Miss Teen South Carolina on the US’s crippling shortage of maps
by Carmen Van Kerckhove
Slightly OT but I couldn’t resist sharing. 
Thanks Brian!
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That’s just sad. Apparently she reads the news, she just can’t comprehend it. Just plain embarrassing.
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wow.
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poor girl…my friend sent me this clip over the weekend and while it’s funny, it just shows the kind of damage that nerves can do. at least south africans and iraqis are on her mind though, right?
also, big ups to her for using the term u.s. americans (even though it may have been a mistake)… i hate that we don’t have an english word for US-ians considering that Americans should include south, central, and othe north american countries too…we use the term exclusively to refer to ourselves when that’s not accurate
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Her response is obviously appalling, but I am also irked by the fact that:
1. Beauty pageants exist.
2. The Miss TEEN USA pageant contestants look like strippers. -
WOW…
that was just 30 seconds of nothingness…
I was hoping they would ask her to locate the U.S. on a map…
That may have had the potential to be classic.
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You give her too much credit, Wendi. I doubt think she said “U.S. Americans” on purpose. I see your point, but I don’t think she could wrap her head around it. Maybe I’m being mean, but that young lady is dumb as toast. yes, toast
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she’s a teenager? why does she look like she’s in her late 20s?
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“Americans should include south, central, and othe north american countries too…we use the term exclusively to refer to ourselves when that’s not accurate”
I was just thinking that when I watched this.
Maybe SOME if it was nerves but I’m sure she’s that stupid all of the time.
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pray tell, WHICH Africans does she refer to exactly?
Egyptians?
I bet if she’d had a liiiiiiitle more time, she would have remembered the word “Darfur”.
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Part of me thinks she deserves the benefit of the doubt. Poor girl probably spent hours and hours going over possible questions that would involve starving Africans and whatnot and panicked when she was onstage.
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Poor girl. You know the Miss Teen USA and Miss America folks are steamed at her for justifying the image people have of beauty pageant contestants.
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Maybe she will knows what she’s trying to say, and her nerves made it come out subconsciously.
Maybe it’s an insight as to how she really thinks about certain people living in America.. meaning Africans, “Araqs” and Asians and “such as”. Meaning, these racial groups in America must make up the ignorant Americans the host was referring to. I guess that’s also why she didn’t feel the need to refer to the white Americans and white Euro Americans in her “uneducated” theory. oh well.
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I’m going to have to agree with the folks saying “she’s just stupid.” Nerves or not, something tells me if you had asked her a question about her favorite makeup she’s have come off as downright knowledgeable. She should have won, though, as she seems to be the poster child for the USAmerican educational system.
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And like, omigod, maps are so yesterday because, like, my cell has awesome gps, and like, if I need to know where Africa is, I can call my U.S. American boyfriend Chad to, like, drive me there in his totally rad convertible.
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LoL, she just put back blondes like twenty years. : D
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*sigh*
She just HAD to be from my home state SC, huh?
*hanging my head* -
Ow! That was worse than eating ice-cream too fast.
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Lots of people need help in The Iraq.
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WTF?? What does Iraq and South Africa have to do with the question???
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That video makes me want to jam a screwdriver in my ear to kill the part of my brain which holds the memory of ever watching that video.
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Hugh Hefner’s waiting till she’s not jailbait and I’m reallllly being nice here…….
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The best part about this clip, is that Mario Lopez is still the 2nd smartest person in that clip.
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She still got 3rd place!
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That’s it. I give up. Time to go buy some dark hair dye.
Wince-inducing beyond words.
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I just finished watching her appearance on “Today” this morning. While I found the softball questions and coddling by the always obnoxious, leering Matt and increasingly irrelevant Meredith distracting, this girl actually impressed me with her grit and sincerity.
She had a case of nerves, screwed up a question, moved on with the show to still place near the top of the pack. That’s what a pro does. How many others can laugh with, much less at, their own mistakes? Damned if recent memory can’t recall some persnickity, humorless, elusive public figures engaged in more public nonsense than this.
What I find funnier is the notion that prejudice dictates all an average person thinks they might know about an 18 year-old white southern blonde girl in a beauty pageant based upon a sterotype. Heaven forbid the sterotype beats the mistake. How on earth did Vanessa Williams beat hers?…
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Oh man that is awesome.
I’m totally with Wendi, the use of “US Americans” is very subversive against US-centric nationalist rhetoric.
Damn. I wonder if she knows she’s an internet sensation.
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What’s a Darfur? How do you darf? It’s not, like, really gross, is it?
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Am I the only one who isn’t sorry for her. You put yourself out in this kind of an atmosphere, and there is always the chance that you fuck up quite exraordinarily. It’s all part of the dog and pony show in beauty pageants, no?
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I’ve had several reactions:
At first I was appalled, and not at all sorry for her. Not being a fan of beauty pageants, I leaned toward Lloyd and Mimi’s reaction.
Then, after torturing myself by watching it again, I saw it as comical. I watched it several times and just cracked up. It was like a light went off: I know, they don’t have maps! That can be the only reason! Hilarious.
Now, after hearing about her follow up performance on the Today show, I agree with imdeep’s comment. Pick yourself up, try again, be a pro. Good for her. Our fearless leader GWB should be so humble.
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I’d bet my life you wouldn’t have put the video up if she weren’t white.
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I’m betting she takes over for Tony Snow
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I haven’t been able to watch this video in it’s entirety, because my hyper-empathy kicks in. Poor thing.
Whoo, whoo, whoo. -
I agree with Jason. This video would never have been posted on Racialicious if the girl was non-white. Do we all feel “safer” making fun of her because she’s white, and especially because she’s blonde?
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Jason and Maia,
Two words: chocolate rain.
Do a search for it on Racialicious.
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I’m new to this “U.S. Americans” term as being more appropriate.
I mean, I get what you are saying, I think: “Americans” is U.S.-centric because there is more America than the U.S.
True, of course.
But “America” is part of, and the real punchline to, the name of our country, whereas “South America” and “Central America” are a continent and a subcontinent.
So I’m not seeing that it is ‘necessarily’ U.S.-centric to use an abbreviated name of a country because it excludes members of continents that share the name.
I mean, maybe I’m off base here, but I see this hierarchical nature where a subordinate (USA) shares a name with the superordinate (continents). Using the specific name to refer to the subordinate is still correct… when you are referring to the subordinate.
It’s not like we’re calling only South Korean citizens Koreans, and excluding another member of the same level of the hierarchy.
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hey jeff,
it’s something that i was pretty ignorant of before i went to college and met people who were from south/central america, but also from north america (i grew up in memphis, tn, where the latino population is, while growing, still very small). when most people in the united states think of “america,” mexico doesn’t exactly come to mind. it’s more an issue of being respectful and inclusive. even in an international context, excluding the rest of north america as well as south america, “america” is meant to mean the US. in most cases, considering the criticism the US receives in the international community and the stereotypes that also accompany such criticism, i am sure a ton of people from south and central america who may want to fall under the title umbrella as “americans” would be happy to renounce it solely due to the negative association the word evokes…but as far as the americas as a whole are concerned, it’s still kind of up for debate as to what we should call ourselves. because “america” is in our name, i understand it’s an abbreviation, but as other languages have words to actually say “US-ians,” i think it’s worth our considering. . .
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of 
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