I think what people are outraged about is the fact than Patrick skated terribly yet received a high score nonetheless.
In any sport the scoring system must reward good performance and penalize bad. Looking at the protocols to see exactly how Patrick's awful performance managed to add up to so many points is just a further indictment of the scoring system -- and, indeed, of the sport itself.
Exactly. And it's a perfect example of why many sportswriters don't consider figure skating a sport. No one really questions that Chan is a fine skater, but falling 3 times in a Short Program only 2 min 40 sec long and getting high PC scores stretches credulity. Can't see how anyone could consider it a good performance.