My take on Miss South Carolina Teen

Has every one heard about Lauren Caitlin Upton? She is Miss South Carolina Teen who was asked by Mario Lopez during the Miss Teen USA contest, ""One fifth of Americans can't locate the United States on a world map; why do you think that is?" Let's see if we can go to the tape:

 Hopefully, that worked. Regardless, she funked up her response.

I have an opinion on the whole thing. Hopefully, I'll be gentler.

1. First off, I agree pretty much with everything Peter David says, and I will probably parrot him several times in this blog post.
2. I am not a big supporter of beauty pageants, especially when it comes to young girls. I believe that when a woman could be anything she wants, from the president to a stripper. If an adult woman wants to be in a beauty contest, more power to her. But when you are 18 and under, in my opinion, most times it becomes less about what you want and more about what someone else wants.
3. That was a pretty stupid question to ask a beauty pageant contestant. The answer is simple: because enough emphasis is not placed in geography in our schools. And the fact that people are stupid, but we won't go into that. Neither answer is fit for a beauty contest answer. The judges want positive and peppy.
4. I consider myself a Supergenius but I don't know much about geography. I CAN find the US on the map though. Canada and Mexico too. And England. And France. Spain, Germany too. Russia and China as well. After that, it's a crap shoot. Seriously. I'd wager a bet that most people have a hard time find stuff on maps. If anybody can place every country on the map, they are too scary to be associated with.
5. I bet Dubya would stumble just as bad if he had to answer that question on the spot. Heck, he'd probably screw up a prepared statement about it.
6. Public speaking is nerve wracking, whether it's a board meeting of 12 people of an audience of 150 people, like the Miss Teen USA pageant gets.  
7. Is there anything that Mario Lopez won't do?