Most of us have seen the 48-second clip on YouTube regarding a certain beauty contestant and her response to a question concerning geography. I'm not here to single out Caitlin Upton's gaffe, but rather the underlying philosophy behind the Today Show.
On Tuesday, August 28, the producers of the Today Show decided, perhaps out of compassion, to allow Ms. Upton a chance to appear and explain herself. What follows is yet another blatant example of the "venerable morning news show" defending the current status quo to the disregard of all else. Please pardon my rant below.
Assuming you can stomach watching this, what leaps out is the way Ann and Matt practically answer all of Caitlin's questions for her. Matt offers anecdotal reference to similar mistakes on his part, Ann cheerleads, and both explain to the audience of millions without Ms. Upton having to really exert herself. They shamelessly allowed her to answer the question "the right way," which she then proceeded to not quite answer yet again, even with all the prompting she must have received from the show's well-educated, erudite staff.
Again, I'm not trying to add to the attention Ms. Upton has already received. But you see, Caitlin Upton is a model, and a contestant in a beauty pageant. Beauty pageants are a Great American Tradition, and attractive young models are amazingly useful tools for the owners of the NBC network to market the junk that their fortunes rest upon. There have already been several spoofs of Ms. Upton's response appearing on YouTube, thereby subjecting a Great American Tradition to endless ridicule all over the globe, which can, by the way, be used in place of a map. Beauty contestants are wholesome examples of Traditional Family Values, and given the war being perpetrated on Tradition and Family Values by anti-Americans here and abroad, and the status of America's War on Terror, such ridicule must be stopped. Showing its usual courage in bringing to light the hard-hitting stories, the Today Show boldly stepped in to do its bit.
Today is the second anniversary of the devastation of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina; casualties in Iraq continue to mount without any sign of improvement toward stability and peace for its people; President Bush continues his sabre-rattling over Iran; Karl Rove and Alberto Gonzales have recently been thrown overboard; Barack Obama has publicly acknowledged the need for real government oversight and regulation of financial practices; the sub-prime fiasco threatens to bring down the entire economy; residential home foreclosures are hitting decade highs in many states; our health care system is a shyster's paradise; the middle class dwindles as the disparity between rich and poor continues to escalate; in the richest nation on Earth, stuffed to the gills with the best modern conveniences devised by human minds, people have surprisingly little time for themselves given all the hoops our corporate-driven society demands that they jump through; and every one of the past nine years have been among the warmest on record for the continental United States. Apparently, none of these topics merit more than headline mention on the Today Show, the industry leader in morning news programming.
I'm really not sure how executive producer Jim Bell, Ann Curry, and Matt Lauer can really live with themselves. Oh wait, it's their stratospheric salaries. That's how they do it.
Curry and Lauer may consider themselves journalists; they're not. They are sales reps for the interests that give Mr. Bell his marching orders. The work of these people is unworthy of anything other than derision. As stated by the mad prophet of the airwaves, turn your televisions off.