Miss California is a dumb bitch. Well, according to Perez Hilton at least. And probably most people who disagree with her answer.
At this year’s Miss USA pageant ‘- yes, this is extremely important in all of our lives ‘- Carrie Prejean, the representative from California, was asked, ‘Vermont recently legalized same-sex marriages, do you think other states should follow suit, why or why not?’
This was, of course, asked by none other than Perez Hilton. If you don’t know who he is, you must not be an 18-year-old girl.
Judging from the fact that she was called a dumb bitch by a gay man, you can tell what her answer was. She said that she believed marriage should be between a man and a woman.
To put her whole quote in perspective, Prejean said, ‘We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite. And you know what, I think in my country, in 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.’
Hilton, in a video blog he posted right after the ceremony, said that Prejean was a dumb bitch not because she disagrees with same-sex marriage, but because she didn’t give an in-depth analytical view about states’ rights and federal rights.
But then, to put the icing on the cake, he followed that up by saying, ‘she gave an awful, awful answer which alienated so many people. And Miss California, Miss USA doesn’t alienate, but she unites and inspires.’
The question wasn’t about whether she would give an answer which talked about the judicial processes that should be undergone in the process of legalizing same-sex marriage. The question was, considering it was from a very popular gay blogger on celebrities, about whether she thought other states should be enlightened and legalize gay marriage. She then said, politely, after saying that there was a choice in our country (to perhaps even signify that states had the right to choose), no.
Whoop-de-doo. She said no, like over half the country would.
If she had said yes, saying absolutely nothing about states’ rights, do you think Hilton would have called her a dumb bitch? No, obviously not. The nutjob fundamentalists probably would have been mad, since she most likely would have won if she hadn’t said no. But that just proves the point.
There is a major problem in our country: everyone everywhere thinks they are so damn smarter than everyone else. If you don’t agree with gay marriage, you are a hateful, ignorant bigot. If you disagree with abortion, you are an ignorant misogynist. If you disagree with taxing the wealthy, you are an ignorant bleeding heart liberal or a communist. If you are for the war, or support the troops, you are a murderer enabler.
We even see it on our own campus. Prime example ‘- nevermind ‘- examples: anything to do with the UMass Republican Club.
They may be trolls, bringing people in to talk about controversial things like how hate crimes aren’t really hate crimes, holding anti-rallies about nothing and complaining about sexual pictures in the Student Union. But all that happens is the (useless) Radical Student Union sometimes works up enough organization to sometimes complain or rally against them and people around campus just say how dumb they are.
Quite possibly, that could be very well true. But it shows how such polarizing stances do nothing to further any progress. If both sides believe there is an absolute truth, but don’t agree on it and don’t try to test their beliefs, it just shows they really don’t care all that much.
Calling someone an ignorant moron isn’t going to get them to agree with you. Thinking you know everything and that someone who disagrees with you is just a dumb bitch is self-embarrassment.
As Derek Khanna, the newly elected president of the Republican Club, said in an e-mail I received, and I imagine you received as well since I don’t know how he got my e-mail address, ‘It takes an intelligent person to know both sides of the story whether you agree with it or not. I think it’s an important aspect for students to be able to have a wide-range of diverse opinions which will enable them to come to conclusions on their own with all the opinions.’
Sometimes, it’s more than whether you think someone is dumb or not because you have strong feelings on an issue. Proper dialogue is necessary; and getting to the point where you are willing to call someone a dumb bitch or an ignorant twit shows you are past the point of reasonable dialogue. If this is the case, you are most likely past the point of reason and are going to end up old and snickering to yourself when you make online comments towards kids 40 years your junior.
And sometimes, it’s just fun to make fun of both sides of the spectrum, even though you commit your worldview and beliefs to a pseudo-liberation theology.’
Ben Moriarty is a Collegian columnist. He can be reached at bmoriart@student.umass.edu.
