Re: What's On Your Mind


Okay, Syls. Cuz it's yer birthday and all, I'll indulge you.


In article
<sylvia-D3735C.23503422042009@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Sylvia <sylvia@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In article <gekko-D9A4A2.14022622042009@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
gekko <gekko@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In article <gsnl83$6s8$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Towse <self@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

gekko wrote:

Meanwhile, how 'bout that Miss California, eh? Answering truthfully
and
being dunned by those tolerant liberals. What's the lesson, there? Lie
or be damned? At least we're no longer obsessing over the Obama dog.

Dunned for her views or marked down because she's majorly inarticulate?

Majorly inarticulate, incredibly uninformed, has no tact, and didn't ATFQ.

Accounts -- the buzz -- I have read have been dunning her for the views,
not her lack of eloquence.

<blink!>

<google! google! google!>

"Results 1 - 10 of about 403 for 'Carrie Prejean' inarticulate".

"Results 1 - 10 of about 3,520 for 'Carrie Prejean' stumbling."

"Results 1 - 10 of about 4,250 for 'Carrie Prejean' 'opposite marriage' wtf?"

Not sure what point yer makin' with yer googlin', but ...

"I have read"

Good reading habits are _good_ to have.



(I'm not talking about whether that
cookie-cutter fashion doll should've won the crown, btw.)

Take note. That needed saying since a few people seemed to think that,
even though I said nothing about it.

Good reading habits. Good to have.



I'm wondering how odd it is to make a big deal in the news about the
fact that a beauty queen can't express herself very well, though.

Yeah! If it made a difference,then the Miss America contest would include a
section where contestants would each be asked a question on a topic relevant
to America, and if a contestant was hopelessly inarticulate and/or didn't
even
ATFQ, she'd lose her shot at the crown... oh, wait... they do, she was, and
she did.

As I said, (GRHAGTH) I don't really give a *** why she lost her shot at
the crown, but, as I said, I don't think it's a big deal that someone
who makes a career out of physical appearance is inarticulate.



There are some who have been wonderful spokeswomen,

One would hope so as that's Miss America's job.

Partly. The main part of her job is to be able to read and then perform
credibly.

But that has _so_ little to do with what I was discussin'.



but I've rarely heard someone who is making a career out of her looks speak
extemporaneously and be articulate.

Misogynist, innit.

Really? You have an odd definition, then.



"The winner, Miss North Carolina Kristen Dalton, a 22-year-old
aspiring motivational speaker" [1]

So why is it big news that one of em is dumber than
my dogs' squeaky ball?

"Once chosen, Miss America and the state titleholders use their
stature to address community service organizations, business and
civic leaders, the media and others about their platform issues.
Since 1989, Miss America titleholders have appeared at thousands
of public speaking engagements and charitable events to generate
awareness for a variety of causes, [...]"

-- http://www.missamerica.org/competition-info/faq.aspx

Lessee... could it possibly be that the required "public speaking
engagements"
part of the job had something to do with the Miss America judges deciding to
crown Miz Aspiring Motivational Speaker instead of the inarticulate Dumber
Than A Squeaky Ball?

The careful and thoughtful reader will note that I have not limited this
portion of the discussion to the present Miss America contest, and that
I have previously stated that my opinion had naught to do with whether
Miz Whatsit from California should have won the crown. The dumb***
reader will continue to think that my original comment had ***-all to
do with her loss of the crown.

To repeat, then, with more clarity for the slow of brain: Broadly
speaking, I personally have rarely seen someone pursuing a career based
on his or her looks be especially articulate, and the fact that *this*
particular one is especially inarticulate should not be big news. In my
opinion.



Oh, nooooo! It must have been a sneaky Liberal plot.

Perez Hilton didn't make up the question. There were ten questions in
the "questions to be asked" bin. Out of those ten, five were drawn. PH
drew the question and is now getting all this grief because Miss
California is like way inarticulate.

