Everywhere like such as

[jere7my]

I feel a little bad drawing everyone's attention to this, since she's just a wee teenager. A little bad. Pageant question and answer from Miss Teen South Carolina:

"Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can't locate the US on a world map. Why do you think this is?"

"I personally believe that US Americans are unable to do so because, uh...some people out there in our nation don't have maps, and I believe that our ad...education, like such as in South Africa, and, uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and...I believe that they should, uh, our education over here in the US should help the US, or should help South Africa, and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future. Or..."

"Thank you very much, South Carolina."

Video link.

I knew Miss Michigan a few years ago (her sister was my boss at the time), and she was smart and well-spoken and kind and generally as lovely a person as you could hope to meet. So I'm not anti-pageant competitors. And anyone can fumble a public speech, so some slack should be cut for Miss Teen South Carolina.

But damn.

Comments

[glynhogen.livejournal.com]

Ouch.

I can't actually bring myself to watch the video. Having stuck my foot in my mouth on many occasions, I do try to cut people some slack. Especially when they're young, inexperienced, and fragile. But really...if you're competing in a pageant, that's pretty much the job description, isn't it? Aside from "look pretty." It's not just a matter of flubbing socially, it's failing to meet a basic objective. (Part of the reason I'm disinclined to cut politicians a lot of slack when they, say, mispronounce words or pepper their speech with incendiary historical references. Speechifying is what they do.)

[adfamiliares.livejournal.com]

But she mentioned education! And South Africa and the Iraq! And helping and the future! What more do you people want from her?

[ailiathena.livejournal.com]

I wish they had just pulled out a world map and asked HER to locate the U.S.

[gerbilicious85.livejournal.com]

I believe what she means to say is that many classrooms in the United States lack the basic tools necessary for providing the quality of education American schoolchildren need to become global citizens capable of helping nations with even more critical educational crises, such as South Africa, Iraq, and a number of Asian countries so that we might together build up our communal future.

Also, hegemony.