This Blogger’s Take on the Miss California Maneno

Posted by Greg Laden on April 21, 2009
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I have been up and down like a roller coaster on this one.

Well, actually, I haven’t really thought about it at all, but if I did, there would be a roller coaster. Or at least a ferris wheel.

Of course, when I first heard the story that Miss California was anti-same sex marriage, I figured, “What a Bad Cookie this one is. Bummer.” But then I learned more and realized that the situation is more complex than this.

Let’s look at data. Here is the question and answer that everyone is talking about. Listen to her answer:

Let us analyze. Word for word, more or less:

“… I think it’s great that Americans are able to choose one or the other…”

Ah. This is a phrase that is almost always left off the sound bite. Miss California has explicitly stated that she is in support of a society in which people can choose to be in either a same sex marriage or, as she puts it, an “opposite marriage.” Good for her. There is no ambiguity that she says this. She says it twice. She is very clear on this.

… then …

“… You know what? … In my country, and in my family….” Then she goes on to explain that marriage should be between a man and a woman.

So, at this point, I originally made the following interpretations:

1) She is all for diversity;

2) She is personally homophobic, which is not the worst thing in the world if you are not totally imposing your beliefs on everyone else (although it isn’t good);

3) She is a bit confused on reality, in that we are not actually a country in which we have the choice. Living in a cave, not too smart, disengaged with politics, whatever. But I’m sure her job requires a lot of focus (seriously) and I don’t expect everyone to be a civics expert.

Then, I thought the press was being a bit unfair because they were characterizing her beliefs as anti-same sex marriage when they are actually more complex … in favor of legal same sex marriage but it is just not for her and she basically does not like the idea, but is willing to live and let live.

Later, I found out that the guy asking the question was a: Perez Hilton … and thought “WTF? … Isn’t there a ‘Paris Hilton’ and is Perez her brother or something?”

Then I found out that the guy asking the question was a blogger. I thought that was cool.

Then I found out that this bloger called her the “B-word” and the “C-word.” I’m sorry, but I feel that even if you don’t like someone you should not be using those awful words. And besides, nobody wants to be called a Booboo-Face or a Creton. Am I right or am I right?????

Then, I saw Miss California on MSNBC where she gave an interview in which she made it totally clear that she is totally against same sex marriage. So this bit where she is saying she’s glad we live in a country where same sex marriage is OK (sic) was … what exactly?

So now, this brings us back to the video above. Have another look.

Start the tape at 29 seconds.

Listen to the tone of voice, watch her eyes, watch her eyebrows, her cheeks, her coloration, and watch the angle at which she holds her head. You will need to watch the tape three or four times. You are looking for a change at 39 seconds.

Stop the tape at 40 seconds and look at the expression on her face.

Now rewind it one more time and at 39.75 seconds you’ll hear it …

“click”

Ever so quietly. That is the sound of this beeach’s homophobia mechanism kicking in. Fascinating. What a cuckoo face.

__________________________________

(Maneno = big problem)

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Comments

  1. #1 jake
    April 21, 2009

    So, I’m listening to music, and I play the clip, with the clip itself muted so I can just watch and hear the music. Manually moving the slider around I realized that I could easily move between a frame where her mouth is open and one where it is closed. Then I realized I could move the slider back and forth in tune with the music so that it looks like she is singing to my rather odd choice in music.

    And that’s how I spent the last five minutes.

  2. #2 DNLee
    April 21, 2009

    It’s a loaded issue. it’s a judgment question. I bet some fundy-groups are going to applaud her. For an opinion question like that there is no answer to make everyone happy or is it?

    I would have focused on the state’s right part of the question saying if it’s something that citizens of each state want to consider -then by all means they should address. no harm no fuss, no judgment

    I haven’t watched a pageant in a long time. I think a question like that – a political question with strong moral/judgment overtones – isn’t fair.

