CharlesPaolino's Blog

   

CARRIE PREJEAN

The blather that is issuing from the controversy over Carrie Prejean and her view of same-sex marriage might set a record even in this blather-soaked age. I have paid only passing attention to this story until today – most of my attention has taken the form of amusement over the talking heads discussing it with straight faces as though it were really important – but today I came across the report in the San Diego News that photos of Prejean modelling in a state of near nakedness have started showing up on the Internet, and that some of her critics are saying those photos cast doubt on her claim to be a Christian. Given the wide application and interpretation of the word “Christian,” that in itself is a example of the silliness that has infected this incident. 

This is a bit of what the San Diego paper reported:

Alicia Jacobs, a judge at the April 19 Miss USA pageant during which Prejean made her highly publicized statement opposing same-sex marriage, said the pictures go beyond what the Miss California pageant says are appropriate.

“I can assure you they were quite inappropriate, and certainly not photos befitting a beauty queen,” Jacobs, a reporter for NBC’sLas Vegas affiliate, told NBC News.

Alicia is in a position to make such judgments about what is or is not appropriate, because she herself is a former “beauty queen” who has graduated to her present status as one of those jewels of 21st century journalism, an “entertainment reporter.” According to her home station, KVBC:

Alicia’s revealing one-on-one interviews with A-listers read more like comfortable chats between friends. Celebrities have come to trust her journalistic integrity, & viewers have come to expect Alicia’s easygoing way, to showcase the “real” side of their favorite celebrities.

That’s a reassuring thing in these troubled times when life can get so hard to understand.

Farrago of this kind is being circulated because of Prejean’s answer when she was asked her opinion of same-gender marriage, and her answer sounded like it could have come from the governor of Alaska:

“I think it’s great that Americans are able to choose one or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage,” Prejean said. “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.” 

Huh? What’d she say? She’s glad Americans have the choice, but she doesn’t want them to?

PEREZ HILTON

Perez Hilton – another wonder of celebrity journalism – asked the question of Prejean in the first place and then turned on her, complaining – according to the San Diego paper – that Miss USA is supposed to unite Americans, not divide them. What century does he live in? The very fact that an anachronistic beauty contest was the launching pad for a debate that trivializes a subject that deeply affects the personal lives of millions of men and women is in itself a sad commentary on the state of public discourse in this country. 

While you weren’t looking, Perez, Bert Parks died.