Some of the big deal about Hilton is that he's openly gay, so
<snip!>

<UNSNIP!>
Some of the big deal about Hilton is that he is openly gay so that made
it seem like he was pushing an agenda
</UNSNIP!>

Conversational response to towse. She was responding to an argument that
did not exist in the thread, but exists in the blogosphere and in the
media. I was adding to the conversation. It's an interesting concept,
this "conversation" thing. Can be enjoyable.


"Perez Hilton didn't make up the question."

Do people really have to spell all this stuff out for you all the time,
Sylvia? Are you really that disconnected from people?



I have no issue with Hilton,

"Some of the big deal about Hilton is that he's openly gay,
so that made it seem like he was pushing an agenda"

I restored the quote and the context for you, you dishonest little
dickens, you.



and more of the punishment

"Punishment"?

I like the word for this purpose.


I've been reading hasn't been directed at Hilton,
rather at Whazzername. Like this one:

"She used a national platform to further her prejudiced, anachronistic,
small-minded beliefs."

Not to mention "un-American".

The writer I quoted did not use that term, but perhaps he thought it. Do
you think it? In what way is it un-American to hold the opinion that
marriage ought to be limited to only pairs composed of one man and one
woman?


Truth is she was asked a question,

"Vermont recently became the fourth state to legalize
same-sex marriage. Do you think every state should
follow suit? Why or why not?"

she answered it

Well, no, she did *not* answer the question.

Okay, she *responded* to it. <eye rolling thing>



She started out with a false
premise:

"I think that it is great that Americans are able to
choose one or the other. Um... we live in a land that you
can choose... same-sex marriage or opposite marriage.

And then added:

"And... you know what... In MY country... and... and.. and in mah-my
family I think that I believe that a marriage should be between
a man and a woman no offense to anybody out there, but that's
how I was raised and that's how I think it should be between a
man and a woman."

with her honest, if not very well stated opinion,

She contradicted herself.

I think we are in agreement that she should not be getting a degree in
rhetoric.



"I think that it is great that Americans are able to
choose [...] In MY country... [...] I think it should
be between a man and a woman."

and she was skewered for the opinion.

The question wasn't "What is your personal definition of marriage?", it was
about how states should handle legislation.

Irrespective of what the question was, or even whether she answered the
question asked as opposed to whatever she thought it was saying, she was
skewered for having the opinion that gay people should not marry.



One of the judges, a former Miss Nevada, wrote on a blog entry (which
she has now apparently pulled), the following:
"As she continued to speak, I saw the crown move further & further
away from her. When she finished, she looked strangely proud for a
moment. Personally, I was STUNNED on several levels. First, how
could this young woman NOT know her audience and judges? Let's not
forget that the person asking the question is an openly gay man, at
least 2 people on the judges panel are openly gay. Another judge
has a sister in a gay marriage. Her very own state pageant
director, KEITH LEWIS is an openly gay man who has been a very
generous benefactor of hers...in many ways. (2 ways in
particular....if you get my drift??) Did I mention I was STUNNED?"
<http://vegasblog.latimes.com/vegas/2009/04/another-miss-usa-judge-says-w
rong-answer.html>

Hello? It's a job interview and that was a behavioral question.


"Once chosen, Miss America and the state titleholders use their
stature to address community service organizations, business and
civic leaders, the media and others about their platform issues.
Since 1989, Miss America titleholders have appeared at thousands
of public speaking engagements and charitable events to generate
awareness for a variety of causes, [...]"

-- http://www.missamerica.org/competition-info/faq.aspx

or

<http://tinyurl.com/cxwymx>

Whazzername's answer was really stupid ... stated in a way that said she
can't think on her feet and was trying to soften the blow of her
opinion. She way failed.

"I think it's great that Americans are able to choose one
or the other. But in my country, and in my family, I think
that I believe that marriage should be between a man and
a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that's
how I was raised."

Actually, it was:

"I think that it is great that Americans are able to
choose one or the other. Um... we live in a land that you
can choose... same-sex marriage or opposite marriage.

