There was a bit of show-biz in how the segment was put together, but you couldn't fake the spontaneous reaction of the judges or the impact on the audience. Yes, it is a comment on how image-oriented our society/species is, but it is also a reality. I have often commented on how the internet has reversed the process of meeting someone. We learn about how they think, and write first, here. Then maybe hear them (for example, on the phone) well before we actually see or meet them. In the "real world" we sum people up by their appearance first, then maybe how they interact with others, then by sound and only later by content.

What I thought was so powerful about the performance was how the music (a very powerful song) so beautifully blended with the story of the singer - it made it very real. I don't know if that can truly be duplicated by later performances.
Quote
I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung, no wine untasted

But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
And they turn your dream to shame
...
I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.
It sums up so eloquently the situation Ms Boyle was in until she came upon the stage.

A well reasoned argument is like a diamond: impervious to corruption and crystal clear - and infinitely rarer.

Here, as elsewhere, people are outraged at what feels like a rigged game -- an economy that won't respond, a democracy that won't listen, and a financial sector that holds all the cards. - Robert Reich