www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall 'The Way Miss California Answered Her Question Lost Her The Crown

Alice,

That is quite the story!

To David's point about whether it is wrong to ask them a question about a serious current topic, I would only say - what relevance does that topic have to anything pertaining to the Miss America pageant or to the "role" of Miss America?

But as I mentioned, I agree with Father Serge's view on this completely...

I read that article on FoxNews. I also did a little journalistic research and checked out the headline for this story on another site. CNN's read "Anti-gay marriage answer rocks pageant". MSNBC didn't really have a headline for it but they interviewed Perez Hilton about how he felt about her answer, since he was the one to ask the question. I just think it is interesting how different news sources choose to spin a story.

In the Ancient world physical beauty was a thing of admiration...there is a difference between that and viewing beauty as an 'object' of inappropriate thoughts. I believe that these American pageants started in that vain.

They evolved to being competitions for 'wholesome representatives' of a state, a country, an organization, etc...AS such, their views are supposed to be representative of the ethos of whatever it is they are running to represent.

I am glad that she is not cowering in fear over potential death threats and hate mail, which others faced in taking a stand on that position.

"In the Ancient world physical beauty was a thing of admiration...there is a difference between that and viewing beauty as an 'object' of inappropriate thoughts. I believe that these American pageants started in that vain."

If a man finds himself overly distracted by a woman's looks, it is healthy for him to ask himself whether he is being honest when saying that he is "admiring her beauty". I find that such an attitude, or excuse, sweetens temptation even if certain thoughts are not entertained.

Terry

Terry,

I hear you, and this is going to sound wierd, but the other women here can vouch for it...women admire grace and beauty (in a pure way/NOT in a 'gay agenda' way) of other women.

Probably because we have been conditioned this way.

Infact, I would bet to say that more women watch these pageants than men!! LOL!

Also, students of art, (which I was) whether male or female, learn to view and appreciate beauty in a non-sexualized way.

Ofcourse, the Ancients carried it to the extreme of idolatry. That is, as we know, is a grave sin..

Alice

The beauty queen also went on Billy Bush's radio show on Monday, saying she believes her comment on gay marriage "cost me my crown," but she "wouldn't have had it any other way. I said what I feel."

She also went on to say that "my sister is a second lieutenant in the Air Force and she is a gay rights activist."

Following suit, Hilton went on a media spree on Monday, making appearances on MSNBC as well as CNN's 'Larry King Live,' (full video here) arguing against Prejean's point of view. Following the show, he called her a "dumb b----" on his Twitter page, and though he apologized for it, later rescinded the apology.

www.aol.com [aol.com]

How sad and pathetic.

I don't make personal judgments about who goes to Heaven and Hell (and that includes sweet granny so-and-so who passed away last week and everyone assumes is in Heaven).

But, it's funny that I did mention to a friend just yesterday, before learning any of this, that if I had to make a list, people like Perez Hilton would be at the top. I actually mentioned him by name just because of his notoriety, but I went on to explain that I think that people whose profession it is to say hurtful, degrading, and mean-spirited things about other people, well...I just don't see how one can live that sort of life and expect an eternal reward.

Alexis

There are so many factors here:
1. Technically, these contests are supposed to be "scholarship competitions," so loss of contest because the judges disagreed with her views would constitute a violation of equal opportunity.
HOWEVER,
2. Had they said she lost because of the *way* she expressed her view: a very awkward, wishy-washy and inarticulate statement that managed to offend both sides of the issue "I think it's great people have the freedom to choose on this, but I'm personally opposed"--I'd have said, "Yes, she deserved to lose."
3. It strikes me that they're basically admitting that the pageants are run by gay men. One fellow quoted by FOX News claimed that 95% of the audience is gay.
This raises *many* issues in and of itself:
a. Why do men who supposedly aren't interested in women run a "beauty pageant"?
b. If "Miss America" and "Miss USA" are the standards of what is considered female beauty (yet there is that whole chart that came out several years ago that compares the winners of Miss America over 50+ years to the WHO's starvation index, and how for the past several years, they've been far below it), why are those "standards" being set by homosexuals? Yes, there is a certain beauty to the "supermodel look", and yes, it is also arousing at some level. But I have always found it, in the true meaning of the term, un-attractive. Being all bony and emaciated and "statuesque" makes a woman look, well, like a statue.

