Here's a video of the Miss Panama Pageant in which a contestant attempts to interpret a quote by Confuscius. Her horse-poo response is actually kind of ingenious; did you know that Confuscius invented confusion? Did you know he was simultaniously Chinese and Japanese? Watch and learn:
Even though I cannot help but feel sheer schadenfraude at this woman's embarassment, even if she is not aware of it (because one of the biggest parts of pageantry is not letting them see you sweat), there is part of me that feels bad for wanting to make fun of her. Another part that feels like it's probably not her fault that she's not well rounded enough to fabricate a somewhat sensible answer to a hard question (that's kind of the point; grace under pressure doesn't just mean looking good with a gun to your head). It's the pageantry system's fault. The system has actually regressed since the fifties. Pageant contestants are less eloguent and less articulate than those of the fifties when the tradition exploded into the American mainstream. Obviously this Panamanian woman is stunning looking. She has a higher than normal attractiveness factor and probably spends a lot of time maintaining that asset. However, she has gotten this far in her life and has ostensibly been lauded for her "acheivments," but is unable to give a coherent answer to a question that a reasonable person could bullshit a response to with no problem. She actually ended up proving by her actions that Confuscius was right; I've been to Panama and I bet this woman went to schools most Panamanian women couldn't imagine, but I guess all that work and privelidge didn't stick. By all reasonable pageant standards, she shouldn't be there.
I maintain, in light of 2007 Miss Teen USA Carolina's famous bumbling response in which she explained that some "US Americans… dont have maps," or Carrie Prejean's now buzzworthy advocacy for "opposite marraige" (while I disagree with her views, I recognize her right to them, but I certainly don't think she answered this question in a way that a public figure who is supposed to embody grace and eloquence should). The types of women who are attracted to beauty pageants have become increasigly marginalized, but the ceremonies have grown in popularity and production over the years despite the clear evidence that their standards have seriously diminished. Should we feel sorry for these women for not knowing any better? Or should we be enraged at a system that still allows pageants to go on and has in fact propelled them into full on hot body competitions?
Those low standards are what make people think this is OK:
