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• Wednesday, August 29, 2007 02:10 PM

  *thunk..thunk...thunk*

  That's the sound of me banging my old, brunette, northern head against the wall.

  Pageants are freak shows.

  They're completely anachronistic and hypocritical, and they've outlived any usefulness they ever had.

  Some gals are gorgeous AND smart AND only enter for the prize money, but they're the biggest freaks there.

  Anyone who pays any attention for any amount of time to any pageant EVER will have more than enough to point & laugh at - or vomit in horror over, depending on taste.

  There's no longer any escape from the fact that we are long, long, long past the days when there was any facade of class or intelligence required of our national "ideal" young woman.

  Individually, we all may still wish to see it, but Britney Spears & Paris Hilton are "celebrities."

  That means that in some definition of the word, they are "celebrated."

  Hot young blondes can not know the difference between chicken and fish and be "celebrated" for it.

  We all know this, and we reap what we sow.

  So the idea that a pretty young blonde who is potentially dumb as a box of hammers could be named third in line to be crowned our "ideal" of womanhood cannot be shocking in the slightest to anyone who's ever seen a computer or a television.

  If a pageant is to reflect its culture, then ours can't reasonably claim to care a whit about self-confidence, poise, public speaking skills, knowledge of current events, or personality.

  Pageants reward what "we" want to see, and "we've" proven that we don't give a crap about whether or not our young ladies are well-rounded.

  So leave the poor girl alone.

  Being an idiot won't stop her from being famous, so let's stop shaming her for it.

  —-Emily Read -Emily's other letters
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