A scandalous selfie

[classical_hero]

http://www.algemeiner.com/2015/01/18/miss-israel-responds-after-miss-lebanon-distances-herself-from-joint-photo-it-doesnt-surprise-me-but-it-still-makes-me-sad/
This the picture in question.

So Miss Lebanon got lots of flack for being in this picture. Oh boo hoo to those who don't like this. naturally to save face she tried to distance herself from the political fallout.

 

[bhsup]

Unfortunate, but I'm pretty darned hesitant to blame Miss Lebanon too much without knowing what kind of crap (death threats? beaten up?) she may have to deal with when she goes home.

 

[Wolfbeckett]

This just in: people are stupid. Full story coming up at 11, now on to the weather forecast.

Surprise on my end: 0.

 

[warpus]

"I didn't even know that was Miss Israel, I thought it was a tree stump. Next thing I know it's pulling out a camera and taking pictures of us. That's when I noticed the pointy ears and nose."

 

[Wolfbeckett]

"I didn't even know that was Miss Israel, I thought it was a tree stump. Next thing I know it's pulling out a camera and taking pictures of us. That's when I noticed the pointy ears and nose."

And it was about that time that I noticed that Miss Israel was about 500 feet tall and from the paleolithic era.

 

[Terxpahseyton]

Unfortunate, but I'm pretty darned hesitant to blame Miss Lebanon too much without knowing what kind of crap (death threats? beaten up?) she may have to deal with when she goes home.

Good point. But ultimately - those are beauty queens. They will do and say whatever is expected of them. So IMO the real news is that it is apparently expected to not get friendly with Israelis rather than that a beauty fulfills expectations.

 

[gay_Aleks]

That would be a problem only if Miss Lebanon carried a rocket launcher, or at least, a firearm. Since she doesn't, it's pretty safe we can call this yet another diversion created by the corrupt media or something.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I think you meant to say 'corrupt western media'.

 

[gay_Aleks]

It is entirely possible. One would think the Eastern media is either nonexistent, or plain out balls insane.

 

[Tigranes]

Why can't people open a thread about Miss Universe in general! 88 beauties all around the world right next my door .

 

[Terxpahseyton]

Is it just me or are beauty queens often not that beautiful? They are not ugly, of course, but usually I think a walk down the street will have me spot greater beauties.

 

[bhsup]

It's a talent competition, not a beauty competition.


Link to video.

 

[Terxpahseyton]

You leave me no choice


Link to video.

 

[warpus]

Is it just me or are beauty queens often not that beautiful? They are not ugly, of course, but usually I think a walk down the street will have me spot greater beauties.

I think they're very pretty, but they all look the same to me. By that I mean - they have the same body type, the same face type, the same standards etc. It's beautiful, but just feels so plastic and formulaic - there are so many more types of beauty out there. So why do we have to look at 1 woman in 40 forms as opposed to 40 different women?

 

[Gori the Grey]

Is it just me or are beauty queens often not that beautiful? They are not ugly, of course, but usually I think a walk down the street will have me spot greater beauties.

I think it's context. When one sees a woman in a beauty pageant, one assumes, "well, she must be among the most beautiful women in the world," and when one judges her against that standard, one is most struck by the ways in which she fails to embody ideal beauty, as even very beautiful people inevitably do. (Also, she's in the immediate context of a lot of other women who are very beautiful, some of whom are not deficient in that thing that makes her sub-ideal, so one is directly aware of her sub-ideal quality.) So one's dominant impression is of her lacking something. Walking down a street, one isn't necessarily expecting to spot a beauty, so that when one does, one says, "wow, she's a lot more beautiful than . . . the other people here on this street." In any case, the dominant impression is of the woman exceeding a standard, rather than of falling short of it.

 

[Terxpahseyton]

@warpus
I understand exactly what you mean. But, for some reason, I also don't think that such standard-beauty is actually that beautiful, for some reason. Usually when I find a woman really visually stunning it is because there is something special about here that really intrigues me. Not because she checks all the generic standard boxes of beauty.
@Gori
Hm... that is a good point. But I can't believe it is the whole truth.

 

[warpus]

I think it's context. When one sees women in a beauty pageant, one assumes, "well, they must be among the most beautiful women in the world," and when one judges them against that standard, one is most struck by the ways in which they fail to achieve that standard, as even very beautiful people inevitably do. So one's dominant impression is of them lacking. Walking down a street, one isn't necessarily expecting to spot a beauty, so that when one does, one says, "wow, she's a lot more beautiful than . . . the other people here on this street." In any case, the dominant impression is of the woman exceeding a standard.

I think it's more than that. In the end only some people go into beauty pageants - most people do not. So chances are that the world's most beautiful people are in the group of people who do not sell their good looks for money or enter it in contests. Models and beauty pageant winners are for the most part beautiful people, but each time you see them they are covered from head to toe in specially prepared makeup and in a lot of cases even layers of photoshoppery. Other people get paid to make sure they look good.

I think there's also an element of everything made to look "just right" during a pageant. So it feels very fake, plastic, and fantastic. Like I said in an earlier post - everyone looks the same. But when a real woman walks through the street after a long day's work, that just looks authentic. It's like comparing the original star wars trilogy to the prequels, you know? If you spend hours dressing it up in fancy CGI and makeup, then it will look too perfect. It doesn't look real. What's sexy is the real and gritty, not the fake and plastic.

 

[Terxpahseyton]

Also a good point. And yep of course there are many extremely beautiful women who live very ordinary lives.
I think just as Gori says that the expectation of beauty can reduce its perception, people can also perceive a greater beauty than is there by being cued to do so. I for instance always had to role my eyes when I heard guys talk about the sexiness of celebrities, because there was just as much sexiness in their ordinary lives. Just without the show. Part may be that the show simply makes them look better but I always thought that part also was that on some level they felt like they had to find them sexy.

 

[Traitorfish]

I think it's context. When one sees a woman in a beauty pageant, one assumes, "well, she must be among the most beautiful women in the world," and when one judges her against that standard, one is most struck by the ways in which she fails to embody ideal beauty, as even very beautiful people inevitably do. (Also, she's in the immediate context of a lot of other women who are very beautiful, some of whom are not deficient in that thing that makes her sub-ideal, so one is directly aware of her sub-ideal quality.) So one's dominant impression is of her lacking something. Walking down a street, one isn't necessarily expecting to spot a beauty, so that when one does, one says, "wow, she's a lot more beautiful than . . . the other people here on this street." In any case, the dominant impression is of the woman exceeding a standard, rather than of falling short of it.

I think it's fifty percent that, fifty percent the fact that beauty queens have got glassy-eyed vacuity down to a fine art. It's very much beauty as performance, an emphasis on poise and manners which is out of step with a culture that prizes individuality and authenticity.

Beauty is as much charisma as mere prettiness, and the rituals surrounding these contests tend to prevent the display of, if not charisma, than at least the sorts of charisma contemporary Westerners find compelling.

 

[Zack]

Am I crazy or does the girl on the left look like a feminine Michael Beasley?