Thursday, May 7, 2009
Miss California or Mr. President? Guess Who Is Held To a Higher Standard?
Society piece by
Aaron Goldstein
We all know the story by now.
During the Miss U.S.A. Pageant last month, Miss California Carrie Prejean became a household name when she said she believed marriage should be between a man and a woman.
To be precise, of all the questions that pageant judge and gossip columnist Perez Hilton could have asked he chose to ask Ms. Prejean about same sex marriage. Noting that it had just become legal in Vermont, Hilton asked her, “Do you think every state should follow suit? Why or why not?”
She replied that the United States was a place where one could choose such things. With regard to her own choice Ms. Prejean said, “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.”
We all know what hit the fan.
Since finishing first runner up in the Miss U.S.A. Pageant, Prejean has been deluged with diatribes beginning with Perez Hilton who said, “She lost it because of that question. She was definitely the front-runner before that.” Hilton went on to call Prejean “a dumb b*#ch.”
Yet all things considered, it might have been the kindest thing said about Carrie Prejean in the mainstream media over the past two weeks. The Miss California U.S.A. organization is doing everything in its power to rid itself of its meddlesome beauty queen and the mainstream media is only too glad to lend a hand.
MSNBC was shocked – shocked! – to learn that Prejean had breast implants.
( http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30495983/ ) How did it learn of such a cataclysmic development? Why the Miss California U.S.A. organization told them so.
When that didn’t work, the Miss California U.S.A. organization moved to strip Prejean of her crown because of topless photos that were taken four years ago. Not to be outdone by MSNBC, CNN has obligingly made us abreast of the details. ( http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/05/05/california.miss.california/ )
Let’s be clear. Breast enhancement and topless photos are de rigueur in Hollywood. If Prejean had told Perez Hilton she supported same sex marriage would any of this have come out? Would there be anything to get off their chests?
It should be noted that I support the right of same sex couples to marry. So I personally disagree with Ms. Prejean’s point of view. However, the treatment that has been meted out to her has been atrocious and unwarranted. She said absolutely nothing demeaning towards gays and lesbians. Prejean was asked her opinion of gay marriage and responded in such a way that happens to represent the point of view of a majority of Americans including President Obama.
You might remember that when Obama was running for President he too was asked about marriage. During the Saddleback Forum in August 2008, Pastor Rick Warren asked Obama to “define marriage.” Obama replied, “I believe that marriage is the union between a man and a woman.”
Miss California believes that marriage is between a man and a woman.
The President of the United States believes that marriage is between a man and a woman.
Did Perez Hilton use an epithet against Barack Obama?
Did MSNBC and CNN report whether Barack Obama uses Viagra?
Did the Democratic Party made any effort to distance itself from Barack Obama?
So how did Carrie Prejean’s views on marriage cost her the Miss U.S.A. Pageant (and quite possibly her current title) but didn’t cost Barack Obama the Oval Office?
What does it say about our country when Miss California is held to a higher standard than Mr. President?
Could this have to do with race? Do white liberals have higher expectations of other Caucasians? Or is it simply a matter of white liberals being unable to bring themselves to criticize an African-American even if that person held views they would find abhorrent in other whites?
Let us remember that nearly 60% of African-Americans voted in favor of California’s Proposition 8 banning same sex marriage while at the same time voting for President Obama. Yet instead of congregating outside black churches in Compton white liberals are more comfortable casting blame with the Mormons, as evidenced by the complaint filed against the Church of Latter Day Saints with the California Fair Political Practices Commission.
Of course, one could also argue that it has little to do with race at all. White liberals certainly have no trouble casting aspersions against African Americans if they possess a conservative, libertarian or center-right point of view. Just ask Clarence Thomas, Condi Rice or Ward Connerly. Interestingly, Connerly actually supports same sex marriage and opposed Proposition 8. But when white liberals think of Connerly they think of his opposition to affirmative action. So Connerly gets no more love from white liberals for supporting gay marriage than Prejean does for opposing it.
This isn’t to say Prejean is above criticism. She is entitled to her opinion and I am entitled to disagree with it. Prejean ought not to lose her Miss California title over an honestly given opinion but she probably will. The Miss California organization and the mainstream media will insist she was disqualified on other grounds. That being the case it would go to show how American liberalism and its institutions can rationalize but cannot reason.
Aaron Goldstein
HowardWasRight 
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