Miss South Carolina - Evil Genius?
People, education, Celebrity Inanities
By now, almost everybody has seen the video of Lauren Caitlin Upton, aka Miss “What was that question about maps?” South Carolina. I’ll embed it here for the few of you who haven’t (hat tip: Rey’s A Point).
It’s painful to watch, but necessary as evidence of our failing educational system. Either that, or the high choke factor under the brutal bright lights of a nationally televised beauty pageant.
Or is it?
Is Miss Upton’s incoherent babble the ultimate on-screen example of how throwing tax money at the corrupt leadership of America’s educators’ and administrators’ unions has bred an unbreakable incestuous relationship between poorly trained teachers and the parents who use the school system as daycare? Is Miss Upton just the result of a system that has gone sour?
Or, is Miss South Carolina actually a brilliant strategist who saw her opportunity for 15 minutes of fame and went for it with feigned ditzy gusto? Did she calculate the potential exposure she’d get by doing something embarrassing on camera in our You Tube-fevered world? It worked for the Star Wars Kid and many others. Did she say to herself “I cannot get famous on looks alone” and ferret out a surefire way to control the attention of internet users and the media? After all, it did get her on the Today Show.
Could it be, however, that Lauren Caitlin Upton - evil genius strategist that she may well be - miscalculated? Her third place finish certainly makes one think that she very well could have won the whole competition had she not scored a negative-one-billion on that question. She could right now be the queen!
Nah, she did the right thing by tanking the question. As every evil genius knows, in today’s “show me the car crash” media world it’s better to fail spectacularly than to win humbly. After all, can you tell me the name, or even the state, of the winner without looking it up?
Didn’t think so.
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TheWriteJerry @ August 28, 2007
I think these days when you have a president that pretends he can’t say nuclear (oh god oh god please tell me hes pretending pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease) and given the general dummification of America (what? it’s a word. look it up.) I’d go for the idea that it’s a strategery that mis-fahred.
It is an unintended genius — at this very moment she is the most well-known MISS in the whole pageant. I mean do you know who actually WON this competition? No, but we DO know Miss South Carolina. Dare I say that she IS Miss America? Just from the publicity she’s gotten, we would recognize her faster than the actually crowned girl.
And also, what do you expect for a 17 or 18 year old girl? If she told the truth . . . “1 out of 5 American’s can’t recognize the U.S. on a map because (1) they don’t pay attention in class and why should they when silly people like Paris Hilton run Hollywood (not literally so please don’t make stupid comments about this) and we all know she barely made it out of High School. (2) The educational system in this country is shot to hell and frankly 1 out of 5 kids probably didn’t get a geography lesson (never less a geography class) in all the 13 years of schooling the US provided. (3) 25% of Americans don’t care, ’cause they aren’t traveling out of the US anyway — have you seen the statistics for how many US citizens have passports?
Now, if she had said all that (which is the TRUTH) do you think she would have had a chance of winning? They would have been totally upset if she sprouted the truth.
And then, you have to think how ironic, they probably asked the 1 out of 5 that can’t find the US on the map. And she can’t find it all because of the reasons stated above.
Actually, Telemill, if she had given your answer, I would have given her a standing ovation. Of course, I never would have heard her give that answer even if she did, because I didn’t watch the pageant and a truthful and forthright answer like yours would never have become viral on the Internet.
Oh, and yesterday, People.com launched a “Geography Quiz” with Miss Upton… and none of us can still remember who actually won the pageant!
She went on NBC, I believe, to talk about her answer. On one hand, I give the girl a lot of credit for sucking it up and going on TV to say that she really messed it up. (the video for that can be found here- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR8F0hkqokg) She claimed that she couldn’t really hear the question, and that she just blanked out. I admire her for not just hiding in shame.
On the other hand, maybe I am just being too picky, but she was given the chance to do her answer all over. She said that she knows where the US is located on the map, and her friends do as well. She doesn’t know who the people are that don’t know that. But, if it is true, then the US needs to educate students on map reading skills.
I never thought that basic geography had anything to do with map reading skills. I think it is a little sad that she had all that time to think about how she would have done it over, and that is the best she could do.
It is sad that this young woman is so lacking in intellect, but I am sure that she can give you a great deal of information if you were looking for celebrity gossip. I guess it is all about priorities.
“but I am sure that she can give you a great deal of information if you were looking for celebrity gossip. I guess it is all about priorities.”
Priceless, Melissa! So absolutely right on the mark!!!