Miss California Controversy

As you may have seen from my status over the past few days this brouhaha over Miss California Carrie Prejean's answer at the Miss USA Pageant Show this past weekend has really got me on the verge of outrage. So instead of melting down, I figured I should write about it.

Background: Here is the transcript and video clip of the question/answer segment with celebrity blogger Perez Hilton and Miss California Carrie Prejean that has caused the controversy:

PEREZ: Vermont recently became the fourth state to legalize same-sex marriage. Do you think every state should follow suit? Why or why not?

CARRIE: I think it’s great that Americans are able to choose one or the other. We live in a land that you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage and, you know what, in my country and my family I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anyone out there but that’s how I was raised and that’s how I think it should be between a man and a woman.

Video Clip

So this exchange caused a controversy? Here are my thoughts:

Why is Perez Hilton judging the Miss USA Pageant? I have tried to figure out what exactly qualifies Perez Hilton to judge a beauty pageant, but I haven't been able to come up with anything. I guess running a popular blog implies that people want to know your opinion? I feel that there is nothing that Perez Hilton brings to the table that would make him a plausible choice. All he does is run a celebrity blog. Now, I am not attempting to bring down all blogs, because I do believe that blogs can serve a good purpose. All I am trying to say is that Perez Hilton is the authority on celebrity gossip and nothing else. By the way, I don't quite understand what Perez Hilton's goal is. He claims that his website is "Hollywood's Most-Hated Web Site!" yet I see him on numerous TV shows and he seems to want to be a celebrity himself. I would think that a person who claims to run a website hated by Hollywood would not want to be part of the the Hollywood scene that he is supposedly critical of. My guess is that he wanted to be famous and this was a relatively easy way of doing that.

By the way, what were Perez Hilton's thoughts on the pageant because I can't go one minute without knowing what he thought about it?

Perez Hilton Video Blog Post-Pageant

He starts off by stating that Miss California gave the worst answer in pageant history. That's a strong statement that can't possibly be true Miss Teen South Carolina 2007. Going back to Miss Teen South Carolina 2007, obviously her answer was not very good (to put it mildly) and we all got a big laugh from it, myself included. A lot of people called her dumb, but could you imagine the pressure that you would be under in that situation? Consider all the time and effort it would take to compete and beat out hundreds of other people. You are then placed in front of a huge audience on television and are forced to answer a question on the spot without having more than a couple seconds to come up with that answer. Talk about pressure. Nerves probably got the best of her, it happens. I played baseball for over ten years and I clearly was never on a stage close to what these ladies are on; my nerves got the best of me quite often. It's tough. In one of my courses in college I completely bombed on a presentation because I panicked when I didn't start it off the way I had intended. I couldn't even speak coherently and the panicking just escalated; it was embarrassing and it was in front of about twenty people. What I am trying to say with regards to Miss California (and Miss Teen South Carolina) is give her a break. Maybe she didn't have the smoothest answer and maybe she used some odd phrasing (opposite marriage), but was it the worst answer in pageant history? I don't think so.

In the video, Perez then explains that Miss California lost, "not because she doesn't believe in gay marriage. Miss California lost because she's a dumb bitch. OKAAAAY!" For someone who is supposed to be able to make pithy comments about people I believe Perez may have missed the mark when he called her a "dumb bitch." Just saying, I don't really find that to be original or constructive in any way. He then says that anyone with "half a brain" would have answered it differently and tells us all how he would have answered the question (in a condescending voice of course). His answer basically states that every state should choose for themselves because that's what our forefathers intended when they wrote the constitution. Well, I don't think Perez quite understood his own question. His question was: "Vermont recently became the fourth state to legalize same-sex marriage. Do you think every state should follow suit? Why or why not?" He was asking if every state should follow Vermont's example. His answer to his own question was that every state should choose for themselves. He never addressed the central question in the answer to his own question! I don't know about that rest of you, but I feel like a "dumb bitch" might have an answer similar to this. I think a "dumb bitch" might be a person who asks someone else a question, gets an actual answer to that question, then criticizes that person for answering the question, offers their own answer to that question, but doesn't in any way address the actual question. I think I am beginning to understand what a "dumb bitch" is. A "dumb bitch" is someone who a) doesn't understand the question they are asking and b) wants other people to answer that same question because they are not willing to answer themselves.

Anyways Hilton than goes on to say that Miss California alienated half of the audience in her answer. I don't disagree with that point because it's pretty clear that anyone who answers this question is bound to do that. He says that he is disappointed in Miss California because she does not inspire and unite people. How does she not inspire and unite exactly? All she did was answer a polarizing question as honestly as she could. We couldn't use more of that in society these days that's for sure. We couldn't use people who have that kind of fortitude. When I am looking for someone who is supposed to be a role model and a leader I would never want them to have strong convictions. A leader should instead just wait around and react to what is going on around them because they shouldn't risk alienating people. Give me a damn break.

Interestingly enough Perez goes on and says that he is glad that Miss California didn't win. If she would have won Perez claims he would have snatched the tiara and headed for the exits. Well, that's great. He is so glad that, "Miss South Carolina won or North Carolina or whichever one won, because she deserved it so much more." For someone who was a judge of the pageant I think he would remember who won a few minutes after it ended. I think you would want to take the responsibility of knowing that kind of thing. I also think I might want to show that I cared a little more about the competition instead of saying "whichever one won." That makes me think that you don't really care who won. It makes me think that you were just trying to make a scene at the show. It makes me think that you don't have the mental stamina to remember something that happened minutes earlier. Quite simply, it makes me think that you are a "dumb bitch". It's OK though, I'll give you a break because you "had to post a video blog" after the show and from what I gather, that is a pressurized situation.