Monday, September 16, 2013

Confronting Racism in the Miss America Pageant

So we have a new Miss America, and she is of Indian descent.  Disappointingly, the Twitterverse had a collective hissy fit, with racists scurrying around telling us what a travesty this all was.

The level of intelligence in racists is staggeringly low.  But beyond that is the pervasive understanding that Miss America is best being given to blonde haired, blue eyed knockouts.  I'm old enough to remember when Vanessa Williams won in the early 80's, and how people complained then, too.  So's we're clear: America doesn't love the blonde-haired, blue-eyed people better - that's Nazi Germany you're thinking of.

I posted this as a comment on the story at Buzzfeed.com, and I thought I'd share it with you.

Top Ten Reasons Why These People Are Idiots:

 10. America is a nation of folks whose ancestors (mostly) all came here from somewhere else. That includes yours. (Does anyone know the Cherokee word for "hypocrite"?)
 
9. Saudi Arabia is about 600 miles (at its closest) to India. Calling an Indian an Arab betrays a huge ignorance of geography. (Google will let you look at maps for free...)
8. India had nothing to do with 9/11. (Neither did Iraq, but hey, whatever.)

7. Any sentence that starts with "I swear I'm not racist, but..." needn't be finished. Yes, yes you are a racist.
 

6. India is in Asia, dingus. There is no "Indian or Asian". That's like saying "Canadian or North American".  If you're not sure, you're probably better off not saying anything.
 

5. Egypt? What has Egypt got to do with it? See #9, only add another 300 miles.
 

4. The 7-11 reference was about as stupid as you can possibly be and still have the motor skills needed to actually type.
 

3. If she was in al Qaeda, no way would they allow her to parade around in a bikini in public.
 

2. P.F. Chang's? Seriously? Are India, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and China all just one big country to you?

And the #1 Reason Why These People Are Idiots:

1. Because they give a shit about the Miss America Pageant in the first place.