An Explanation Of Some People: They Are Just Mean S.O.B.’s
There are some folks who will only go into a knife fight against an unarmed opponent. Such is the case of liberal bloggers going after some poor kid in the Miss Teen U.S.A. pageant. (See here and here.)
The gist is Miss Teen USA 2007 finalist Lauren Upton (from South Carolina) was asked to explain why a large percentage of children in this country are unable to find the United States on a map. Miss Upton first offers the suggestion that maybe kids don't have maps to look at. She then seems to realize this isn't enough of an answer so she rambles on about Iraq and South Africa making, it must be said, very little sense.
My question is, why should she know the answer to that question? I think she would have been perfectly justified in saying "How the hell should I know? If you all hadn't screwed up the public education in this country maybe we wouldn't be having these sorts of issues."
Of course, no one was expecting Lauren to have an actual answer. The point of asking the question wasn't the content of her answer but her poise in responding to it. In that she performed poorly. She was clearly stumped by the question, but that hardly means she is "dumb as a box of rocks."
Of course, if she had responded to the question with some idiocy blaming the Bush administration and "No Child Left Behind" she would have been lauded from here to high heaven by the leftosphere, no matter how inarticulately she did so.
I can only hope that those trashing this teenager have little exposure to children in their own lives.
Left Wing | Rich Horton Sunday, 26 August , 2007
By John Ray, Sunday, 26 August , 2007 @ 7:31 pm
“inarticulatly” should be “inarticulately”
Please fix and delete this comment
By Rich Horton, Sunday, 26 August , 2007 @ 11:26 pm
Nah. I’ll keep the comment. You remind me of my high school English teacher. Of course that would make you Sister Marion…..
By Anna, Sunday, 26 August , 2007 @ 11:43 pm
It’s not just liberal bloggers. I first saw the video in a couple of conservative blogs. It’s on at least one woodworking forum and a football forum, and probably all sorts of blogs and forums (fora?) by now. The derision is universal.
It’s true that she didn’t have to know the “correct” answer to the question, but her answer was practically incoherent. Maybe she should have said, “How the hell should I know?” but she didn’t. I’m sure she would have received an applause for that answer. Instead, she tried to work Iraq and South Africa into her response. Who was she trying to pander to or impress? It’s almost like the mere mention of Iraq or South Africa will make any answer she came up with “correct.”
To me, that’s what made it completely ridiculous. And it’s the same kind of “ridiculous” that I feel when I read bone-headed pronouncements from Obama or any of the other politicians and journalists that we”ve been making fun of for the last few weeks. In fact, I think this young woman will feel right at home in Congress.
By TC@LeatherPenguin, Monday, 27 August , 2007 @ 1:16 am
She may be dumber than a bag of rocks, but she is still easier on the eyes than any of those fools at Shakespeare’s Sister.
By Thomas, Monday, 27 August , 2007 @ 2:45 am
Even as a liberal blogger, I don’t get the fascination with this event.
A beauty queen isn’t that bright, whoa that’s newsworthy.
If she had had a flawless, articulate and politically literate response that left the audience dumb at their own intellectual inadequacy, that would have been something for the headlines.
By FedUp, Monday, 27 August , 2007 @ 7:29 am
Should we expect more of our teens than we do of congress? Wanna talk about articulate…???
By Rich Horton, Monday, 27 August , 2007 @ 8:41 am
It seems she prep’d an answeer to the standard “How would you make the world a better place?” sorta question, and she became disoriented when they went a different direction on her.
I’m sure she knows she didn’t do a good job with that. Piling on (from the left or the right) just strikes me as unseemly.
By Bleepless, Monday, 27 August , 2007 @ 12:49 pm
“Okay, Lauren, let me ask you a question and you give an extemporaneous answer. Oh, and keep in mind that your family and friends are watching, as well as millions of strangers, some of whom are hoping that you will flub it so they can point and hoot. Okay?”
By Rich Horton, Monday, 27 August , 2007 @ 3:05 pm
lol
I know. It is one thing to laugh at Bush’s continued destruction of the English language…and it is particularly funny when he starts searching for a word that just will not come quickly…
Ah well…maybe she will be stronger for the experience.
By Rich Horton, Monday, 27 August , 2007 @ 3:06 pm
“Oh, and Lauren, what is the air speed velocity of an unladen swallow?”
By Penduin Buddery, Monday, 27 August , 2007 @ 9:30 pm
Let’s face it everyone: she’s an idiot. As US citizens on the right wing of politics you should all be well used to the presence of idiots.
I don’t have the time to spend the rest of the afternoon naming names; instead, I would like to fix the problem.
Television contributes to the culture of stupidity. You are taught to think in cliches, or not to think at all. You are taught to enslave yourselves by buying crap with credit cards.
The US school system is not regarded highly. How can one spemd so much money turning out unthinking fools? On another website I saw the results of a survey on the geographic knowledge of US teenagers and young adults. Not only was the level of ignorance alarming, but the commentator seemed to think that this ignorance demonstrated knowledge. The fact that 56% knew where Indonesia is is alarming - 95% should.
Christianity contributes to the problem. God-botherers in my experience are close to being intellectually disabled. Thinking is foreign to them, and critical or analytical or even honest thinking doubly so.
To conclude: the US is currently a culture of stupidity, and this stupidity could cause some very real damage in the near future. I know lots of very intelligent US citizens, and I wonder how they get through life without being worried to distraction by the presence of such blatant fools as we see.
P Buddery
By Rich Horton, Monday, 27 August , 2007 @ 11:40 pm
OK. Thanks for playing, enjoy the lovely parting gifts.
By Gaius, Tuesday, 28 August , 2007 @ 12:14 am
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Buddery,
Normally, I do not allow comments such as yours. But it so exactly, precisely proved Rich's point that I let it through. Some people are just, plain mean. (I'll leave out the SOB part. It's unfair to the B.) Gaius
By TC@LeatherPenguin, Tuesday, 28 August , 2007 @ 1:36 pm
Yoo hoo, Penduin Buddery?
Who runs the American education infrastructure?
Hint: people who use words like “spemd.”