Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Miss California, Carrie Prejean: The REAL Winner

This is my reaction to Richard Abowitz, who writes the The Movable Buffet blog at the Los Angeles Times website. In his post named "Another Miss USA judge says Miss California gave wrong answer," he forwards the thoughts -- such as they are -- of Alicia Jacobs, a former Miss Nevada. As you probably know by now, Miss California Carrie Prejean was asked a volatile political question on same-sex marriage by another judge, the petulant, obnoxious homosexual blogger Mario Lavandeira, the gossipmongering orifice that calls himself "Perez Hilton." Mr. Abowitz ended his post by writing the following:
As for Carrie Prejean, she will be as remembered as well as former Miss Oklahoma Anita Bryant.

Oh, wait, Anita Bryant is still alive. Well, I admit I had to look that up, and my guess is that most of you would too!

Setting aside that Abowitz never suggested that Bryant was dead, my response (which I am surprised to report has been published in full) - is as follows (links added):

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Interesting, Mr. Abowitz, that you should mention Anita Bryant. While the media rushed to the defense of the Dixie Chicks after their anti-Bush free speech invoked a backlash against them, nobody in the MSM similarly suggested that Bryant shouldn't have suffered the consequences of her controversial remarks about homosexuality.

For the too-young and/or under-informed (which is likely if you're a Times reader): Unlike the way the DixChix fought the tide of popular approval of the looming Iraq War, Bryant's opposition to gay rights reflected the way the overwhelming majority of Americans felt in the late seventies. Still, Bryant lost her commercial endorsements, her singing career was ruined, and she went bankrupt. OTOH, while the Dixie Chicks' music was lifted from radio station playlists throughout the nation and their CD sales dropped like an anvil, they got tons of sympathy and media assistance that Bryant didn't: 60 Minutes featured them, Time, Rolling Stone, and Entertainment Weekly magazines put them on their covers (EW had them pose nude), and Good Morning America had them perform live twice in a week before their Taking The Long Way CD was released. The DixChix were the bestselling female group in American history, having sold over 30 million CDs and as many as 12 million copies of one album before Natalie Maines opened her mouth. When they had to cancel their 2003 [actually 2006-07 - LNS] tour due to plummeting ticket sales, they insulted their audience ("rednecks") and the country music community rejected them in kind. Taking The Long Way didn't win any awards based on public voting, but it swept the industry-insider Grammy Awards in the biggest sympathy (ahem) ...display since a sickly Elizabeth Taylor won an Academy Award for Butterfield 8. Even with that boost, Long Way has yet to sell a comparatively measly three million copies. Political correctness was rewarded by the mucky-mucks, but the public turned their thumbs down on the Dixie Chicks.

It's been "uncool" among the arbiters of coolness to be against gay marriage for years, but a majority of Americans AND Californians are still against it, and it has been voted down in all 30 states in which the question has been put to the electorate. And deep down, you know that with every sparkling, unapologetic smile in interviews, Prejean knows she's America's REAL winner; we know HER name now, unlike Miss North Carolina, who is probably eating her heart out at the attention (and wary of saying something that might lose her the title). Beautiful, respectful, and honest, Carrie Prejean represents the USA more than the vile, profane, sleazy, narcissistic thug Perez Hilton ever will. And your rejection of Prejean in favor of that weasel has further diminished the already-damaged image of the beauty pageant.

As the kids say, Ms. Jacobs, you just played yourself.
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It's clear that people who criticize Prejean are grasping at straws trying to diminish her answer instead of giving Lavendeira the rhetorical slapdown he deserves for his self-serving publicity stunt. Here's Abowitz answering one of the commenters on his post (bold mine):

A beauty contestant is supposed to be innocuous and get rewarded for it. That is what pageants are all about, which is why they are stupid. And, there is no reason to admire this woman for messing up her contest with her stumbling answer that was alienating to anyone who did not agree with her. She played along with the silly contest until the final round and then decided to become famous.

Hilton's question was asked in a pageant context not a political call in show. Yrs, Richard

Whoa - now this is a publicity stunt on Prejean's part? Yeah, that's the ticket, Abowitz - all of a sudden, she decided that she would rather be vilified by the show business establishment than achieve the title she worked years trying to win.

I guess that's the sort of disingenuous nonsense for which she would have been rewarded. But hey, Richard, it's not too late for you! What size tiara do you wear?

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ms Prejean is doing more to denigrate her "Christian" position than anyone else. Her topless shots are so Christian. She claims they are from her teenage years but I suspect the size difference after her recent implants will diffuse that statement.

Anonymous said...

Pity they came queer across the country to see her and said "Lez be friends". Her response? "Homo you don't!" So I'm not politically correct either. Get over it.

L.N. Smithee said...

I guess you expect me to be scandalized. Think again.

If Carrie Prejean had posed for that picture yesterday, she still would have had far, far, far to go to put herself in the category of 2006 Miss USA Tara Conner, who was allowed to keep her tiara despite her public drunkenness and PDA's with Miss Teen USA (who was dismissed as spokesperson for Mothers Against Drunk Driving).

