I don't like "beauty contests", BUT

[SoCalDem]

WTF..

why on earth are these "girls" asked such weighty questions about politics.. It's a beauty pageant..

they are not going to parlay their "crown" into a career at the UN, or or the using a lifetime of "pageantry" as a steppingstone to a career as political adviser or senatorial/presidential candidate..

Why on earth would anyone CARE what some 23 yr old pageant contestant's opinion on gay marriage or guns or TARP or anything else is?

Assuming that they are all college students (or recently graduated), why not skew the questions toward something in their field of study, instead of trying to blindside them into saying something stupid, about stuff they probably don;t even know much about..

It's demeaning enough to parade around in high heels and a swimsuit, and to participate in those lame "dance numbers", without being tricked into saying something that ultimately makes half the people hate you, and the other half, laugh at you..

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. I think they do it because they want to show that these girls

aren't just beautiful, but they also have some brains, and are capable of thinking.

:shrug:

:hi:

[SoCalDem]

3. of course that's the plan

but it usually ends badly:)

[EFerrari]

9. Which qualifies them for a career as Anita Bryant!

[The Straight Story]

13. yeah but it keeps becoming epic fail

Sorry, couldn't resist :)

[Avalux]

2. In recent years, they've tried to make the pageant about more than beauty.

As a result, the contestants get asked questions they cannot answer. Hasn't worked out too well. ;-)

Those young women were excruciatingly dumb last night.

[L0oniX]

4. I still can't find "such as"on a map.

[SoCalDem]

5. did you find "the Eyerack"?

:rofl:

[BlooInBloo]

6. This thread is worthless....

Without the Miss Teen South Carolina video.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. So that they don't get embarrassing winners like Danielle Lloyd in the UK

Lloyd was crowned Miss England on 17 July 2004.<6> and competed at Miss World 2004. On 26 February 2006, Lloyd was named Miss Great Britain 2006.<7>
...
Lloyd joined Celebrity Big Brother on 3 January 2007, at the start of the series. In her column she stated, "Things I'm looking forward to in the house ...meeting people I'd probably never meet in everyday life, seeing if I can cope with the challenges and letting people at home see me in a different way (I'll be wearing more clothes!!)".<16>

Lloyd garnered significant negative publicity when thousands of complaints were filed with Ofcom after she, Jade Goody, and Jo O'Meara, were bullying and claims of the three were making racist remarks towards their fellow house mate, Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty. Specific comments Lloyd has made about Shetty include "She's a dog" and "They eat with their hands in India, don't they – or is that China? You don't know where her hands have been."<17>.<18><19> In another outburst, Lloyd said "do you get stubble?"<20>On 17 January 2007, Lloyd declared she thought Shetty should "fuck off home", adding that "she can't even speak English properly".<21> After a similar comment by Goody, Lloyd laughed and said to Goody, "That was fucking fantastic, I loved it. I think she should fuck off home."<22>

A newspaper interview made before Celebrity Big Brother, from November 2006, revealed Lloyd's anti-immigration views: "If I was (a politician), I'd get more people into work and stop people coming into the country. There's so many people who come into England because they know they can get benefits. People who already live here should get the jobs".<23> It has since become apparent that Lloyd was warned against racist behaviour prior to going into the house, in an email sent to her by her agent at the time, Angela de Fouw.<24>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danielle_Lloyd

[csziggy]

8. Sometime back they changed them from "beauty pagents" to "scholarship contests"

Supposedly in most of them, the women are competing for college scholarships, so they should be able to answer relatively simple political questions.

Frankly I find it vastly amusing that these women are incapable of answering the questions - they are so adorable in their vacuous ignorance. :sarcasm:

The more derision directed at these contests, whatever they are called, the better IMO.

[merh]

10. and world peace

:silly:

[SoCalDem]

11. don't forget hunger and poverty..

they seem to think these vacuous young things have a plan to end those two, as well..

These young women usually are after a modeling career, or enetrtainment industry career, so why not just ask them about THEIR goals and people in their lives who made an impression in them..

It's a shame that there's so much emphasis on looks, but that's what pageants will always be about..no matter how many times they tell us it's a scholarship pageant.. gee pretty girls can be smart?? whodathunkit.. and guess what,,.not all smart girls are pretty, nor are all pretty girls, dumb..

the ACT of changing it into a "scholarship" pageant only proves that pageants are on life-support:) (as they should be)

[ColbertWatcher]

12. Obviously, "beauty" pageants are now audtions for FOX news. n/t

[SoCalDem]

14. Best use of LipGloss Award Winner

gets a private audition with O'reilly

[ColbertWatcher]

15. Or ...

... awarded running mate ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NGXlsqPL2A

[Booster]

16. They do it for ratings - and it works.

[Starry Messenger]

17. Evidently the GOP is using them to select their VP candidates.

Better they be vetted now than later.

[kestrel91316]

18. I think they're secretly hoping for another intelligent answer like that one

from Miss North Carolina or whoever about Irak and maps and Americans and suchlike.

[Fleshdancer]

19. why not?

They all know they have to go on stage and answer ONE question related to current events when they try out for this crap. I don't care if she's for or against gay marriage, but there's nothing wrong with expecting her to answer one question without sounding like a complete idiot. "Opposite marriage"? Really?

[rucky]

20. I'm watching Anthony Bourdain deep-throat a Chicago Dog. n/t