Wednesday, June 19, 2013

#MissUtah 'Epic Fail'?


 The news about the Miss Utah debaucle is now almost old news, having happened almost 5 full days ago.  But before it totally fades into obscurity in favor of another flub-up from another public persona in the public eye, I'd just like to weigh in a bit.  First of all, as a 'light-on-the-T.V.' household, usually only watching at most 2-3 shows in any one season, if that, I may never have even heard about the Miss USA Competition, it being quite low on my priority list of things to pay attention to.  But yes, Miss Utah was all over the news.  So I saw the footage.  I heard the question.  

I actually had to do a double-take myself because of the wordiness of the question:  "A recent report shows that in 40% of American families with children, women are the primary earners yet they continue to earn less than men.  What does this say about society?"  I know that these contestants have been primed, rehearsed, coached and trained for this kind of thing.  But still, if this young lady has even a hint of ADD, like I do, I can see how this type of question could go right into the ear but miss the brain.  And thus out came the jumbled answer. 

Ok, it wasn't a very good answer, in fact it was funny and even SHE realized it as you could see it plainly on her face.  But to her credit, she kept her composure.  But wow, out came the sharks.  The meaness was unleashed.  I find it so funny that many of the same institutions and news organizations that decry bullying in our society hire reporters that perpetuate it.  It seems to me that the same bullies that made it hard for their classmates in grade school through high school, graduated from college and are still doing it as adults, only now it's for real and they are doing it for monetary gain and fame.  Punishment for bullies?  Not so much!  The rest of society eats it up and gleefully consumes it on their diet of celebrity gossip and scandal.  I think it's sad.

I loved what Guy Cundell from Australia said about it on Facebook: "Blow up the internet! It is cancerous. OK, it is a beauty pageant, but...
The question posed is a non sequitur and confusing. The first two thirds are a red herring. Given the immense pressure that the contestant is under, with the size and staging of the event and with no time to construct an answer, I think she can be forgiven for not picking the intent. What is interesting is how vicious and unsympathetic the baying mob can be, and what an extreme amplifier social media is."

  
Also to Miss Utah's credit, she came out the next day and spoke about it and gave the question another go.  Her answer to the question was, "So, this is not OK, it needs to be equal pay for equal work.  It's hard enough already to earn a living and it shouldn't be harder because you're a woman."    Yes, a little too late to earn her the title, but not to late to show the critics that she isn't afraid to face the firestorm of criticism that happened.  Good job, Marissa!  I might add that another thing this says about society is that women work doubly hard for the pay and recognition they DO get! 

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I hadn't heard about this! Now I have to go to youtube and find out what she said initially! :D

A GAL NEEDS... said...

@Renae C I don't think you'll have any trouble finding it! LOL!

BethElderton said...

I read about this, and I'm a little appalled. Maybe we shouldn't expect beauty contestants to be too bright, but I'd expect anyone with a television to understand this issue.

A GAL NEEDS... said...

@BethElderton There certainly is a lot at stake in these pageants. It's comparable to a tennis match. An unforced error can be deadly. This error was deadly for her.

Anonymous said...

My issue with her was that if she missed the question, instead of the crazy stumble through, she could've asked them to repeat it. And with her first interview post-mess up she said, "I was confused by the question" vs having a real answer ready - which she finally did, but I imagine that was after some people were on her for her second botched answer. I feel bad for her - with the internet, you can't make a mistake or it is EVERYWHERE!

A GAL NEEDS... said...

@Krista As I was thinking about how I might have handled the situation, long shot as that might be, I thought "What about asking for a repeat of the question?" I think the problem she faced was that if she did that, she would face a penalty and it would most likely disqualify her from the title. At the time I'm sure she was thinking maybe she could rescue the question by talking while trying to process it. Unfortunately it proved beyond repair!