I think beauty pageants should change.
Some of you may know that I generally do not watch TV. When I do, it’s usually when I pass by the living room while either one or both of my parents are watching. It just so happened that they were watching the Miss Universe beauty pageant the other day. It unsettled me.
The day after, while listening to the radio over breakfast wherein Chico and Delamar talked about Miss Universe, I decided that I didn’t like how pageants went about.
Apparently, for the Q&A portion of the pageant, the contestants are given all twenty questions beforehand. The “challenge” then, is that nobody knows which of the twenty questions will actually be asked. Supposedly, this is to give emphasis on the confidence aspect of beauty pageants.
This made me furrow my eyebrows to the point that for a brief moment I must have resembled a bulldog.
Why do people give such a premium on confidence? Confidence is only a good thing when it’s backed up by skill and ability. Otherwise, it’s just overconfidence.
When I heard some of the models’ answers to the questions given by the judges, I heard mechanical answers—memorized and plastic. And then there were the other models who simply gave red herrings[1]. But hey, they all answered with confidence and their frozen smiles, so no problem right?
What many people see as harmless fun seems to me a social detriment. I have no problem with “carrying yourself with grace”, nor do I have a problem with beauty. What unsettles me is the lack of attention to other things like intelligence[2] (though I’m willing to let that slide) and more importantly, sincerity.
These contestants—and to a much broader extent, the contest itself—are highly influential to the youth. They affect the values that our youth have and, in turn, the values of the society they will create.
Beauty pageants are contests that judge beauty. It would be foolish and asinine of me to say that the physical beauty aspect of these contests should not be considered—but I think it’s perfectly sensible to say that the other aspects of beauty should.
[1] Senseless speech used to divert attention from the inability to answer the question.
[2] wrong message. token importance on intelligence
The answers weren’t good either even though they were plastic and mechanical. There was this one person who was asked why she’d like to be famous given that there is invasion of privacy, etc. Her answer was that.. well, she was already famous. It didn’t make sense to me. Lol.
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I always thought the Q&A was supposed to measure intelligence. They’re supposed to measure confidence? I’d accept pa if they’re used to measure articulation eh. Because they’re ambassadors, blah blah. O:
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*shrug* They’re teenagers taught to be pretty.
I don’t feel any pressure right now.
…
Confident!
Ah, yes. Who could forget Janina San Miguel?
I wonder if you also sounded like one? “Arruugh?” :))
Kidding aside, I quite agree with your points. I’ve suspected that questions given to the contestants of such “contests” are given beforehand. It’s quite sad that the organizers of these events are only looking for the best crowd-pleasers, which almost equate to the most beautiful contestants. They do not want to embarrass their contestants (and therefore, “shame” the pageant) by a contestant’s poorly contemplated answer or whatnot.
And anyway, when will they ever steer clear of that stupendously hackneyed phrase, “world peace”?
I don’t think they really say “world peace”. LOL It’s just that Miss Congeniality made such an impression on pop culture.
These are people who sashay across the world’s television screens wearing nearly nothing , while apparently believing that they are promoting values like “intelligence, good manners and culture” (thank you Wikipedia)
WHY IN GOD’S NAME ARE YOU EXPECTING THEM TO BE ABLE TO ANSWER ANY SORT OF INTELLIGENT QUESTION?!?
You evil, evil, evil chauvinist pig, imposing your impossible ideals on those poor women.
I expect the best in everyone. *diplomat*
Pageants were never meant to be consumed by anything that possessed grey matter.