NORMALLY the case that a woman who looks like Miss Boyle would not NORMALLY sound that good?

(Let me clarify. Because I disagree partly with Tanya Gold in the Guardian. Susan Boyle did not make the effort I would be expected to make if I were on the competition. If I were to apply for a job, I'd be expected to wear a suit. The nicer the suit, the more "suited" to the job the interviewers would consider me, at first appearances. If I showed up in tracksuit bottoms, they would - rightly - judge me unfit for the job on first impressions at least. Susan Boyle didn't wax her eyebrows, didn't consult anyone about her choice of clothing, didn't do her hair, didn't wear makeup, etc. This shrill feminism is ever-so-slightly overdone. It wasn't simply her 'ugliness' as Gold presents it, it was her utter lack of effort that made her seem a HUGELY unlikely candidate. The reason it was so surprising that someone like Boyle could sing is that most people who make that little effort with their appearance cannot sing. It wasn't ugliness, it was everything; those indicators of someone's viability in the market. To read Gold, you'd think as many people like Boyle can sing as look like Beyonce. That is not true.)

PSS- One more thing. Tanya Gold's article is utterly hypocritical. In it, she mentions male celebrities by name - Gordon Ramsay, Alan Sugar, etc. - and then makes disparaging comments about they way they look, despite the fact that Alan Sugar, for example, never said a thing about Susan Boyle! Why is this? It's because it's okay to lash out at the entire male of the species in response to a story like this, whether or not they did anything wrong; they're male! The woman is a fool.

Oh my! I've just heard the voice of God! And that not with my ears alone.

Isaiah 53, people. This is What Humans Do. We love it. End of.

Well H, funny you should say that, cos this whole thing about the lady singing has been bugging me.

However lest I am misunderstood, let me get a couple of things out of the way. I love that fact that Susan Boyle made people think twice, I love the way she brought to an end the sneering of the audience, and I love the fact that she got a bit of recognition for a talent and a passion of hers.

What I don't like though, and it is exposed yet again, is the endless valuing of people based solely on what they are seen to do. Our fixation with 'success' and it's illegitimate offspring 'fame', is at times suffocating, and while the media will, again, have their momentary 'darling', the rest of us will slip a little further away from remembering what is really great about humanity.

Britain's Got Talent is but part of a long line of tawdry reality TV shows where the audience are invited to pay their money and... laugh, feel a little superior and then laugh again; surely these are shows dreamed up by the playground bullies? Frankly we could do with less, not more of shows like this.

The trouble of course with greatness is that nobody notices when it happens. Human greatness never really gets celebrated, yet it is all around us, usually in painful everyday ways. And what has been forgotten in all of this is that Susan Boyle was great before last weekend, she'd been great for every one of her 47 years of age prior to last weekend. She was great every one of the days she cared for her mother, great every time she prepared a meal and great every time she washed their clothes. She was, and is great, because she is Susan Boyle. Whether or not we wish to recognise this kind of greatness, which is in every human being, and which is multiplied in countless homes throughout the country, is another thing.

Remember, if Susan hadn't been able to sing...

Great post, Peter.
She was also great when she bought that dress, JW.

I know the woman. She went to the audition with her sunday best on - in her eyes.

And Portwyne said Amen...

A horrible horrible most detestable woman. As bad as she could get. I'm not talking about Susan Boyle who seems like a perfectly good singer, a rarity there judging from the reaction, but blondie in the middle. "I am so thrilled because I knew everyone was against you." This witch not only presumed to speak for 4000 people most of whom she'd never met but had the ungraciousness to insult Ms. Boyle to her face. The "bloke" to her left who spoke before her was hardly any better when he told her that everyone had been laughing at her. What a narrow prejudiced society Britain is. I've come to believe that and this only confirms my own attitudes towards it.

Unfortunately for Ms Boyle, talent often has little or nothing to do with success for performing artists. Aspects of personal appearance can be changed through cosmetics and wardrobe, even through more drastic measures which could make the phantom of the opera look like Adonis. And poise can be taught and learned, confidence turned into effective stage presence. It often has to do with whom your publicity agent knows and pays off. That is why so many truely untalented people make big money in that industry. Take the case of two European imports into America, Yanni and Andre Rieu. Both would have difficulty achieving my standards for mediocre. Yanni plays the keyboard with one finger of each hand while Rieu wisely will not allow a microphone within fifty feet of him. That's why you don't see any clip-on mikes on him like the other 50 violinists covering him wear and no boom mikes which allows the cameraman to get unique head shots at every angle including from above. But they had contacts who got them contracts with PBS, all the more reason for me never donating one cent to them.

Lots of great talent out there no one ever heard of, at least on this side of the Atlantic. Does Britain have talent? Not among its broadcasters, not one shred in evidence. As bad as they could get. As Chuck Barris who invented this genre in the 1970s would have said...Britain Has Talent?....GONG!!!!!!!!

An English friend who now lives in Spain sent me a link to a video clip early this morning and I was stunned and shocked at Miss Boyle's rendition of I Have A Dream!

