Attractive people are the only ones worth the world’s attention. Unless, of course, you’ve got talent. Then you can be forgiven for your appearance. Such is the message sent with the popularity of up-and-coming Scottish singer Susan Boyle. Boyle, 47, made a huge splash that rippled worldwide when she appeared on ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ facing off against renowned nitpicker Simon Cowell. The heavyset chanteuse – plain and dowdy by her own admission – shocked the crowd by belting out the ‘Les Mis’eacute;rables’ tune ‘I Dreamed a Dream.’ Since then, the Internet has been abuzz with the emergence of a fresh, musical voice who represents the common people. Much has been made of Boyle’s ugly duckling story and her background. Originally surprising people with a false confession of never being kissed, Boyle seems to take pride in making her life sound worse than it is. This kind of media fodder is amusing in a kind of self-awareness viewpoint as the singer can keep everyone guessing as to what she will do next. With a marketing campaign of having an unglamorous appearance combined with her amazing voice, Boyle could stand to make a phenomenal career out of her tale. But the public is uninterested in keeping Boyle as she is. Making role models out of those who don’t quite fit the traditional Hollywood standards ‘shy;- Nia Vardalos in ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ or America Ferrera in ‘Ugly Betty’ – has been a pet project of the entertainment industry lately. But while such endeavors promote a differentiation in standards of beauty, these have been counterproductive more often than not, turning talented women into martyrs of body image. To quote another well-known musical act from across the pond, ‘another one bites the dust.’ Though Boyle has not been quick to jump into makeover mode, much has been made about recent facial touch-ups, most notably her newly curled hair and trimmed eyebrows, chronicled in the tasteless E! Online story, ‘Big Plucking Deal.’ A joke about Boyle on the recent episode of ‘South Park’ said what we’re all thinking: too much hype. The news media outlets have gone out of their way to promote Boyle’s offbeat look more than her singing and as a result, have become guilty of preaching the same narrow-mindedness that made it easy for her to be overlooked in the first place. One can only hope that Boyle can rise above this misguided attention to prove true the lyrics of the song that made her famous, a cry for a better life filled with love.