Myself I tend to think the whole concept a dinosaur but assuming for the moment it does continue is it a good idea to introduce political questions?
I can imagine these young beauties thinking what the hell should I say, is the judge a Republican or a Democrat, is this a beauty contest or what? Might be quite entertaining watching them struggle with this actually did I not suspect that the whole thing is rehearsed anyway.
So that’s the issue for debate. Is this a perfectly cromulent development of the beauty contest, a ridiculous idea, or should the whole damn thing be scrapped for the sexist nonsense that it is?
Of course the event is long past its time, scrap it … but what are they even *thinking *with this? It seems like something designed to drive the death stake further through what is left of the event. I’d guess that roughly maybe half of the likely viewership of the event are Trump-no-matter-what-ers, and maybe half pretty strongly against his specific actions. Most are pretty strong in their views and I suspect the contest is relative to the general population skewed Trumpward. Once you’ve gotten these contestants to identify to the viewers politically you’ve created a situation where you will potentially alienate half of your viewers with the result.
If Miss America is to be salvaged from its sexist nonsense, then surely increasing the proportion of the evaluation that involves intelligent engagement with current affairs is a good thing, no?
I don’t want to join the tinfoil hat league but there may be some hidden motives here. Miss America used to be the premiere beauty pageant. Then the Miss USA pageant was created and it took a lot of attention away from the older Miss America pageant.
The political connection is that Donald Trump was the owner of the Miss USA pageant from 1996 to 2015. So perhaps some people in the Miss America organization saw an opportunity for some pay back.
IMHO not really possible. I personally don’t mind if people like to watch or participate in beauty contests, but I don’t think their fundamental sexism is eradicable.
I also think that the political views of beauty contest participants are no more intrinsically interesting than the political views of any other random people involved in the entertainment industry. But if it’s what the viewers want to see, then fine by me.
“If”. I suspect most of the viewers don’t give a crap about Miss America’s thoughts on the current political scene. They’re watching to see pretty young things in evening / swim / athletic wear. Seems like a good way to tank ratings for the whole thing.
Was she impeccably dressed? Did the show gain notoriety? Was her makeup perfect? Did the show get free advertisement from the lame stream media replays? Was her hair fabulous? Does anyone actually watch Miss USA for it’s hard-hitting political or economic commentary?
I haven’t ever watched the show, but based on the John Oliver piece from a few years ago, I was given to understand that there is always a political section with stupid-hard questions for the girls to answer in a ridiculously short period of time. If that’s getting more attention this year, I would presume that it’s because they (like my personal political reading) has switched from mostly international subjects to mostly domestic ones, due to the Trump presidency. More people care about Domestic topics, generally.
There might have been issue questions, but not about any particular politicians. More like: As Miss America, how will you use your incredible figure to help fight world hunger? Answer: Well, I just love all the children and hunger is soooooo bad!!!
Actually, contestants were asked questions about both Clinton and Trump in 2016.
Here’s some other questions from recent years and the answers that were given:
Q: “The Confederate flag, excessive force by police and same-sex marriage are all recent, hot-button issues in our country. What do you think will be the next that we need to tackle on a national level?”
A: “I think we still need to talk about race relations in this country. We have not solved this issue. We are still having problems and we keep hearing about new issues that are coming up. We really need to work on being an accepting society and being a society where every single person, no matter your race, no matter your gender, is given the same rights and privileges and opportunities.”
Q: “The United States has agreed to formally reopen its embassy in Cuba. Do you think this change will be a positive one for both countries?”
A: “I think that it will be a positive trade. I think that it is an awesome thing to open our doors to all countries, all nations and to mend our relations with everyone. We should not be holding on to old grudges. We should be moving forward and accepting each other and loving one another and moving forward so that we can create better relations, better society, better govern – govern our countries better that way.”
Q: “In the year 2020, a woman will appear on the $10 bill. Which American woman would you like to see on the first printing of the bill and why?”
A: “I think that it’s long overdue that we haven’t had a woman on our dollar bill. Having gone to an all girls’ school, I’ve realized that there are so many powerful women that can really be an example, and the woman I would choose would have to be Catherine McAuley. She’s the founder of the Sisters of Mercy, and she founded our school because she really wanted to show the world that women are really, can really be empowering to the rest of the world and be an example and an advocate as well as an inspiration.”
Q: “The savageness of the ISIS threat to our security was demonstrated by the gruesome videos of two journalists and an aid worker being beheaded. What should our country’s response be?”
A: “This is an absolute outrage and something definitely needs to be done but I don’t think America needs to be the only one to do it. I really think it’s important for the world, for the UN to come together and decide what is the best thing we can do to really come together as a bigger and more impactful source to end this horrid, horrid, thing that is happening.”
Now, I’m not saying these were examples of brilliant oratory. (And there are certainly answers that are complete disasters.) But you have to consider these are essentially college students being asked a topical question and having to give an immediate twenty-second response. I’ve seen candidates at presidential debates do a worse job.
How does this work? Do millions of Americans call their friends, relatives, and neighbors after a question about Trump? “Tune in right this second! There may be another one!”
If not, how exactly does this increase viewership?
Yes, I watched Miss America this year, sort of. There was a lot of fast forwarding. It’s been years and I was curious what it was like these days. Really! The political questions were carefully worded to invoke a particular, acceptable response and the answers were all clearly memorized but I think the ladies delivered them well. Miss DC was robbed, BTW.
Even as a child I had a difficult time seeing parading girls in swimsuits and heels as examples of good ol’ American wholesomeness. Don’t get me wrong, I like girls in bathing suits and also girls in heels and I don’t want to stand in anyone’s way if they choose to do both at once. But a bunch of suited men my age getting together for an evening of pretty girls walking back and forth still feels weird to me.