Those pageant shows are total asshole shows. Dopey women strutting around in rather lame swimsuits and ugly ball gowns being judged by other assholes on how well they answer stupid questions. If one of them comes up with a complete dick answer, like the Miss California in question, then I say hooray for them. Instead of hiding behind the PC curtain, she declared her approval of opposite marriage (hah!) and disapproval of the gays. She’s an idiot and now it’s out there for people to see and to talk about.

And regarding the nudie pictures: the uproar around that is entirely hypocritical, and not just because the Miss America people paid for the boob job. The whole system of pageantry is based on women as sex objects and all the rest of the crap (like poise, talents, interviews, etc) is window dressing. I’m not going to get all Women’s Studies 101 or anything, but the whole thing is one big objectification fest and the nudie photos are just as much a part of is as the rest of the crap. And the photos are probably way hotter than the ball gown or swimsuit competition anyhow, so I say horray for boobies.

Wait, where was I going with this?

… Basically, I think the whole thing is overblown and annoying.

-The End.

I think it’s perfectly legitimate that she could have lost because of her beliefs. Otherwise you’re kind of assuming that there’s an objective way to judge someone in a contest based on subjective reaction to someone’s personality, looks, and poise. I mean, what’s the scientific scale used to evaluate someone’s attractiveness? There’s this lame mystique about the Miss USA pageant, but it really comes down to “Which young girl do you want to fuck the hardest?” For me personally, her beliefs on gay marriage make her less attractive in what’s basically a Most Attractive Contest.

I do agree that she makes a poor martyr and I hate the way that Christian activists have latched on to her as some sort of spokeswoman for their cause, but for the most part I kind of just think she’s caught in the middle of this whole thing and is being used as a pawn by both sides.

And honestly, if she didn’t win because of what she said, I would hope it was because she stumbled over her answer and used the term “opposite marriage” and not because of her beliefs.

I mean, what really happened? Carrie Prejean said she didn’t believe in gay marriage, got booed for it, and hurt Perez Hilton’s feelings. Then she didn’t win Miss USA and now she’s being vilified by some people and championed by others, and both sides are taking this way too far.

Like you said, she has a right to her belief and she has the right to say it. I don’t share her belief, and I have a right to say that, too. She wasn’t proselytizing her worldview, she was merely answering a direct question on a specific subject. She’s being torn down by Perez Hilton and others over hurt feelings, when they could simply engage her or move on. As I was always told, when someone disagrees with you don’t say they’re wrong, ask them what they mean.

I guess what really gets me here is people acting as though having breast implants makes her some kind of liar or cheater–after all, we wouldn’t want to introduce sexual objectification into a beauty pageant, would we?–and people who are basically punishing a shallow contestant in a shallow contest for giving a shallow, unpopular answer to a direct question. And a lot of people, Carrie Prejean included, feel that she didn’t win Miss USA because the judges didn’t like the way she answered the question. Well… obviously that’s a factor. I mean, if the answers to your questions didn’t count against your final score, why would the judges ask you questions in the first place? Sorry, but if you’re asked “What’s your opinion on cap and trade?” and you answer “Baseball is America’s pastime!” it’s probably going to hurt your chances.

But what really bugs me about the whole thing is that Carrie Prejean is acting like she’s some sort of martyr to a cause instead of what she really is: a sore loser.