She has taken the U.S. by storm and it seems that as her fame travels around the world, everyone will know her lovely voice. We live in tumultuous times and it is so rare to find someone who can lift our spirits and Miss Boyle has done this.

Thank you.

I have been listening to her since Tuesday and I have lost counting. I watch her video about 10 hrs a day. I can't stop crying and watching her video. She is an Angel to us.
Also I listen to other professional singers’ version of "I dreamed a dream" but none of these professional singers can not compare to Dame Susan Boyle. She sings this song from bottom of her heart. It made us cried. Me and my wife are falling in love with Susan. We love her as what she is being now. Simply we are sickening of fake people in our material world. She reminds us and teaches us with her talent and her experienced.
P.S, She made us laugh and then she made us cried. In the end, she gives us joy.
I'm enjoying my life more than before what I'm being now. Thank you very much for singing for us

The Lotus (Waterlilly.)

How lovely you are, my darling, how lovely.

Your sweet perfume fills the evening air.

Your colours stream across the glassy pond.

But what caught my eye and drew my gaze, and why I love you so

Is that you were so utterly unaware of your own great beauty.

So im not sure how many people blog on here and like, come back to read other people's comments, but after hearing about this story i had a couple thoughts. For me, i watched this video and i honestly got a tear in my eye. This woman is such a sweetheart and a genuine person. This fame that she has suddenly is completely deserved for her, as her voice is beautiful and her personality is absolutely amazing. She is taking all this in stride and not letting it get to her head, as many people do.

Now, i have another thought. I am from the U.S. and have seen the headlines of Susan Boyle all over the news. The only thing is, the fact that shes not the most attractive woman in the world and her lack of a love life has been the main focus. First of all I do not agree with so much attention being placed upon these elements of her story, simply because I ask myself "Who the heck cares??" I feel like this is a horrible point to make when she has so many other things about her to offer for a headlining story. Anyway, I got curious as to how other places internationally covered this story and i noticed here on ´óÏó´«Ã½ that there was no mention of her "never been kissed" story in the headlines. This makes me happy to see that this is not being emphasized world-wide and some people in this world recognize people for their talent and not for random facts about their lives.

Anyway this was just a thought and i figured why not throw it out there. I've seen this kind of situation before, mainly with the different perspectives on David Beckam playing in the US a couple years back, that was interesting, British v. US views.

Guys,

There are certain indicators of singing talent - most of which are unconscious but add up to a 'profile' of what may be a talented performer - Susan Boyle possessed so few of these, and so many indicators to the contrary, that it was natural for people to be skeptical to the point that they'd be tempted to ridicule her attempt. Clearly they were expecting the voice to be lousy due to past experience of hearing these kinds of auditions. To say, "Don't focus on these things" is utterly missing the point of why this audition became virally successful. She was successful precisely because she was a diamond in the rough. After all, if diamonds were as common as rocks, we'd be using them as flooring. It's precisely because women who look like Boyle can't normally perform very well that we find this audition so compelling.

Boy John, you really have been seduced by this fame crap.

"It's precisely because women who look like Boyle can't normally perform very well that we find this audition so compelling."

Imagine how Luciano Pavarotti looked to women. That is not the kind of thing I expected of you John, I thought you were smarter than that. BTW, I'll bet blondie who sat in the middle can't sing a note. I'd take even odds she can't even spell her own name.

Marcus, Peter,

As someone in the media I understand why people become successful. Many people can sing, but what makes a good performer? I doubt many of you hypocrites will be lifelong Susan Boyle fans, buying her CDs and watching her in concert. In fact here's what's going to happen: Susan Boyle will complete Britain's Got Talent and maybe be the final winner, and she'll do a few talk shows and be groomed somewhat for an album of some sort, and from the beginning she'll have started the fast slide into obscurity, because for every three people who can sing well there is a person who can sing well and possesses a commercial look, and for every 20 of those there is one who possesses SUCH a commercial look that they'll overtake quickly the others. Why is this such an awful thing? We celebrate peoples' qualities, and rate them unconsciously, all the time. Susan Boyle will be here and then gone, and that's fine. People responded to her bravery because they instinctively realize that she wouldn't ordinarily be there. What about anything else I said do you have a problem with?

John, please read what I actually wrote. Where did I say anything about being a fan? Nope, didn't say it, not even close. What I did say was that I was glad that for a few brief seconds the lady stopped people sneering.

Some of what you say in post 24 is correct though, she will be groomed and she'll probably slip out of the media spotlight the way she came into it, pretty quickly, and yes, probably because of the reasons you say, cause the only thing the voyeurs recognise is bimbo beauty. And you can be sure that when the darling public have had enough and the promoters have made their money then they'll stop caring, sorry no, they won't stop caring, they don't actually care.

"Why is this such an awful thing?", John, like Marcus said, I thought you were smarter than that. Measuring people because of how they look, which today basically means pout lips and porn star eyes, or simply for what they can do is shallow (do you know of a word shallower than shallow, then use it cos I can't get one shallow enough) It's shallower than Shal McShallow.

Britain's Got Talent is the sophisticated version of the Victorian Fair Ground, preying on people's hopes and dreams, laughing and mocking at the many and making a quick buck off the few.
Yes we 'rate' people all the time, cos it makes us feel good because it means there are always people we can point to and say, well I'm glad I'm not like them.

