Yesterday I read with bemusement the many articles on the Internet that talked about the Miss California's misstep during the Miss U.S.A. pageant Sunday night. During the question and answer session (which in other pageants has led to such gems as a rambling dialogue about why American children can't read maps) Miss California was asked how she felt about gay marriage and whether it should be legal in all 50 states. After a stumbling start that made me wonder if we were going to see a repeat of the parenthetical link I provided above, Carrie Prejean found her stride and stated that she personally believed that marriage should be between a man and a woman. She was booed by several members of the audience, and many said that this cost her the crown (she finished second).In fact, Perez Hilton, the semi-celebrity who asked her the question during her interview, later stated that, "I applaud her for her honesty. However, she is not a politician, she's a hopeful Miss U.S.A. Miss U.S.A should represent everyone. Her answer alienated millions" of people.
But here's the deal: this was a no win situation for her. If she'd said that gay marriage would be allowed she would have alienated religious conservatives. She was going to alienate millions of people no matter which position she'd taken. And if she'd taken a wishy washy moderate stance she probably would have alienated everyone!
As I understand it (I didn't actually watch the show! Ew!) the other contestants weren't asked cupcake questions either, but I can't imagine a more loaded question...Wait! I have one: "Describe how, as Miss U.S.A., you will ensure that all citizens of the world understand that the Muslim faith is evil." That's the only thing I can come up that would be harder to answer without getting yourself in trouble.
3 comments:
Just another clown wanting to inject his sexual preferences and make me accept them. I never will! They attack personally when their lack of facts fall short. When the facts aren't there attack the person.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1172123/You-dumb-bitch-Miss-USA-beauty-pageant-turns-ugly-Perez-Hilton-insults-Miss-California-gay-marriage-slur.html
If she called him a fag there would have been protests galore but it is alright for him to call others bitch including our current president. We allow this because he is a "protected" species and can't hold him accountable because we are then homophobic. Of course I am a right wing extremist according to Homeland Security. I am a vet, opposed to abortion and gay marriage, like the 2nd ammendment, and want the states to take back their rights. But alas I'm just an old guy drooling on my bib!
Surely asking a woman a question about abortion would have been sticky as well. Say that you don't support abortion or a "woman's right to choose" and you alienate all of the women and saying that you support abortion alienates you from the conservatives. She's not running for office but she's definitely in the hot seat. I'm glad to see that the pageants have grown some teeth.
I agree that abortion would be a hot topic as well. I guess the difference it timing. Gay marriage is a fairly new issue, whereas abortion has been an issue for decades. Everyone's come to expect the reply of "While I would never get an abortion myself and see it as morally wrong, I respect the rights of women to choose." It's a dumb answer, but people have been saying it long enough that people accept it. It may well be that we will create a pat answer for gay marriage, maybe "I personally see marriage as a sacred act between a man and a woman, but I also understand that not everyone feels this way and I respect their rights." Some b.s. like that.
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