Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Is This the Best California Has to Offer?

Miss California USA Carrie Prejean gets to keep her crown. Is anyone surprised? Since Donald Trump, who does not seem to have wits above his waist when it comes to beautiful young women, made this determination, the outcome should not have been in doubt. Of course, Ms. Prejean explains, she did not mean to have a photo of herself in underpants be placed online and, she insists, the photo was taken by a fellow who barged into her dressing room and snapped it, oh so quickly, and vanished, poof! Interesting to see that great big smile she has for the camera in that shot. Just the sort of expression one would reserve for an intruder.

But there are other points to ponder. The first is that the young woman does not only have a semi-nude photo of herself floating around the Internet planet, but she has also allowed herself to be the spokesperson for an organization that is not connected to the pageant. By appearing in commercials for a right-wing group pushing for “marriage between a man and a woman,” she has allowed herself to be the poster girl garnering publicity for an organization not officially a part of the pageant. However you feel about the specific issue, the point is that young Carrie seems more intent on publicity than on keeping to her contract.

In regard to that commercial, I found it pertinent to review the pageant tape, particularly the section relating to the marriage question. One receives a totally different impression here than from the shorter sound bite in which Ms. Prejean positively says that marriage should be between a man and a woman. In the full answer, she hesitates and begins with an enthusiastic and perky, “Isn’t it good that they have a choice?” After that bit of nonsensical chatter, she slowly worked her way to finally admitting that she was raised believing that marriage is between and man and a woman until finally asserting that marriage should be between a man and a woman. In other words, she comes across in the pageant as someone who’s not terribly bright but eagerly trying to please.

The question was not a good one to begin with. It in fact doesn’t belong in a beauty pageant as it is too loaded, and the answer was not so much an opinion as showing a young woman who is pageant savvy but not particularly intelligent. She is lauded for giving an “honest” answer but it took her too long to even come to her so-called answer.

As for the pageant itself, I wonder if it wouldn’t be more correct to select the best cosmetic surgeon to award for bestowing so much change. I’m not sure the change was always called for, but nonetheless, one has to wonder whether any woman in the pageant was real. With the dyed hair, implants in bust and butt, facial nips and tucks, one has to wonder what they all looked like before. The irony is that I suspect that many were probably more beautiful in the before pictures. There’s a power to authenticity.

One of the most shocking aspects of a pageant that will no doubt have too much influence over a great many teenage girls is that the California pageant people actually paid for Carrie’s implants. What a message for the girls. What a role model. Hey, Trump, maybe you should stick to real estate.

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