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Miss South Carolina talks backRemember the painful — or wildly hilarious, depending on your tastes in comedy — clip of Miss South Carolina mangling her response to a question on geography? Yesterday on the Today Show, Matt Lauer and Ann Curry gave Miss South Carolina (Lauren Caitlin Upton) a chance to respond. (AfterEllen.com user evolve also points this out in the original blog.)
But first, Lauer and Curry made Upton watch the clip of herself. I always suspected Lauer of having a sadistic streak, but this was almost as uncomfortable to watch as the original answer. Lauer asks, "At what point, Caitlin, during the answer did you start to think to yourself, is this making any sense?" She responds, "I am laughing at myself, because I feel like, is that really me answering that question?" To be fair, Upton does manage to complete some of her own sentences this time around. Her excuse for what happened: Being on national TV put her in shock. "I was overwhelmed and I made a mistake. Everybody makes mistakes. I'm human." Also, "I seriously think I only heard about one or two words of the actual question itself, and I misunderstood." (You would think that, of all the times to be paying attention ... Oh, never mind.) (Video is after the jump.)
I also like Upton's question-and-answer strategies. This just has to be something that they teach pageant queen wannabes right between the seminars on "Swimsuit Strutting" and "How to Wipe All Human Emotion from Your Facial Expressions":
And Upton's revised answer to the question about why one-fifth of Americans can't find the U.S. on a world map? Here's the transcript:
It's coherent if inelegant, foregoing references to random geographical locations or grammatical train wrecks, although the gratuitous use of "else" technically contradicts her first sentence. Way to almost answer the question. I'll never get over being onstage for a school spelling bee and losing my head over "crayon" (C-R-Y-A-O-N), so I'm almost ready to chalk the incident up to stage fright. What say all of you? Submitted by on August 29, 2007 - 1:04pm. |
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stage fright?
well, if the humanitarian in me is allowed to speak, then okay, i'll give her the benefit of the doubt that she was just overwhelmed and nervous.
however, if i allow my other personality to speak, i'm going to chalk it up to our nation's fascination with beauty and body rather than nurturing one's ability to present themselves in an intellectual and professional manner with the ability to overcome self-doubt and low self-esteem when one's brain is spoken to rather than their looks.
Obviously us not knowing
Obviously us not knowing where America is is strategy, and she was trying not to give it away. If we can find America on a map, then so can the terrorists, and then they might follow us home. If we know where America is on a map, then the terrorists win. Burn your maps.
AHAHAHAHAHHAHA. That was
AHAHAHAHAHHAHA.
That was freakin' hilarious.
Jijijijejejejojojo
I'm going to have to laugh in castilian, jejejejejejejejejejeje...
And that makes sense right? Obviously if less of us mexicans knew where the US was on a map, we would probably end up illegaly migrating to Guatamela or Belize...
BTW, if this wonderfully flawed human being has done anything right by the whole world irs the "US Americans" thing, could we stick to that? Could we engrave her words in stone, I don't know how Canadians feel about this, or in fact any of the other trillions(I suck at geography too) countries in the "Americas" but I'm American toooooo... I swear!*tackled by homeland security*
http://iwoulddosupermanifhewouldletme.blogspot.com project/art blog (english)
http://comadotcom.blogspot.com
Nobody's Perfect
Its so true, and she admitted that she is human being we all make mistakes and well she made one that made her look really dumb.
I personally feel for her, and congratulate her for going back on tv to explain herself for what she had said during the contest. That's gotta count for something.
"(You would think that, of all the times to be paying attention ... Oh, never mind.)" I love this part though of the Blog you wrote heh.
"I never knew a love
A love that could be sweeter
No matter what my mind says
Your music gives me fever"
-iio "Is It Love?"
Really?
As far as her answer goes.. um.. she had all that time to think about the question and she came back with that answer? Yes, it is better than her first attempt and I can understand the stage fright to a degree but really?
But ok.. nobody is perfect and I know I could not go up on stage and make any kind of sense. So I'll give her kudos for coming back and trying to put it all straight.
As far as her answer goes..
As far as her answer goes.. um.. she had all that time to think about the question and she came back with that answer?
Well, it's an exceedingly stupid (not to mention vague) question, what exactly was she supposed to do? I doubt she has any sort of unique insight into pedagogy (and neither do any of us, for that matter), and simply pointing out that the American educational system is a sick joke (government-run daycare for infantilized adolescents where any attempt to actually learn, or teach, is held in the utmost contempt) doesn't really help project that insipid exuberance these contestants seem to thrive on.
So yeah, if the question is "Why can't some Americans find their country on a map?", the answer is "Because they learned abysmally little about world geography in school."
Actually, I just noticed that her suggestion is to emphasize learning to read maps - I guess actually knowing what some of the largest countries in the world look like is a feat beyond imagination.
The saddest part is that I can almost believe that made-up statistic (they said nothing about demographics, that gives it a lot of wiggle room).
Word
I said this in the first blog too, the question itself was designed for a critique. When I read the question, I was like "WTF?" In that situation, I wouldn't know how to spin an answer to that to make it positive. I guess it's good that she can laugh at herself. On a shallow note, she sure is cute. ;)
Whoa there...
Watch it with the bashing, qlwtta.
As for your comment about NONE of us having "unique insight into pedagogy," I'm going to have to contradict you here and remind you that many of us do...we're commonly referred to as "teachers."