If Carrie Prejean would have suggested that every state's legislature should follow Vermont and make same-sex marriage the law of the land, you wouldn't have any problem whatsoever with those her "sideboob" pics. In fact, you don't even care NOW -- you only want other people to turn on her purely out of spite.

(Of course, I could be wrong, but if I am, PROVE it. Issue a response citing the Scripture saying "Thou shalt not get breast implants." It should be somewhere around the verses in which The Almighty amends that part of Leviticus and says, "I changed my mind. It's NOT an abomination, it's totally hot!")

Your side is flailing all over the place trying to turn her into a hypocrite, but you haven't gotten anything so far. Late last week, Shanna Moakler, former Miss CA, b-movie actress, and faded punk-pop star's ex, strategically admitted that the pageant she helps run paid for her breast implants before the Miss USA pageant. What was that supposed to do? Cause all Christians to demand an exorcism of her silicone? As Maggie Gallagher of the National Organization for Marriage said, "It won't work."

People like you are trying to act as if "purity" is a seen as a prerequisite for insisting on maintaining the nuclear family as a model. It's NOT; the support for traditional marriage is broad-based, and that's why it still won in a state as "blue" as California. And once again, in case you missed it: African-American voters OVERWHELMINGLY voted for Prop 8, even though they voted for Barack Obama. I also am an African-American Californian, and if the Obama supporters are like me, her willingness to continue to stand up for her beliefs will elevate her profile rather than diminish it.

Hector said...

Fistly, im not from USA or from American continent. Im not a white or black, or representing religion.
I haven't seen an honest contestant like Prejean, shes 50 times better than any peagant USA ever had. She should be awarded Ms. World right away for the strength and determination she has to face the gay dominated media.

Anonymous said...

It's funny how she can lose with her fake titties and her nudes and she still gets called a good "Christian".

David said...

Man, people need to get over themselves. The way I see her response, she states quite honestly that she's glad to live in a country that allows freedom of choice but she has her own opinion.

To be honest anyone, gay or not, who finds it offensive is seriously insecure. Let's face it, the real problem is that she has a brain of her own capable of personal expression.

And now the inevitable nude-photos. So what, if you don't like them don't look! What disturbs me is the people who go on a frenzy of hunting through their closet for such things.

God people need to grow up. "Sir, sir.. she just hurt my feelings!" Well, welcome to planet earth son!

Anonymous said...

Why does anyone care what a hypocritical Christian with an IQ of 75 and fake breasts thinks? She's not the final authority on anything, why are we all turning this into a huge deal?

L.N. Smithee said...

Don't ask me "why does anyone care," ask yourself. If YOU didn't think it was a "huge deal," you wouldn't have sought out my blog and commented on it. I've sporadically operated this blog since 2005. Katrina and two national elections has taken place since then, and this is the first post to garner more than six responses.

Anonymous said...

To respond to your comment (because I was curious to see if anyone had responded to mine), I was looking for an actual article with the "scandalous" pictures of Miss California. My goal was to post the pictures on my facebook profile with a note about how hypocritical she is. Then I saw all the homophobic and idiotic comments on here and decided to post a comment. I did not deliberately seek out your blog.

L.N. Smithee said...

Hey, Anonymous: If you want to post some hypocrisy on your Facebook page, take a look at Perez Hilton calling other people "hateful" when he's calling her "bitch" and "cunt" because he didn't like the answer to his stupid question.

I'm sure it's before your time, but in the sixties there was a song named "Oh Well" by Fleetwood Mac. The chorus had this line: "Don't ask me what I think of you, I might not give the answer that you want me to."

Why don't you call Hilton, Alicia Jacobs, and all the other people calling her nasty names hypocrites? I'm serious -- Perez Hilton wanted to be treated with all the kindness and grace and civility that he's never shown anyone. Why isn't HE a hypocrite?

Anonymous said...

For me, this isn't about Perez Hilton(who in reality I find totally obnoxious), and yes, his actions leave little to be desired as well. I think the question was a risky one to ask in the first place, and even if I don't agree with her opinion, she is entitled to it. And yes, I’m sure if she had answered the question the way that he had wanted her to, perhaps so much dirt would not have surfaced about Prejean. However, she did pose for those pictures, and she did sign a contract stating that those types of photos would be grounds for disqualification. Maybe if she hadn’t done something she probably knew was a bad idea in the first place, she wouldn’t be having these problems.
Last time I checked, she is not the only beauty queen to pose for provocative photographs, and I don’t believe those other women gave answers in pageants that the judges didn’t like. So, I’m fairly certain these pictures would have surfaced eventually. In addition, my problem with her, and many Christians for that matter, is that even with their supposed air of superiority, they still do things that are obviously against Christian morals and values. So they can judge gays, women who get abortions, or those of us who think intelligent design is ridiculous, but it’s acceptable for them to cheat on their wives (like many politicians who claim to be Christian) or pose practically naked in magazines. It’s just hilarious that people are supporting this idiot, and that’s really the only point that I was making with my posts.

Anonymous said...

Christians are not perfect--just forgiven. No Christian will ever claim a perfect life, only the effort to live a better one.