FAULT LINES
Someone sent me a YouTube video of Britain's Got Talent. Yes, Britain has talent. Two young people—16 & 17—sang their hearts out to win the approval of the fans and judges. The young lady was lovely and had a great voice. The young man, well, he had some drawbacks. Not his voice, which was extraordinary, but his size. He was treated with disrespect when they first appeared on stage, but maybe that's the way all contestants are treated. I don't know. I don't watch it. The person who sent it to me wanted to know what lessons I took from it. I wrote back that it was a complex issue. Once the two young people began to sing, everyone cheered and stood up. Everyone loves the underdog, right? I have just one question: Why was he an underdog in the first place? Why is it that everyone was so surprised that a fat person could sing? Do we, as a culture, not only judge by the “cover” of everyone, and think them automatically stupid and worthless? Worthless? Maybe that'...