  3. #3 Phillip IV
    April 21, 2009

    So this bit where she is saying she’s glad we live in a country where same sex marriage is OK (sic) was … what exactly?

    Poorly formulated, obviously. What she meant when she said “… I think it’s great that Americans are able to choose one or the other…” was “It’s great that in this country, we can have a plebiscite on whether minorities should be granted full equal rights”. Her reference was likely not to individual choice, but to Proposition 8 and other anti-gay marriage amendments.

  4. #4 TomL
    April 21, 2009

    “…you know what? In MY country…”

    Who does she think she is, another Sarah Palin? Do they teach demagoguery in Pageant School?

    “No offense to anybody out there…”

    Yeah, no offense. I just think it’s fine that you shouldn’t be able to get married in most states, and immoral in the ones that do allow it. That’s not offensive to anybody, is it?

    To paraphrase Hermione Grainger, “What…an…idiot.”

  5. #5 BAllanJ
    April 21, 2009

    I still don’t know what the fundie objection is to same sex marriage. I thought the part they would be against would be same-sex sex. Whether or not 2 gay men can get married doesn’t affect how much gay sex there is (well, not in a positive sense anyway). Do the fundies really think that a gay male is sitting there thinking… “Hmm, well if I can’t put in a joint tax return with my true love here, I’m just going to dump him and marry that fundie’s sister”? This isn’t about gay marriage, it’s about the government registering said marriages.

  6. #6 Stacy
    April 21, 2009

    @jake – Wow! Lmao! :-)

    “Then I realized I could move the slider back and forth in tune with the music so that it looks like she is singing to my rather odd choice in music.
    And that’s how I spent the last five minutes.”

  7. #7 humorix
    April 21, 2009

    All my congratulations to Carrie, who joins the ideas of Maggie Gallagher on marriage between a woman and a man. The True Americans do not make sodomiser.

    Thank you Miss California!

  8. #8 Kevin
    April 21, 2009

    I am not sure how you combine christianity and swimsuit competitions but I gave trying to understand the rationalizations of xianity decades ago. That being said, perez hilton didn’t do his cause any good. He came across as much more hateful and judgmental that she did.

    (I base all of this on a brief news snippet that played in the background while I grabbed a bite of breakfast. I don’t care enough to watch the clip or google it for more info)

  9. #9 Newfie
    April 21, 2009

    umm… Stop caring or asking what beauty pageant contestants think… they don’t. We’ll all be better for it. Seriously, if you don’t ask these questions of an 8 year child, you don’t ask them of an 8 year old “Princess” mentality.

    Or, we could ask Stephen Hawking about fashion accessories.

  10. #10 Escuerd
    April 21, 2009

    I interpreted it the same way as Phillip IV. She’s glad that Americans can choose whether or not gays are allowed to get married (freedom!), not that gays can choose whether or not to get married (tyranny!).

    I imagine that she was trying to be deliberately ambiguous, though.

  11. #11 natural cynic
    April 21, 2009

    What would one expect with her educational pedigree:

    San Diego Christian College was founded in 1970 as Christian Heritage College by Drs. Tim LaHaye, Art Peters, and Henry Morris …

    confusion morphing into stupidity.

  12. #12 Theo Bromine
    April 21, 2009

    quoth BAllanJ:
    Do the fundies really think that a gay male is sitting there thinking… “Hmm, well if I can’t put in a joint tax return with my true love here, I’m just going to dump him and marry that fundie’s sister”?

    Actually, lots of fundies really do think that. Also, they think that if same sex marriage is legal, heterosexual men and women who are happily married will be *forced* to abandon their partners so they can have homosexual relationships instead. And, please, won’t someone think about the chiiiiiiiiiildren who, under a regime that legitimizes same sex marriage, will be ripe for recruitment by the gay hordes.

