3 AM. Miss USA Controversy
Its 0325 and I’m still awake. Interesting.
Chanced upon the youtube video of the Miss California controversy1 and just felt like blogging my 2 cents worth. (The SAT Essay question practice must be getting to me).
I shall not provide a background on what it was about, since any comment from my perspective is bound to be biased (at the very least) towards my views of the matter. So go watch it (link below) and draw your own conclusions if you have not already done so.
Bottom line, I think Perez Hilton is a royal ass. I did not come to that conclusion due to his sexual orientation, but rather his views on the response given by Miss California (Carrie Prejean). I’ve transcribed her response to his question verbatim below:
We live in a land that you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. And you know what, in my country, and in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that’s how I was raised and that’s how I think it should be between a man and a woman.
To which, Perez (in a video blog post immediately after the show2) said it was ‘the worst answer in pageant history’, and that she was ‘booed’ for the answer she gave. In a skype call to MSNBC later3, he went on to say that her response ‘alienated millions of gays and lesbians, their families, their friends and supporters’. I’ve got a problem with this.
‘The worst answer in pageant history’? I honestly don’t think so. I’ve heard worst. But wait, my view / opinion on it not being the worst answer is not in line with Perez’s. So I guess in his eyes, I’m a B*******. But he’s entitled to his own opinion isn’t he. It’s just Miss California that isn’t entitled to her own opinions.
Then there’s the issue of the ‘booing’, of which I did not manage to hear in the clip as it (if there was ‘booing’ to begin with) was drowned out by the applause.
Finally, her response ‘alienated millions of gays …’. I don’t know how he got to this conclusion, but be it true or false, I believe this to be a Hasty Generalisation. Needless to say, I found the rest of his ramblings in that video to be just that, ramblings.
To sum things up, I feel his comments were completely uncalled for, vulgar and an embarrassment to the people of the US of A. Nonetheless, I do recognise his right to his own opinion, and while I disapprove of what he said, make no mistake about it that I will defend, to death, his right to say it. I just hope I don’t see his column appearing in my ‘Time’ magazine. Ever.
Here comes the disclaimer, just in case someone up there decides to throw some random charge at me for my post. The views expressed here are mine and mine alone. I do not have any problems with gays or lesbians. In fact, I’ve got a few gay and lesbian friends (who doesn’t in this day and age?) and I fully respect the choices they have made as their own. And thus ends my post.
1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XMvviFbkf0
2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI1u6bZ39YE
3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klT0aSRTuDQ
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One Response to “3 AM. Miss USA Controversy”
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Hello Jonathan. I think Miss Cali is razzed on not for her opinion, but for the way she answered it. Her answer is not that unintelligent, so Perez’s comment on her giving the “worst answer in pageant history” is uncalled for. But afterall, he is a gay rights advocate – albeit a very bad one at that – so his biased opinion on her is not surprising.
Perez being a royal ass is something that most people with logic could agree with. But in this case, i do not think he acted as stupidly as you think he did. False: Miss CA did not get booed, there were even some audible cheers from the crowd. True: Miss CA’s answer did alienate (and is really missing the point of the question).
“But wait, my view / opinion on it not being the worst answer is not in line with Perez’s. So I guess in his eyes, I’m a B*******. But he’s entitled to his own opinion isn’t he. It’s just Miss California that isn’t entitled to her own opinions.”
I think you have committed a number of fallacies here. Firstly, you misrepresented Perez’s argument. He did not actually say that Miss CA is not entitled to her opinion, nor that anyone with a different set of opinions from him are idiots, right? (actually i don’t know about this for sure, he irks me so much that i don’t want to bother with watching the video in its entirety) Secondly, your attack on him seems like a red herring, you have not once addressed the subject of concern here – you’re basically arguring against the person.
My view is that Perez is a royal ass (duh, as usual), but save for the exaggeration that he did post-show, i would agree with him on the fact that Miss CA’s answer was indeed lacklustre. Not the worst, but really… it was quite a pointless answer.
She is really dense (or very smart, depending on which way you see it) for coining the phrase “opposite marriage”. Granted, she probably was nervous and omitted the word “sex” in “opposite-sex marriage”. But come on, “opposite marriage” is really some classic comedy gold! The way she phrased it is confuses her audience that she is only tolerant of endogamy, intolerant of homogamy. Miss CA on the dumbass scale: +1.
Pageant contestants are trained to answer questions in a way that will alienate the least number of people and offend no one. The problem with Miss CA is that she is obviously not up to date on political issues, nor does she understand the concept of states rights. So? She fell back on her own “beliefs” – basically a answer she thought everyone would accept (“how i was raised, how i think it should be..”). As i’ve written, the answer ask if the legality of gay marriages should be redefined in other states now that some states have already passed laws to allow non-opposite-marriages to happen. Law is not merely based on how individuals are raised to think, else there wouldn’t be affirmative action promoted by law because there are still bigots who think women are weak and whites are the superior race today. Miss CA on the dumbass scale: +1.
The way she proudly proclaimed “that’s how i was raised” struck me as a completely ignorant comment. It is a pretty weak support for her argument: just because somebody is raised a certain way doesn’t mean that they have to believe in everything they were taught. At a certain point in our lives, little things called adulthood and individuality come along, and it is expected that one re-evaluates the values he/she was raised with, and judge whether they still fit our morals. If she uses that as an excuse (or to reason her stand), it simply means she hasn’t progressed past the age of 13. I don’t care what she was raised thinking, but if her parents raised her to be a racist, is it excusable? No, grow up and learn. Learn and shed the trailer park trash way of thinking.
But thats not the dumb part. The dumb part is that she tried to articulate her answer but because she was caught off-guard, she gave a massive contradiction. I really really like how her answer is all “It is so great we have the right to choose in this country! But i believe those not in opposite marriage shouldn’t have the right to choose! (*cue fake smile*)”. She is basically saying “I think it’s great we have the choice! But we really shouldn’t allow there to be a choice! (*fake smile*)”. If she didn’t talk about the first part at all, this embarassment could be spared. Also, just a semantics problem, usually when you say “no offense” it is followed by something offensive; and that just doesn’t exactly make one sound poised. That’s why lawyers and debaters try to avoid this phrase.
Ignorance is ignorance and calling people on it is not a violation of freedom of speech. So Perez is not totally wrong by saying she is a dumbass. True, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but there is a question of responsibility when you speak, especially on a televised national event. It should not be used to disseminate ignorant nonsense. She has every right to say it, but i have every right to call her on it and call her an idiot if what she says reflect that. Nearly everything is an opinion, but that doesn’t make it is sacred or irrefutable. If my opinion is that gravity doesn’t exist, it is justified to tell me that i am factually wrong?
And finally i would like to conclude on a much deeper level, one that touches on my own perspective on the matter of gay marriage. I don’t get how people can go “well, it is her opinion!”; agreeing or being passive to such an opinion is actually saying that everyone shouldn’t have equal rights, which makes it fair to say that this person is an asshole. Also “hey i have friends who are gay… i’m cool with homosexuality, but lets skip the part on legalization of gay marriage” is quite a pointless comment. It is akin to saying “women shouldn’t have the right to vote… but i know some women. and like, women are cool. so we’re all cool here right?!” It is just a very weak argument.
Oh shit i think i have gone a little overboard with this comment. ZZZ… See you around Jon!