Un-Opposite Marriage And Miss America Pageants

Who continues to watch crap like the Miss America Pageant? Who, other than people who work for Mattel or who own Mattel stock, likes to watch these Barbie shows brought to life. With big perky boobs and long legs as if off the same assembly line these Stepford Wives wannabes come from a very narrow definition of what it means to be beautiful deeply rooted in an appreciation for Caucasoid standards of beauty. I have to admit I watched this horse and pony show about four decades ago. I couldn’t even tell you who was strutting her stuff across that stage then.

I have to admit that I was as surprised as anyone else when Vanessa Williams won the pageant all those years ago. I also have to admit that I was disappointed but not surprised to see Ms. Williams attacked for the nude photos spread in Penthouse Magazine and subsequently pressured to resign her title. No surprise that she is probably the first person most people can think of when asked to name a former Miss America. But even Ms. Williams comes from a narrow definition of beauty that is more Caucasoid than Negroid.

So Miss America as an institution that represents America’s value of beauty has long ago been kicked to the curb in my humble opinion. It serves as a testament to a bygone era of white privilege and insensitivity that will eventually dry up if given enough time. Considering the amount of money it takes to continue to produce this precursor to the modern day reality show it’s only a matter of time before the plug is pulled on whatever life support that continues to keep this show going. But right now, it comes back every year like a bad Halloween movie.

Last night I watched an excerpt of the latest edition of this program on MSNBC. Miss California, Carrie Prejean of San Diego, came in second for the national title and people were asking did her answer to the question should all fifty states legalize same sex marriage. The following is Ms. Prejean’s somewhat less than thoughtful reply.

“Well, I think it’s great that Americans are able to choose one or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same sex marriage or opposite marriage. And you know what? In my country, 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. Thank you very much.”

Compared to notable conservatives like anybody in the Republican Party leadership, Ms. Prejean’s reply sounds virtually gaffe free. Opposite marriage is a Ms. Prejean reference for heterosexual marriage I’m sure. But it also shows the hypocrisy of people who think America is so great and wonderful and free and the come right back and say that their personal beliefs are the only beliefs that should be allowed to be exercised. We believe we are the freest country in the world and then we promote concepts that are designed to discriminate against people who don’t share our values.

This is a country where some of us believe god has given us the right to decide what god and doesn’t like. These are the same type of people who back in the day would go around saying that god doesn’t want black people to be free or the equal of white people so America has to keep institutionalized slavery. And now, these people have turned their standing as hateful mouthpiece for god to the issue of homosexual marriage. God is all powerful and all knowing and will punish those who disagree with him but in the mean time we have to do god’s work because we know god is a procrastinator who all too often doesn’t work fast enough for our taste.

America is great and America is wonderful and in America you are free to be anything you want to be except for gay or lesbian and married in an un-opposite kind of way. Such is the way of social conservatives. In America you are free to be a hypocrite as long as you are a hypocrite for god.

But like most things of a socially conservative nature that are founded on baseless assumptions of what god wants and/or what is good for our country, the idea that marriage as an institution is under attack because people who have a different sexual orientation than most want to marry will past. It will fade away to the reality that homosexuals marrying will make no difference to the vast majority of people who live here. In fact, I’ll go out on a limb and say it will make no difference to anyone’s god. The only difference will be that when we say we are a country that respects people’s freedom, we will be a little closer to being something those words accurately represent.

Ms. Prejean is a throwback to an era that is quickly coming to past. In that respect, she is the very epitome of the Miss America Pageant, a program that has long outlived its relevance as a standard in the American way of life.