Do you recognize this woman? Well, the sash is probably a giveaway. This is the
winner of the Miss USA contest, Kristen Dalton.She was the winner and therefore was neither asked nor
answered a question by Perez Hilton at the contest. Here she is yesterday at the Nevada Cancer
Institute with Dr. Karen Milligan, left, drawing attention to a crucial resource in the community.
And, this morning at 11, Miss USA is kicking off National Ice Cream Month. And, talk about using your celebrity to bring attention to a cause few knew about, I truly had no idea that there was a National Ice Cream Month until this morning. And, now I am an informed citizen, thanks to Miss USA. According to the press release:
In 1984, President Ronald Reagan designated July as National Ice Cream Month. He
believed Americans loved enjoying this fun and nutritious food.
Do you think she checked with doctors at NCI on if they thought the nutritional value of this food merited a month of celebrating ice cream? If you want meet Miss USA, the celebration of ice cream event takes place at Serendipity 3's patio at
Caesars Palace.
Donald Trump on Tuesday argued that somehow all this controversy about Miss California proves the relevance of the Miss USA contest. But before you agree, can anyone name who Miss USA is this year, the woman who won the contest? Can anyone answer who Miss USA was last year? Trump also says Miss California's answer mattered because of her beauty. Presumably a less attractive person would have a less valuable opinion. But what would a less attractive person be doing in a beauty contest?
On April 19 at Planet Hollywood, Miss California, Carrie Prejean, became perhaps the most famous loser in the history of the Miss USA pageant. On Tuesday, describing how unfairly she had been treated by the Miss USA judges, Prejean reminded me why she lost the contest as she applied the 1st Amendment in a passionate yet inaccurate, graceless and inarticulate answer. This was much like her attempted answer to a question on gay marriage during the Donald Trump-owned pageant, Still, she was first runner-up in the contest, and that should give you some idea how heavily Miss USA values coherent thought in beauty queens.
Meanwhile, the tabloid media seem to have access to all sorts of partially clothed photos of Prejean and plenty to say regarding her and cosmetic surgery. But who really cares about Prejean? I think the point I have been making is being lost in all of this foolishness of seeking hypocrisy in the life behind such a poorly stated and intellectually vacuous (not to mention vacillating) opinion. Here is my point: Is there any reason to still have contests like Miss USA? Our society is filled with women to admire, and there certainly is no shortage of images of women in bikinis, at least in Vegas. Why mix these things up? Plenty of women who look good in bikinis are accomplished people. Do we need a contest to make this point?
All these arguments about how Miss USA should address controversy and what sort of photos she should be allowed to pose for hides the fact that beauty pageants have totally run their course in our culture. They have been retired to Vegas until they expire, and they probably should have expired long ago. Sure, call them sexist. But sexist can be so much sexier. As for providing young ladies with role models: Seriously, look around — how many fields of endeavor don't offer an example of a woman to admire? President, sure. But do any young women watch Miss USA and think they can one day be president? I doubt it. In Vegas over at the Sun, a twentysomething woman, around the same time as Miss USA, won a Pulitizer for reporting on Strip construction deaths. Not that Alexandra Berzon got anything like the attention of Carrie Prejean. Conceptually, Miss USA is so musty that issues like marriage equality and topless photos can still rip it into dog-chase-tail controversy.
So, let me ask again: What is the point of Miss USA? This isn't an icon but the winner of a company contest owned by Donald Trump who on Tuesday made that point when he held forth as the arbiter of taste and morals.
