Susan Boyle

The Susan Boyle Bubble continues to excite the world, spreading from the UK to the States and beyond. How could such a wonderful voice be kept out of the limelight for so long? Because she was homely?

The opportunity for a fresh look at our obsession with outward appearances and missing the inner beauty abound, and are certainly part and parcel of the recent phenomenon. But does that mean we shouldn't pay attention to outward appearances? Only at your own risk.

It may be a chicken and egg situation. But it is clear that people judge on appearances and they judge quickly. And while on reflection this may seem unfair, and may hide the clear voices of the Susan Boyles in the world, there is a reason for the rush to judgment.

That reason simply is that there are so many judgments to be made. We as humans are constantly barraged with situations and circumstances from moment to moment. And while we may on occasion sit back and consider an issue, most of the time we are just too buys getting on to do so.

And so as a defense mechanism we develop shortcuts, and these judgments are just one aspect thereof. We tend to stick to our judgments, and that is another issue worthy of discussion. But the impetus to continuity is well documented.

The problem isn't that we make these judgments, and tend to stick with them, its that they are so infrequently exposed to cause us to pause and wonder. And Thank you Susan Boyle, you have made that easier for many more people to do. Now we also need to understand that these opinions of outward appearance influence all aspects of religion, economics, politics, music and what have you.

We need perhaps some sort of systematic initial judgment review. But what would that look like.

I will ponder further, as my initial judgment is that no one would be interested.