Susan Boyle and the Craigslist Killer

Susan Boyle, who amazed the judges and audience of Britain's Got Talent, going from nobody to everywhere after her amazing performance of "I Dreamed a Dream" (more), may seem an unlikely partner to Philip Markoff, alleged to be the "Craigslist killer," who is suspected of killing a woman whom he met through a Craigslist ad.

Philip Markoff, suspected Craigslist killer, and Susan Boyle, unlikely singing sensation, are joined, however, by the prejudices that we bring not only to celebrities but also to people we encounter in our daily lives.

Susan Boyle, star of Britain's Got Talent

People respond to Susan Boyle not so much because of her amazing voice (and it is amazing) as because that amazing voice comes from such a humble-looking person. I can draw on my unlikely musical tastes (opera and folk music), however, to say that great voices come from people who are not exactly Miss America or Sexiest-Man-Alive contenders.

During the Beijing Olympics, there was uproar over a prettier girl lip-synching while a girl with a prettier voice sang offstage (more). In the film of My Fair Lady, Marni Nixon dubbed the singing voice of Eliza Doolittle (more), and in the current advertising campaign for FreeCreditRepord.com, a good-lucking French-Canadian actor appears to sing about his financial woes, but the English voice is dubbed (more).

Philip Markoff, alleged Craigslist killer

What does all of that have to do with Philip Markoff, the alleged Craigslist killer? (Again, I emphasize that the person referred to here is only a suspect.)

His fiancée calls Philip Markoff "a beautiful person inside and out" (here). Friends describe the alleged Craigslist killer person as "preppy" (here). To The New York Daily News, he is"a clean-cut medical student" (here).

Are we shocked, then, because a young woman has been killed, or are we shocked because her killer comes across as a clean-cut preppy? An anonymous comment left about the Daily News article sums up the situation: "just because a guy is blond and blue eyed and a med student, doesn't necessarily exempt him from being a real sickko."

What they show us about ourselves

Whom would you rather share an elevator with? A dowdy Scotswoman (who could bring a new definition to "elevator music") or a handsome dude who might have blood on the very hands with which he so compulsively appears to send text messages?

Susan Boyle and Philip Markoff are drawn together by our prejudices and stereotypes. Beautiful voices must come from beautiful people, we seem to believe, and horrendous crimes can be committed only by people who show on their bodies and faces the scars of their souls.

Philip Markoff, the Craigslist suspect, and Susan Boyle hold up a mirror, not in which we see them, but in which we see ourselves. And what we see is not very pretty.

Robert Burns, Susan Boyle's countryman, anticipated our dilemma a couple of centuries ago, when he wrote his poem "To a Louse" (which you can find here, both in the original Scots dialect and in a modern paraphrase):

O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae monie a blunder free us,
An' foolish notion:
What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us,
An' ev'n devotion!

If you would like to see how I take on other current issues, check my articles "Two Burger King Ads Get in the News" (here), "Reporter in Blackface Comments on Obama" (here), and "Suri Cruise: How Influential Can a Two-Year-Old Be?" (here).