  13. #13 becca
    April 21, 2009

    That wasn’t (merely) the sound of her homophobia mechanism kicking in; that was the sound of the applause in the background kicking in. Now, you can argue about how much personal responsibility she has to pull her head out of her bum and get over her cultural conditioning, but you can’t be surprised someone who is in a large-scale personality contest looks uncomfortable until she says or does whatever is necessary to get that social approval.

  14. #14 John Swindle
    April 21, 2009

    Can anyone be surprised that vacuousness is part of the package? If those pageants were about intelligence, the contestants would look less like Barbi and more like real women. That they have all looked the same from the first pageant to this one, says plainly that it’s all about appearance. Silly to ask one of those poor things a question that requires thought.

    I don’t mean that smart women can’t be gorgeous, but if a brain is not required, what sort of person is persuaded to become a contestant in one of those meat shows?

  15. #15 Patrick
    April 21, 2009

    Bimbopinions are for entertainment value only. The only reason anybody cares what this young lady “thinks” is because she was on television.

  16. #16 Greg Laden
    April 21, 2009

    I don’t think I like Miss California much, and I’m not into beauty pageants at all. But, I just want to put it on record that two of the smartest people I know are women who are or were models and/or beauty pageant entrants (or whatever the term is).

  17. #17 Azkyroth
    April 22, 2009

    I don’t mean that smart women can’t be gorgeous, but if a brain is not required, what sort of person is persuaded to become a contestant in one of those meat shows?

    What could possibly be “gorgeous” about anyone whose frontal lobes are obviously sillicone?

  18. #18 Lynn
    April 22, 2009

    From one article: “By having to answer that question in front of a national audience, God was testing my character and faith. I’m glad I stayed true to myself,” she told Fox News today.

    So, I forget. Did Miss California demonstrate high Christian morals before, during or after she worked the stage in a string bikini and high heels? Maybe she skipped modesty class at Christian college.

  19. #19 John Swindle
    April 22, 2009

    to Greg Laden:
    My apologies to you and your two friends. If I’d thought before hitting ‘Post’, I might not have painted with such a broad brush.

    The general perception of beauty contestants as airheads can’t be entirely true… but those who have lately become the objects of news items seem – perhaps unfairly – dense.

  20. #20 Greg Laden
    April 22, 2009

    Swindle: No apologies necessary, I just wanted to add the complexity into the mix.

  21. #21 jay
    April 22, 2009

    If those pageants were about intelligence, the contestants would look less like Barbi and more like real women. That they have all looked the same from the first pageant to this one, says plainly that it’s all about appearance.

    ah the old zero sum dichtomy. A beautiful woman is obviously not smart, a smart woman is obviously not pretty. Sounds sexist to me.

    [there is a similar, equally false, presumption often applied to males, athletic=dumb.]

  22. #22 JimmyJ
    April 22, 2009

    derender: They always ask questions of political or soical relevance. And the left wing will stop shoving it’s ideology down your throat just after you stop gasping for air and finally succumb. Will that be a problem?

  23. #23 Stephanie Z
    April 22, 2009

    derender, before you go around giving legal advice, you might want to look up what constitutes discrimination. Hint, it’s not the same thing as discomfort.

  24. #24 Azkyroth
    April 23, 2009

    ah the old zero sum dichtomy. A beautiful woman is obviously not smart, a smart woman is obviously not pretty. Sounds sexist to me.

    [there is a similar, equally false, presumption often applied to males, athletic=dumb.]

    Both athletic prowess and conforming to fashion-model concepts of “beauty” require a substantial input of time, effort, and often money, which are then unavailable for cultivating intellectual curiosity, learning to handle subtlety, or even just absorbing facts. Couple this to the often explicitly anti-intellectual attitudes of many of the members and followers of the groups and the generalization is not, a priori, unreasonable.

  25. #25 Nomad
    April 24, 2009

    I don’t understand why Perez Hilton is taken so seriously — he’s a self-proclaimed media clown; he dances around in front of people hoping to get their attention

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