What I learned from Miss Teen USA

Have you ever tried to make a point, but because you started the answer before you really thought it out, you rambled on for awhile, loosely tethering your "thoughts" around some ill-conceived nebulous concept, only to discover that, when your time was up, you forgot where you started and ... wait ... what was I saying?

If you've been living under a rock for the past two days, you may not have heard Caitlin Upton's nigh-incomprehensible explanation about why one-fifth of Americans are unable to locate the United States on a world map.

Let's be honest. This was a test of the contestant's ability to BS. Asking for a real answer to this question in one minute without the benefit of preparation is like asking the contestant to solve the problem of hunger.

In our fervor to make fun of someone who choked under pressure, we've forgotten to express outrage that one in five Americans can't locate the U.S. on a world map. This, I'm convinced, says more about us than it does about Miss Upton.

Miss Upton's experience should also remind us that it's better to admit ignorance than fake expertise. Expertise can at least be learned. - Cam Beck

Comments

[Lewis Green]

Cam,

You are right: She is a symbol for something very wrong in our country. But I bet you or I would have come up with an answer. It may have not been a great answer but I suspect it might have been provocative and got at least a few viewers to consider the question.

[Cam Beck]

Lewis - That may be so for hundreds ... even thousands of people put in her exact situation.

But I also fully recognize that there are many questions that, if asked, the most intelligent thing I could say on the spot would be, "I don't know. I need more information."

At some point someone told this young lass that when the lights are on and the microphone is in front of her, such an answer would not befit someone "deserving" to win.

That's a shame, because the leaders of the world are all about providing answers, and most of the time it would be best to make sure they are addressing the right questions in the first place.

[Paul McEnany]

I love this so much. Maybe they should ask her how we should get out of Iraq...

[Cam Beck]

Paul - It's "the" Iraq. Or was it "the iRack?"

I would say it's not a matter of how, but when, but since we're still in Japan and Germany, that might be a long wait.

[David Reich]

I'm not sure if I, at age 18, could have come up with a cogent answer in front of TV cameras, a live audience and millions of viewers. Actually, I'm not sure I could do it now.

It did make for some humorous viewing on Letterman and Kimmel, though.