4. I agree in principle with what Fr. Serge says, but I also think that
a) the fact that we *do* have this pageant institution gives it--with freedom of speech--a great way for women to have a voice. Look at that one EWTN hostess and former beauty queen. Last year, the winner of Miss Teen Maine USA was a Marfan, and she's done some good work for Marfan syndrome awareness. (I for one would never have expected a Marf to win a beauty pageant--at least until I saw my eldest daughter--but my wife disagrees!).
b) I believe that a *healthy* admiration for the human body is an important aspect of virtue. But it's a thin line.

Okay, so because of this thread, I finally decided to learn about that perez Hilton fellow (honestly, I had heard the name, but had no idea who this person was). I'm a bit confused. If the Miss America pageant is such a high-class honorary thing for bright, young woman, then how did a sleazebag like Hilton get himself on the judges' panel? And what accomplishments does this person have besides being on a crusade to "out" people he thinks are gay?

I, too, think that beauty pageants are sinful exercises in frivolous vanity. But it is surprising to see that the most honored of the pageants chooses such sleazy (and unaccomplished) people to be judge.

I find the whole concept of "beauty pageants" to be just this side of repulsive, judging women on superficial merits and surgical augmentations. That being said, doesn't anyone else find it odd that a self-admitted homosexual like Mr/Ms Hilton was appointed judge of a female beauty pageant? Kind of like having a rabbi judge a bacon/kolbasi cook-off.

Alexandr

LOL...yes, homosexual men have always liked to fancy themselves as objective judges and experts on women and their fashion and beauty--in hair salons, in fashion design, in woman's makeup!!! They are attracted to this sort of thing like bees to honey...

I agree with the repulsiveness of surgical augmentation one sees in beauty pageants today...It is sad, pathetic, and sinful because of its intention. This type of plastic surgery is very different from plastic surgery to correct deformities. Swimsuit (if one can call bandaids worn today as swimsuits!) competitions are utterly degrading and totally unnecessary.

Alice

Saw the headline about the pageant the other night and said to my wife, "Huh, I guess that was tonight." Stopped watching them years ago because they're downright boring.

Lotta blather about it here, though.

Mercifully, I have never attended a "beauty contest" or similar event, nor do I have the slightest intention of doing so.

However, I do have two reports of some slight interest:

Back in the nineteen-sixties, when the colonels had come to power in Greece, they actually had the effrontery to stage a "Miss Christ is Born" beauty contest in the Hotel Grand Bretagne, Syntagma, Athens, a short walk from the Greek Orthodox Cathedral, on the New Calendar Vigil of the Nativity of Our Lord - with the result that, as one newspaper put it, "while the chanters were intoning "Today the Virgin gives birth" in the cathedral, government ministers were admiring the not-too-virginal charms of the contestants". This bit of blasphemy caused a thunderstorm of protest; the "Miss Christ is Born" beauty contest has not been repeated.

The Soviet Union never held beauty contests until the end was drawing near, and then those in charge didn't quite know the drill. They announced their "beauty contest" in a big theatre in Moscow and invited - imagine this - an Orthodox Bishop to be one of the judges! The bishop, erroneously but understandably, assumed that this would be an exhibition of objets d'art or something of that sort, arrived, dressed as a bishop with his subdeacon to attend him, and took his seat with the other judges, waiting to view the exhibition of objets d'art.

Well, there was no lack of "exhibitions", but they were not, shall we say, what His Grace was expecting. He turned beet red, grabbed his staff, and fled from the theater!

Fr. Serge

'Saw the headline about the pageant the other night and said to my wife, "Huh, I guess that was tonight." Stopped watching them years ago because they're downright boring.'

I didn't even get that far. First I knew about it was here. I have the same reaction against the Oscars and the Academy Awards.