Last night, the girl and I watched the Miss America Pageant in its entirety. As long as I can remember I have watched the pageant and as a kid had a ball with my mom, dad and sisters picking the “winner” and critiquing the contestants.

Now? I’m over it. The girl and I agreed that the pageant is the dumbest thing we’ve ever seen. The swimsuit competition looked so ridiculous — it’s such an outdated event that it’s unbelievable such an event still exists. We watched, of course, to get a kick out of the ridiculousness, to mock the talent, to scoff at the interview questions and admire or be aghast at the evening gown competition.

Does Miss America still have a place in our society? I don’t think so. I think we’ve evolved past the pageant. And while I admit, I am not as talented, poised, beautiful or uh, in shape as the contestants, I think that I’d like to see a little more reality in it. I’d love for the winner not to shriek and smear her lipstick all over her newly crowned face. I’d love to see someone accept the crown with confidence, with an “I knew I’d win” attitude. I’d love for it to be about more than dresses, bikinis, makeup, hairdos and talent. Go ahead, tell me it IS about more than that — convince me — I’d like to believe that. When it comes right down to the pageant itself, it’s as shallow and transparent as it ever was. Even with the Miss America Reality Check effort, the contestants were still robots, still clones, one barely distinguishable from the others.

While I know the foundation behind the pageant does good, supporting the Children’s Miracle Network, providing millions in scholarship support, I just don’t see the point anymore. Instead of the parading around, if this spectacle continues, show us videos of contestants that demonstrate their community efforts, their commitment to good health and physical fitness (even in bikinis, if necessary, but only if they’re swimmers!). Let them demonstrate their talent but for goodness’ sake, what if your talent is rocking at Sudoku, or baking pies? What if you’re absolutely gifted at caring for small children? And where’s the wheelchair-bound contestant? Where’s the girl with the facial scar? Where’s the girl who has overcome all kinds of adversity to get to the the point where she can even consider competing with other women who had every opportunity available to her?

I’m just done. I can’t watch it ever again; not even to make fun of it. It’s just not amusing anymore.  

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 27th, 2008 at 12:42 pm and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.