
September 7th / 9th, 2007
"Miss S.C.’s Stupidity Part of Larger Problem"
Recently Miss Teen South Carolina Lauren Caitlin Upton became the poster
girl for the dumbing down of America when she uttered an incoherent response to
a simple question. Asked why one fifth of Americans cannot identify the
United States on a world map, Upton replied,
“I personally believe that some, uh, U.S. Americans are unable to do because
some, uh, people in our nation don’t have maps, and I believe that our
education such as in South Africa and in the Iraq and everywhere such as, and I
believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the
U.S., should help South Africa, and should help Iraq and the Asian countries
so we will be able to build up our future for our children.”
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The Miss Teen USA pageant was broadcast nationally by NBC, but within hours
of Lauren’s idiotic remarks, another two million people visited the internet
to watch the gaffe over and over again. Comedic parodies also popped up on
the web, and Upton had become the butt of a huge joke. And so, NBC and the
pageant went into damage control mode. They arranged for Lauren to do a live
interview with Matt Lauer and Ann Curry. The two air-headed hosts fed Upton
some of her responses in an effort to explain away the young woman’s
stupidity.
Curry: Everything just came at you all at once.
Upton: Yes, everything just came at me all at once.
Lauer: Did you draw a blank?
Upton: Yes, I drew a blank.
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Upton went on to say that she was “in shock” when she heard the question
(come on, it was about geography, not pornography), then she contradicted
herself by saying that she never really heard the question. Which is it? If
Lauren isn’t lying, and really couldn’t hear the question, then she had a
remedy. Even a ten-year-old spelling bee contestant knows how to ask for a word
or phrase to be repeated.
Nevertheless, Curry, (herself an adult version of Upton only without the looks)
ended the segment by slapping high fives with her sister in stupidity, and
shouted, “Good girl, you!” Lauer (the male version of Miss S.C. who got his
big break in show biz by learning how to parrot whatever his producers told
him to say) assured Lauren, “Don’t let it get you down.” It was like watching
the bald leading the blonde.
OK, so NBC did its due diligence and tried to help the ditzy girl save face
by having two other ditzes lob softballs at her. But following the faux
interview, something even more bizarre occurred. Suddenly people started to
sympathize with Upton, and excuse her comments as a “human mistake”. Having
revealed that she hoped to attend Appalachian State University, Upton was even
defended by Neal Lineback, a professor emeritus of geography at ASU who said, “
I think she only heard a little of the question.” Come on, Professor. I
like to look at pretty girls as much as the next guy, but you shouldn’t let
your lust cloud your judgement.
Seriously, Ms. Upton is stunningly beautiful, but her lack of intelligence
is not at all cute, and is, in fact, indicative of a much larger problem in
our society.
These days, beauty (like athletic prowess) is exalted above intelligence and
rewarded disproportionately in that regard. Aspiring to become a
professional model, Upton will no doubt make more money in one year than Professor
Lineback has made in a lifetime.
And, it is no coincidence that on the same day that Lauren’s gaffe made
headlines, so did a report on how SAT scores have declined nationwide. Don’t
get me wrong. I’m not a big fan of SATs as an indicator of someone’s true
abilities or potential, but the report did remind me of just how much we as a
nation have lowered the bar of expectations for our young people. It is a
disturbing phenomena that has been growing for decades, and one that has
manifested itself in a myriad of arenas.
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