The massive reaction to Susan Boyle  can best be seen as largely a rejection of a mass cynicism which has been accumulating, Day One of American Idol and its related shows focused on laughing off bad performers and enjoying Simon’s insults.  Ms. Boyle pierced various artifices.  I don’t know who made this comment, and I don’t watch “American Idol” enough to know what to make of it, but it’s been said that the audience has tended to surprise — not necessarily picking the most obvious choices in terms of “Idoldom”.  Boyle undoubtedly has a record contract coming her way of some sort, and a make-over — one where make-up artists will focus on thrusting out an “Everyday Underdog Working-class” image.  (Again, piercing, especially for women, a very narrow cast of who gets to perform.)

Actually this is not a blog post about Susan Boyle, interesting sociological test that she be.  I just wanted to speak about the experiences of “Schadenfruede” long enough to get this series down past a scroll.  But, if I’m focused on Susan Boyle — here’s a test to see if you’ve become a more empathetic person, and have put schadenfruede behind.  Watch this series of pictures, and I’ll ask a simple question.

Did you laugh?  If so, Why?

This entry was posted on Friday, April 24th, 2009 at 1:34 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.