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I can't help being reminded of the derision heaped on Miss USA for the all-too-human sin of slipping and falling at the Miss Universe pageant in Mexico City in late May.
The Mainstream Media largely misreported that she was booed only after her fall, when in fact she had been harassed every time she showed her face in public for weeks prior to the finals, for no other reason than her national origin. At the finals, the organizers had to call in extra security for fear the hostile mob might storm the stage. It's hardly surprising that under all that stress a moment's loss of focus might lead to a slip and fall.
She was denounced then in hateful posts by bloggers such as Wonkette as "stupid", although as a young lady of color and a magna cum laude graduate of a highly regarded college she hardly fits the usual stereotype.
The video was shown an astonishing number of times on cable TV, leading to this outburst from Chris Matthews: "I think MSNBC ran this 4,000 times today. Let's not us do it again. Can we stop this joke? Let's stop now. Let's stop doing that picture. Somebody seems to get a kick out of that, somebody who doesn't like women or something." I think Matthews has spotted the elephant in the room that no one wants to mention.
Dozens of copies of her spill were posted on YouTube, receiving millions of hits. Some of the copies were re-mixes with derisive sound effects, showing the impact repeatedly to suggest sexual intercourse. Many of the comments were sexually suggestive. The fact of the matter is that the public humiliation of an attractive woman is a turn-on to many men, and the run-away popularity of this clip can only be explained in these terms.
Since May, Rachel Smith has been an exemplary Miss USA. Unlike her predecessor, she has not done drugs or been involved in public scandal. Perhaps she has been stupid, because she HAS been totally ignored by the media, while Tara Connor, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, and Miss Teen South Carolina have been made into celebrities by the media.
