The story of the recent Miss California saga is sad and should be a wakeup call for all Americans. What started out as a simple answer in a beauty pageant has turned into a media exploitation that has not only caused great stress in her life, her family’s life, the other contestants lives (what is the girl doing who actually won the contest? Has anyone heard from her?), but now it is affecting every American. I still say that the media has overplayed this into something more than it was (see my blog of April 21), but since it is already overplayed we need to look at the ramifications.
First of all, she expressed her opinion – she stated that it was her opinion – and she was booed by the audience, insulted by a judge, and thrown into a national controversy. She has a right to her opinion – it is guaranteed by our constitution. She was asked for her opinion. She gave her opinion. And she is being persecuted for it. The question was “Do you think…” She answered what she thought. As we have all seen that is not allowed anymore. You can only think and say what is politically correct. Do you think that any of this would have been reported, played on You Tube, and still be taking over the news a month later if she had given the judge the answer he so obvisouly wanted? Do you think that the next contestant will say what she thinks or what she thinks will be politically correct? If a beauty contestant can lose her crown over speaking her mind today, what will happen a year from now if an employee expresses the same opinion? How long will it be before we lose our freedom of speech completely?
The other big issue – in MY opinion- is the more recent controversy over her photos. She claims the photos were a modeling job for an ad – ok, I’ll go along with that. But the bigger question is why is that type of photo acceptable as a modeling pose? If it is a pose that will cause controversy of this magnitude, it should not be acceptable for any advertisement. I have long said that every generation is a little more relaxed and a little more accepting than the preceding generation. This is an understandable progression, but it seems that now we are at a conflict that needs to be resolved. We cannot have two standards for the same type of photograph. If one picture is published in Cosmopolitan it’s an advertisement. If the same photo is published in Maxim, it’s racy, if it’s published in Playboy it’s porn. We need to decide what it is and go forward.
America is changing. While the recent presidential campaign was run on a platform of change, we need to be sure that we are really changing for the better. What rights are we giving up and is political correctness worth the loss of freedom of speech? What ‘rules’ are we willing to relax for our children’s generation? What are we going to accept today that we wouldn’t have yesterday? From something that started with an innocent opinion and has created so much havoc in so many lives, lets hope we can learn some lessons.
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I was just posting somewhere else about freedom of speech, weird. That post was about whether or not it's okay for paparazzi to invade the lives of children of celebrities because they have freedom of speech. My opinion is that freedom of speech is a good thing, but it is not a moral absolute. If you use that freedom to hurt someone else, then you should have it taken away. If you use that freedom to alienate yourself then you should have to deal with the consequences. She used her freedom of speech and whatever anyone thinks of her opinion, she was allowed to do that. But, she knew who was judging that contest, she knew what their opinions would be and she knew that her opinion might cost her the crown. She stood up for what she believed in (admirable) but now she wants us all to pity her and feel bad for her and fund a career as a Paris Hilton type (just famous for being famous) because of that stance (not so admirable). I think that certainly she had the right to say what she did, but they certainly had the right to decide who they wanted to represent the state, too.
ReplyDeleteIf you beleive (unlike me) that anyone cares what these people have to say, then you have to acknowledge that they are representatives of their area. Judges are chosen to determine who that representative should be. So, was it cool for Perez to insult her, probably not, but look who we're talking about here. Was it kosher for him to vote her down because she didn't represent the ideals that he felt the winner should, sure. That's life. And it's the flip side to the right to free speech. You can say anything you want, but the rest of us can certainly judge you for it, too.
I think I've missed the point of your blog, though. Sorry about that. Just me and my tangents.
I agree with everything you said, but my point is that we need to guard our freedoms. "Political Correctness" can and will take away our freedom of speech if we allow it. She is being judged for what she said. And that is wrong. There is a time and a place for taking a stand and that might not have been the best place; however, the moment should have ended there.
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