John Doyle has a surprisingly cynical take on the Susan Boyle phenomenon.  I have to be honest and say I have yet to see the clip but Doyle’s point digs deeper. 

 We think we root for the underdog, but we don’t really. We are a superficial, catty and vapid culture. We aren’t interested in authenticity. We mainly watch TV shows featuring people we’d like to date, touch and have sex with.

To a large extent I believe he’s right.  And like Neil Postman says in Amusing Ourselves to Death this is the ultimate function of television.  It was never going to be that deep, we’ve only reached new heights of superficiality.