How dare you make statements like, "the American educational system is a sick joke (government-run daycare for infantilized adolescents where any attempt to actually learn, or teach, is held in the utmost contempt)?"
I hope that you MEANT to trash-talk the politicians and bureaucrats and not to undermine the hard work we as American public school teachers do everyday. I do not consider my career, my passion, to be a sick joke. Nor do I consider my (high school) students to be infantilized. I also not only attempt to teach, but I actually DO teach, and believe it or not, my students learn. Before you even ask, let me inform you that I work in a Title I school (that means 100% of our students are on free meal programs for living in low income households) in Los Angeles, in a PUBLIC school made up of mostly minority students, and I don't teach ANY honors or AP classes -- all of the students are "regular" level. Despite what some may view as "setbacks," we are a high performing school that is a recipient of the "California Distinguished" title and we were featured nationally for our innovative programs and high test scores. All this, and most of my students working everyday and many of them caring for siblings or their own children. I also spent all day today working with my peers to continue our school's improvement. So, before you start insulting my students, my fellow teachers, or me, please take a moment to remember that no other jobs would be possible without teachers and that we were all students at one time or another.
I'd appreciate either an explanation or an apology.
Watch it with the bashing,
Watch it with the bashing, qlwtta.
Bashing seemed to be the general theme in these threads, I merely nominated a new target.
As for your comment about NONE of us having "unique insight into pedagogy," I'm going to have to contradict you here and remind you that many of us do...we're commonly referred to as "teachers."
Fair enough, I should have said "most of us" - maybe there are some who really would have something constructive and novel to offer in response to that question (I am certainly not one of them, though).
How dare you make statements like, "the American educational system is a sick joke (government-run daycare for infantilized adolescents where any attempt to actually learn, or teach, is held in the utmost contempt)?"
Well, I've gone through it (at least the second half), and I see the results all around me, so that's the impression I have. A bit of a hyperbole you say? Yeah, probably...
I hope that you MEANT to trash-talk the politicians and bureaucrats and not to undermine the hard work we as American public school teachers do everyday.
Seems like I did. This sounds like that old "War X is morally wrong." - "How dare you not support our troops!" straw man. I said nothing about teachers except that the current system doesn't seem to offer them much support in their efforts.
[snip] So, before you start insulting my students, my fellow teachers, or me, please take a moment to remember that no other jobs would be possible without teachers and that we were all students at one time or another.
I'm re-reading my comment, and I can't really see where I insult either teachers or students. I am glad that you are a good teacher, and I have nothing but the highest regard for the profession (and am, in fact, still a student myself, seven years out of highschool); which is pretty much the reason why the currently depressing state of affairs drives me to grandiloquent internet flames.
It's great that your students are doing well under difficult circumstances. I was mostly referring to suburban middle class schools where we do so much less with so much more (and in which context you would understand my "infantilized" comment - there's no other word for it).
Having said all that, the fact remains that the output of the US secondary school system is... let's say "lacking". The teachers "in the trenches" are the last people I would blame for this.
I'd appreciate either an explanation or an apology.
Did that work as one or the other? I'm not really sure...
Got it..
Ok point taken and understood. Perhaps I was expecting too much out of her, and in the end have given her kudos for coming back and being able to laugh at herself.
The question is vague, and as previously stated by others, I do not believe there are too many ways to answer it. So! Thanks for the view.
Oh dear...
This does beg one important question.... Whence cometh the 1/5th? From which demographic? And incidentally, was she using a map of the USA or NA when searching for the ever-elusive country? I totally feel for her though. I've had some serious cases of foot in mouth disease, let me tell you!
Ditto
Out of body experience
ohhh...okay...so she has attention deficit disorder....
i'm really digging deep within to give her the benefit of the doubt but it seems pretty reasonable that she has an attention deficit disorder and a hearing deficiency that led to a brief brain malfunction.
what's the scientific term for this? oh yeah i know .... STUPID!
ok...that was mean.... :( she is a good sport...
Eh, I've bit it on stage.
The first time for me was a spelling bee. I had won other spelling bees, but they were all small in comparison. Then suddenly I got to a level which had the whole stage and spotlight, and I totally freaked. I heard the word wrong 'cause, well I was freaked out being on stage.
The second time was in band, jazz band actually. I had a solo prepared, but I blanked. I recovered and just improvised. I couldn't tell you what I played though.
And I suppose having stage fright should keep me away from playing in front of people. I've bit it on stage many more times playing in bands. Maybe I should've left it to those who are more confident or somehow more deserving of being on stage.
Nah...
When it comes to public speaking, I also end up speaking backasswards. I empathize with the girl. Except I'm not a beauty queen, so I don't have to pay for how I look.
Watch it with the bashing...
OK Ladies
taking part in such a
I get that she was nervous but...
I can relate to the stage fright what am i saying thing.But are the statistics real??? because if that's true it's amazing...
I've never been in the american educational service but we did have a thing on television a couple of years back(yes it's famous) when a spanish reporter went out with a map (in the US) and asked people to point spain out and nearly nobody was able to place it correctly. Could this be true? (in spain it's common for left wing television's to portray americans as less inteligent than they actually are and I'm very angry at this, it's a frecuent object of discussion with my friends but then my family over there are real red necks so I can't really argue :S:S)
public speaking is deceptively tough