Headlights? Spotlights maybe?

Hey, give the chick a break!

It ain't the "Miss Mensa" pageant, after all . . . ever listened to the contestant answers to the "probing world affairs questions" in any of these beauty pageants? Miss Upton may have been less coherent than others in her answer, but that doesn't make the others' answers any less vacuous or PC.

I feel like I'm supposed to say something about South Africa now, but I can't remember what exactly . . .

"I want harsher sentenses for parole violators......." (cricket, cricket)

"...... and World Peace." (thunderous applause)

Think how many more people have seen her portfolio than before this happened.
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>With that her fifteen minutes are probably now up.

Good-bye Lauren, alas we hardly knew ye.

She'll probably end up an astute commentator on some news show. Look at the schtick she now owns.
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Do your homework. She is no dummy and carries a 3.5 grade point average. She just had an unfortunate "deer in the headlights" moment on national TV. Fortunately our moments are not that widely distributed.

That's one litle girl who should have been reading her books instead of primping herself in front of a mirror.

NCLB.......Taught to memorize but not taught to think.

Not to worry there is some rich Rpeublican "real man" who will hold her on his arm as a trophy for at least as long as those looks hold out.

How civil you are towards women, my good man.
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And speaking of not thinking? NCLB? How predictable your response. See, I predicted it yesterday. Go look.
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In fairness to the young lady, one might compare the coherence of her response with most of the comments posted here.

The respondents here have have the luxury to write, edit, rewrite, spell check, and anything else they care to do before they post. Yet most of what is offered here would not be acceptable in a high school freshman English class.

Obviously civil behavior didn't read the post right before his. Ignorance of the blog is no excuse.

A 3.5 GPA amy or may not be a big deal. With grade inflation in schools happening the way it does now, a GPA means very little. I saw a report about a major university who stopped considering class rank for admission. It seems that one school turned in 20 kids all listed as being number one in the class.

You're nuancing GPAs now? What does class rank have to do with GPA? It is what it is. Depending on what your meaning of "is" is.

Vagabond:

Do your homework. She is no dummy and carries a 3.5 grade point average.

...yet she can't answer an amazingly simple question. That's pretty depressing.

I hate to say it, but civil behavior is on to something. Anyone can memorize standardized answers to boring non-challenging questions, but can one think? The two are different.

Rance:

Yet most of what is offered here would not be acceptable in a high school freshman English class.

Well, I guess we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief being that this is neither a highschool English class or a pageant.

Heralder, so you're telling me that all you need is 20 seconds and you can readily attest to their intellect? You are either a mind reader or quick to judge.

Vagabond,

I'll go with quick to judge on that one.

For instance if I watch a guy limp past me on the street, I think he has something wrong with his leg.

If I see a beauty pageant contestant handed a simple question for which she cannot even form a single coherent sentence in response, I think she may not be that smart.

Obviously you didn't review any of her answers to questions in any other videos of the pagents she was in up to this one. Or her response to that youtube video. And, by the way, the guy with a limp? He removed a pebble from his shoe around the corner.

Entirely possible Vagabond, but the way of it is that we judge from what immediately appears to be the case. If I had any personal stake in this issue or was reporting for the media or even writing an editorial column, or if this issue actually had any real importance...I would be more inclined to spend the time and energy searching for evidence to back up or dispel my original and not outrageous claim.

The fact of it is, GPA means little to me as a measure of intelligence. I had a 3.8 GPA in school but it doesn't automatically make me smart, and it certainly didn't make the people with the same GPA who I personally knew weren't smart, smart. They memorized answers to the history test, but didn't learn or understand them. They were nice to the teachers and polite, but couldn't think critically.

What the hell is the point in asking a question to the contestant when you know she has a coached answer at the ready? Skip the middle man and ask the coach instead.
If intellect actually has anything to do with a beauty pageant, ask tough questions that they can't possibly be coached for and you'll have a truer test...as we witnessed.

but the way of it is that we judge from what immediately appears to be the case.

So this is the way we should respond as a society? I think people are relieved to jump on anyone on any circumstantial evidence. Mob mentality, Lord of the flies, call it what you want. I expected people in this blog to dig deeper and give thoughtful responses to life's condition. Guess I am wrong.

From her appearance on the Today show:

"I seriously think I only heard about one or two words of the actual question."

So this is the way we should respond as a society?

Did I SAY that? I know my post was long, but there was information in it that would have been useful to you when constructing your response.

(I tried your link but it requires registration) As for not hearing the question...well that makes her answer even less intelligent if that's possible. Who would make an attempt at answering a question they didn't even hear?

"Can you repeat the question please?" That phrase would have worked wonders for her. Hell, even if she heard the question, she could say that to give her 10 more seconds to consider (or remember) the answer.

...

Look, I know I'm being over-critical here. She's a beautiful young lady who has great composure (as seen during the answer stage) and seems to be a good sport about it. I'm sure she'll do well in life. My problems probably stem more from the public education system and the pageant process than with her personally.

Don't be so hard on CB, Kim.
He's just pissy that even blonde beauty queens like this young lady will have better job prospects than his BA in medieval literature has granted him.