It's tough not to be hypocritical. Sometimes the pot can't help but call the kettle tarnished. Currently, I am more puzzled than disappointed in myself that I still care about what Carrie Prejean says. I claim that Carrie has nothing to say that's worth regarding, yet I'm still writing a blog about her. I'll try to reconcile this hypocrisy today.
Let me quickly inform readers who are unfamiliar with Carrie Prejean: she was a finalist for an American beauty pageant. She made a statement during the competition that she believes that marriage should be between a man and a woman. She claims that this cost her the grand prize. Subsequently, she has gone on a public tirade about how being a Christian woman is unwelcome in American media. She has even become a spokeswoman for an anti gay marriage group.
Her five minutes of fame are over, despite her book deal. Some people will read it. Some people have little better to do. I suppose that she herself doesn't rankle me; she's just an average girl who has enough average American savvy to turn a minor public quote into five minutes of fame and a little money. For that, I applaud her. Get it, girl. I also applaud her for being so outspoken in her beliefs, knowing that it might cost her the pageant tiara. What gets my dander up is the fact that people actually believe her when she says that she's being silenced because of her conservative beliefs. People are alarmingly sympathetic to her unnecessary public self-martyring.
It's too easy to attack Carrie. She's outspoken without understanding that she doesn't make much sense, and this makes it almost like kicking a kitten to call her ill names. Rather than do this, I would merely like to bring attention to her quirks of logic and her poor decisions. Check this article for more details.
Carrie claims that people are out to get her, as though she's Carrie White. This is why they've dredged up her topless photos, why her sponsors want her to pay them back for the breast implants they provided to her (actual Carrie quote from her book: “Our bodies are temples of the Lord. We should earn respect and admiration for our hearts, not for showing skin to look sexy.”), and why her enemies have found and revealed the masturbation video she made while she was still a minor. Her defense? It's not a sex tape; she was not having sex. Too bad that blatant sexual expression, especially as a teenager, is not a conservative American value.
At this point, no one gives a flying tiara if Carrie is anti gay marriage, the sentiment that brought her to national attention in the first place. She has managed to martyr herself in front of the country and now claims that people want to silence her because of her Christian values. She claims all of these things despite failing to explain how revealing her sexy mishaps does anything to silence her. Perhaps what she means to say is that she is left speechless by the amount of embarrassing information her detractors are able to find and willing to reveal in their quest to slander her. It's difficult to claim that marriage is sacred and still be taken seriously when you've been diddling yourself at seventeen and recording it. In that way, yes, her antagonists are using her past to silence her. But she just keeps on talking.
Let's not call Carrie a "bitch" (Perez Hilton), or a "bigot," or a "slut," or a "bimbo," etc. Let's not attack her beliefs. Instead, let's consider what sort of national zeitgeist has allowed this completely average young woman to become a pundit despite the fact that her claims are confusing and lack much basis.
Maybe Carrie could stop talking about the oppression she faces as a white Christian American and begin talking about why making a sex tape and posing topless are actually no big deal. Maybe she could use this opportunity to help change the image of American conservatives as sex-phobic. Maybe this is all in her book. I'll never know.
What troubles me is not that Carrie is still yakkety-yakking about how tough it is to be vocally conservative in America. What troubles me is how many people are actually listening to her illogical and baseless claims. Looking over what I've just written, I think my own argument could be more logical. Again, hypocrisy. I'd like to take another hour to make it more sound, but I have papers to grade. Oh well. Maybe someone will offer me a book deal.
Love and optimism,
EJP
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