"And... you know what... In MY country... and... and.. and in mah-my
family I think that I believe that a marriage should be between
a man and a woman no offense to anybody out there, but that's
how I was raised and that's how I think it should be between a
man and a woman."


How was she "trying to soften the blow of her opinion"?

Choose one or the other of what, I wonder?

<noting back-pedaling>

Tsk. You're doing a credible impersonation of Ray, here.

Original statement:
"Meanwhile, how 'bout that Miss California, eh? Answering truthfully and
being dunned by those tolerant liberals. What's the lesson there? Lie or
be damned?"




I presume she meant they could "choose" to be gay, a commonly held belief
rooted in ignorance. "In my country" ... Yeah, well, we'd like to change
that, ya dumb***.

"Meanwhile, how 'bout that Miss California, eh? Answering
truthfully and being dunned by those tolerant liberals. " -- gekko

So in your dictionary, tolerance means we have to pretend stupid people
are smart?



I'm not a Liberal, but I'm pleased that the anti-American

In what way is she anti-American?


"dumb***", Carrie
"In MY country [...] it should be" Prejean, didn't win the title of Miz
America. I can't believe they let her be runner up.

I am also not liberal, and I am neither pleased nor displeased that Miss
Whotsit from California didn't win. I also don't care about how she
placed. I despise beauty pageants. As someone who is not a Liberal, I
am amused, even at the same time that I am slightly annoyed, that the
Liberals were getting all het up over the content of her opinion. How
DARE someone have an unpopular viewpoint!



(And 'sides which her non-gay sister is a gay activist which proves that
Miss California is being picked on for her un-PC views. Sheesh.)

Spin, spin, spin.

People who get all outraged don't look at details like that. Fact is,
she _is_ being picked on in the media for her un-PC views.

For her ignorance, her incredible inability to express herself, for whining
to
the world that she "lost the crown" for her announcing her intolerance (as
opposed to her display of very un-American and un-Miss America behavior), and
for expressing her "in MY country... [...] it should be" view in a wildly
inappropriate venue.

Yep. And. The fact is, she _is_ being picked on in the media for her
un-PC views.

I commented on that aspect.





That's one of the problems I personally have with the leftyloons who preach
tolerance but fail to practice it,

<merry laughter!>

Kinda like peeps who preach gawd's love and yet rip apart other sects in
their
faith, huh? Oh, wait...

What on earth are you going on about now, Syls.


and with the right wingnuts who want
to shut down anyone with whom they disagree.

WTF? How is anyone shutting her down?

Item, the first: the right wingnuts are not, afaik, attempting to shut
down Miz Whotsit and no one said they were.

Item, the second: ...who WANT to shut down ...

HTH. Good reading habits are *good* to have.




She's milking it.

Prejean chose to use some of her few minutes on a live, widely broadcast TV
show to make a complete ass out of herself, and, after she lost the crown,
got
herself right back into the public eye in order to whine like a sore loser
and
cast blame. Of course peeps, all sorts of peeps, are gonna react,

ya think?



and, as
they
are not in *her* imaginary dictatorship of a country, they have a right to.

Isn't that nice?

Was it good for you? Hope so. Next time you scamper off into fantasy
land, I'll take a nap cuz you're getting boring with this same ol', same
ol' spin routine.

Happy Birthday. MHRotD. Etc.

Oh! BTW. MT-Newswatcher sucks. Unfortunately, it appears to be the
best that the Mac world has to offer. Do you know of one that is as
good as Xnews? I dislike having to run Parallels to do froups, but
maybe that's what I'll have to do. If only Luu had a Mac!

There are now three things that disappoint me about the Mac. A
gazillion and one things that disappoint me with WinDoze boxes, of
course. But if someone could code up a Mac version of Xnews, and if an
e-mail client as powerful as Ritlabs' The Bat! existed, and if I could
get iSync and the plug-in to actually work properly with my cell phone,
I'd attain Mac Nirvana.

--
gekko
"There are two major products to come out of Berkeley: LSD and UNIX.
We don't believe this to be a coincidence."
.