Tuesday, August 28, 2007
perhaps miss teen usa should start administering the gss question on whether the earth goes around the sun, or the sun around the earth?*
1. If you have not seen this yet, and you enjoy laughing at beautiful young people embarrassing themselves on national television in ways that would probably haunt them for the rest of their lives if not for the fact that their beauty will allow themselves to select into adoring and/or infatuated peers, then you absolutely have to watch this (HT: Jennifer Lena, whose blog has moved).
2. Sure, it's funny, but if your intellectual trajectory has ever had cause to cross the literatures on "health inequalities" and "digital inequalities", you might see an analogy between the logic of the coherent part of her answer and various writings that wildly overattribute the cause of inequalities to differences in what can be straightforwardly characterized as "access."
3. I love that I was listening to "Maps" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs just before I pulled up the clip.
* See previous post on the GSS question here, as well as Omar's instant classic original post here.
Update: Dan Myers, himself a winner of many boy-beauty-pageants in his youth, has posted this clip as well.
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7 comments:
...the coherent part of her answer...
I've watched this three times now and I fail to ID the coherent part. In all seriousness, what is it? Do you mean the bit about people not "having" maps?
Yes, blame it on people not having access to maps. The analogies are to the idea that "digital inequalities" in the US is primarily about some people not having "access" to computers and inequalities in health outcomes in the US being primarily about some people not having access to providers. Which, in the latter two cases, isn't to deny the existence of either, but it doesn't go nearly so far toward understanding the reasons for the pertinent inequalities as some people suggest. It contributes to sociology's broader fetishization of the concept of "constraints."
Don't get me wrong, it is funny, but how many of us have been caught in a similar situation, just not on national television? In the Top Ten of all time advice, is this little nugget about what to tell your witness as you prep them.
1) LISTEN to the question.
2) Answer the question. (Witness are told to answer only the question, but that might not work in normal life.)
3)"I don't know" is an answer.
I think she didn't listen to the question and then freaked and tried to tie a bunch of things she'd been prepped on into the question. Support the troops, help Africa, don't kick puppies, etc.
Brock20
Whoops that should have said, Top Ten of Advice given to me. I don't claim, and I realize, that anything I have to say is not going to change your life that much.
Best all.
I saw this clip yesterday just after having returned from Europe. I think it's funny that it was among the first things I picked up about goings-on after about 3-4 weeks of not watching TV. I feel so in-the-know despite my absense.
The access-to-maps part was insane. I agree with the opinion that she mixed up a bunch of prepped responses. But that's no excuse. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the stress that comes with public speaking, but this was a bit much regardless.
If you visit the Miss Teen South Carolina website, their slogan reads "Where beauty meets ability" teehee. Does anyone know how they come up with these questions and who they poll?
I completely agree with Miss South Carolina........I think, but....I don't really think that..........either one of us knows.
Having grown up on a pirate ship with no formal education, at least I have an excuse.
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