The Annoying and the Beautiful
Today was one of those days I hoped I would open Wordpress and see a half finished post or at least something written in the Ideas draft that I always keep around, but no… nothing… My brain and I drifted apart for a little while and brainstormed (well, I brainstormed - my brain just… stormed…), came up with nothing and together (after a glass of wine) pottered over to the BBC News site in search of inspiration. But, the main thing on there (Gillian Gibbons and the insanity of the Teddy Bear’s name) was the only thing I didn’t really want to read about. From the sublime to the ridiculous to the outstanding back to the ridiculous to now, this story just makes me angry. I know I’m just overlaying my Western views on another culture and I really shouldn’t do that becasue I don’t understand where they are coming from and all that but, well, I don’t care. I’m pissed off. She went there to be a teacher - to my mind one of the most giving professions there is - she listened to her students, and tried to make learning fun. Yes, what she did was naive and ignorance is not a defence but come on enough is enough.
I am trying desperately hard not to make this all political but I can’t help it. I’m trying to be as PC as I can but right now I am coming over all George ‘kick the ever living crap out of them’ Bush. Send her home, slap on the wrist, deny her the right to teach in Sudan, anything but jail and protests and calls for execution! Had it happened here and she had named the teddy bear Jesus (I know it’s not the same thing but just go with it) she would have received a suspension from her job, a public humiliation in the form of a tabloid newspapering and maybe community service working with groups of faith until at the end of it, there was a photo opportunity of her smiling as her ‘tell all’ book came out. But that’s just how we roll.
It has, however, become one of those things where everyone (except for the usual suspects) seems to be on the same page here and she will probably be welcomed home as a hero. Speaking of women being welcomed as heroes…
The new Miss World is Zi Lin Zhang, of the People’s Republic of China. Shocking, since that’s where the event was held. Anyway, she is 23, has a Degree in Business Administration, and her personal motto is “Where there’s a will there’s a way”.
Oh and she looks like this:
not that I am in anyway suggesting that looks were the only thing she won on.
It was however this story that reminded me it was World Aids Day - and this made me feel superficial. I mean, a beauty pageant reminding a person of this is like a can of Coke reminding you that Christmas is coming… Or something…
