Miss South Carolina vs. Your Answer Here

It was all the rage not too long ago. A fetching young woman representing South Carolina in the MIss Teen USA pageant didn't say, "World Peace" and payed dearly for it. The video of her response has over 16,500,000 million viewings on YouTube alone. As though she were on auto-pilot for this portion of the competition, she rambled an amalgam of answers to other questions; questions she had obviously prepared for.

The comments that YouTube users are leaving are particularly harsh. And for what? The fact that a eighteen year old found herself at a loss for words in front of millions of people? I wonder how well so many of those typing horrible comments as they hide behind their monitors would have done in the same situation. Hell, some of the people we elect to lead the country have done worse in similar situations.

Of course, the laughter is already beginning to fade, and soon no one will really remember the bit. (Does anyone even know her name at this point?) But she's going to be stuck with it for a really long time. It might be something that she doesn't ever get past. And all because she was dancing around the truth of the question: Why can't a fifth of Americans locate the United States on a world map?

What did we expect her to say? "I blame the teachers." Or maybe, "The United States is once again moving toward becoming an isolationist society, as it did at the turn of the last century, partly in response to threats of terrorism, outsourcing, illegal immigration, and our dubious hold on the title of 'Superpower' in light of the tremendous economic expansion in Asia, specifically China. This isolationist tendency coupled with an overinflated concentration on teaching children only what they need to know to pass tests has left our schools and teachers powerless to shape the young minds that this nation will have to rely on to carry it into this new century to think globally." My honest response to the question probably would have been, "Holy crap! You've got to be sh**ing me! One fifth?!"

Anyway, I think we had better lay off this poor girl and maybe turn some of that energy that's been wasted taking pot shots to educating that fifth of us. What else don't they know?

Well, there's the lawsuit filed on behalf of the guy that claims he didn't know his aftershave would still be flammable (as long as it was wet) after he put it on. As reported by 620 WTMJ:

A man from Milwaukee who suffered extensive burns during a Wisconsin Dells camping trip after an accident with his aftershave is filing a lawsuit. Charles Lewitzke was cleaning himself up when he put on some aftershave made by Brut. When he went to start a fire at the campsite Charles, who's 81, struck a match and he started on fire. The fire resulted in second and third degree burns on 30% of his body. He's put a lawsuit into federal court, claiming negligence by the makers of Brut, along with Wal-Mart, the store he bought it from. Lewitzke's attorney says Brut has warning labels that say people shouldn't use it when they're smoking or near flames, but the attorney says he wasn't doing either when he went on fire.

Apparently Charles thought it was only flammable in the bottle. And I like the fact that Wal-Mart is, in Mr. Lewitzke's attorney's opinion, liable as well. But why stop there Charles? Surely the match manufacturer should have some kind of warning on the matches that they may cause fire.

Hey, speaking of camping and the great outdoors, our ignorance doesn't start or stop with Brut. As reported by the CDC, 177 people died in 2006 of West Nile Virus. Let's see...300,000,000 people in the United States...divided by 177 deaths...yep...equals EPIDEMIC!

West Nile Virus is not really quite an epidemic as the nightly news might lead us to believe. But one fifth of the country can't find the country?! That's an epidemic. Let's have that on the news every night. No instead, we get a general panic in the population with people dialing 911 because they "were bitten by a mosquito and have West Nile Virus." (If you ask them what their symptoms are they simply reply, "West Nile." They don't know what it is but they're sure they've got it.)

I'm rambling and it's late. Sorry. I guess what I'm trying to say is that if I had one wish for humanity it would be that everyone was genuinely concerned with how their actions affected everything else. Think about how the comments make Miss South Carolina feel. Think about the court's time that you are wasting, Mr. Lewitzke. Think about the fear you put in people by yelling "Epidemic!" Think about the ambulance and fire truck that aren't available for someone who really needs them because you were bitten by a mosquito.

Think about what you might do to change the world. You never know when you might get the chance.