Jun 24 2007

Seth Godin got it completely wrong

Published by under Internet and tagged: , , , ,

I love reading Seth’s blog so I was surprised to see his post about Britain’s Got Talent winner, Paul Potts. I don’t think Seth understood the format of the show and I don’t even think he watched the whole video.

First, that Cord, the blogger who posted the video, felt like the singer had no confidence. I completely disagree. Bad teeth doesn’t mean no confidence. His posture on stage makes it clear that he has completely mastered his craft.

Firstly, Paul admits himself that he has no confidence in himself, which is probably why he was still just a mobile phone salesman. Secondly, nobody in the video comments that Paul’s got bad teeth so I’m not sure why Seth mentions this.

But the real takeaway for me is how small-minded, snarky and downright mean the three judges are. Even (or especially) when they are surprised by his performance, they act as if they somehow deserve to sit in judgment of him.

This is where Seth obviously doesn’t understand the format of the show. It’s like a Pop Idol show, but for all “talents” and not just singing. So you can imagine the absolute crap that they are bombarded with all day – especially from those that are just keen to get on TV. Also, singing opera is a skill that few have, so seeing an unassuming, mobile phone salesman, nervously walk on to stage and claim to be able to sing opera definitely deserves some skepticism.

I do, however, think that Amanda was a bit too condescending when she made the two comments indicating that Paul was either a lump of coal (about to turn into a diamond) or a frog (that would turn into a prince.)

But it’s such a great video, I’ll embed it again!

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