The Susan Boyle commodity

Susan Boyle came on the world scene about a month ago. Before then she was just an ordinary person living in an ordinary town in Scotland. Now she has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show, been virally spread round the internet, become an icon for Homer Simpson, and touted as a future jungle queen by the mandarins at ITV. In fact, Susan could be the lifesaver for ITV in much the same way as Roland Rat saved TVam!

Suan Boyle has become a money spinning commodity. Simon Cowell is keen to make money out of her. Andrew Lloyd Webber has intimated he has an interest. She is very much a wanted woman. Her family say she is cracking up under the strain, her friends say she is enjoying it, her cat is bewildered by it all. She says she loves it. Everyone has an opinion.

Angela Tilby, the BBC's favourite female cleric, opines that Susan Boyle reminds her of Jesus. Her 'inner gift' and her 'authority' reminded her of Christ, apparently. "When she came on people laughed, but as she opened her mouth the mood altered. Those watching tapped into something we don't understand," Tilby is quoted her as saying. They may have tapped into something, but I tend to doubt it was that. She said this on Thought For the Day. Liberal theology is sometimes too free-thing for its own good. Tilby is often described as a vicar. Actually, she's not, she's a vice-principal of a theological college. But all C of E clerics are vicars to the outside world!

The world does look for a way of beating the hum-drum daily life. Susan Boyle fits that bill. She is attractive to people for all the wrong reasons. Some see money-making in her, some see a source of endless discussion, whilst others are keen to enjoy her as a spectacle. Susan Boyle may be her name, but it is the name of many other women too. 47 Susan Boyles have tried to join Facebook but found they cannot do so. "Not the Susan Boyle you were looking for?" Apparently not!

A weird and wacky world indeed!