You want to know what else I have a problem with, I have a problem with this, "The reason it was so surprising that someone like Boyle could sing is that most people who make that little effort with their appearance cannot sing," or maybe this, "women who look like Boyle can't normally perform very well." And you know what, the same basic thing was said on Radio Ulster this morning, infact I was so taken aback I listened to the quote again on the iplayer just to make sure, one of our Ulster celebrities (oxymoron anyone) said, "that voice to come out of that body", right? emmmm, (and the trouble here is that I'm not allowed to swear on the blog) what does that mean? It means this, it exposes the fact that we have come to view people as products, it exposes that fact that the rest of us think we're some kind of Brad Pitt, because obviously only the appearance matters, and yep that's the way the media works, but worst of all it tells us that our society is rotting from the inside out, soul first, but one day, just like Dorian Gray, we'll bump into a picture of ourselves an wonder where it all went wrong.

Go read 1 Corinthians 13, and substitute the word, 'love' with 'beauty', it amounts to the same thing.

BTW Be clear about this, I begrudge the lady nothing.

" Measuring people because of how they look, which today basically means pout lips and porn star eyes, or simply for what they can do is shallow (do you know of a word shallower than shallow, then use it cos I can't get one shallow enough) It's shallower than Shal McShallow."

It's more than shallow, it's dangerous. It leads us to underestimate enemies, undervalue skill and talent, overlook and prematurely dismiss genius. I don't know if Susan Boyle will have a successful career in show business. Frankly, I could hardly hear her over all the shouting. I'd need to hear a lot more and different material too. There is a lot of fine undiscovered talent out there at least I know there is in America. We'll have to wait and see what becomes of Ms. Boyle, it looks like she'll get her chance at the brass ring after all.

The blond woman judge in the middle is a stark reminder of the truth in the old adage that beauty is after all really only skin deep. Behind her pretty face is one ugly human being. If she was right about the audience, there were 4000 others there that night too. I'd like to think that given who our President now is, we have grown far beyond that here in America and that would not have happened. I know it would have been condemned if it had. In Britain and presumably the rest of Europe, it's an accepted norm.

"It's more than shallow, it's dangerous."

Thankyou Marcus, "it's dangerous", yes, much better word.

And to think you said you were unredeemable.

:-)

petermorrow;

Blind prejudice costs many the chance to capitalize on life's greatest opportunities. Albert Einstein first went to Harvard University when he fled to America. Harvard turned him away on the pretense that he couldn't produce documentation of his credentials when the real reason was that he was a Jew. As a result, Einstein went to Princeton instead and it became the world center for nuclear physics. Harvard became less than a zit in that field.

You can see the difference between America and Europe so clearly in this. Had it been presumed that the audience was against her before she sang in America, people all over would be asking what kind of society do we really have compared to what we ought to be? Why are we so inferior to our ideals, why were we so prejudiced? In Britain, it doesn't even get noticed, not so much as a shrug. What an inferior place Europe really is. It's one big reason why so many people in Europe, tens of millions, maybe hundreds of millions over the centuries who could do anything at all in life or just wanted a chance to try left home to come here. It's not just about: because the money is here. It's also about: why the money is here. What a horrible place Europe is, what horrible people.

Ms Susan Boyle,
Having watched the video clip in which you sung I dreamed a dream, lady, not only did you touch our hearts, I believe you taught us a lesson in humility.
Your voice is truly incredible.
Thank you!

Couldn't help crying while watching this video - !!

A lot of what I said has been said earlier. From the reactions I saw in the audience, there were a few people willing to give her a chance, but also quite a few who jeered her.
In regards to fame, I was reminded of another Scot who devoted her life to serving her community as a minister's wife (for 49 years), a mother, a volunteer for the Samaritans and at a Hospice she helped found. She died not long ago, and her death was widely covered. Unfortunately, her death got the coverage it got because she was the wife of a former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland and the mother of the Tenth Doctor. (In fairness, the family was overwhelmed by the support from fans of the latter.)
Finally, I do hope someone used this as an illustration of James 2:1- 7.

I truly hope Susan reads these comments to she can know what an inspiration she was to me.
Just when I felt humans couldn't get any worse with greedy, selfish, and often just plain stupidity..... Susan shines through from a remote part of Great Britain to prove otherwise.
Her incredible, pure, innocent, and magnificently beautiful person has restored my faith in humanity.
God Bless you Susan!!!!
Thank You.... The world needs so many more of you EVERYWHERE. Your mother would be so proud.

Oh, for the love of goodness, the girl can sing! Get over it!

This brings me hope and humility ... how exactly? We did know that you didn't need to be telegenic to have talent.

Two more points -
(i) We don't know the first thing about her, or Amanda Holden. We might love and hate their media images - but that's it.
(ii) The show should be taken as a bit of fun. Not a source of Religious, Moral or Aesthetic Experience.

GV

Can someone send



a virus please?

GV

were you bullied at school by a frumpy woman with a gold dress who could sing called provillusinfo? Lol.