03 September, 2007

“Some People Out There In Our Nation Don’t Have Maps”

I love beauty contests—and not for the beauty. At a recent Miss Teen USA contest, Ms South Carolina was asked:

Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can’t locate the US on a world map. Why do you think this is?

Check out the answer:

Phew. In case you want a transcript, here it is:

I personally believe that US Americans are unable to do so because uh, some people out there in our nation don’t have maps and uh, I believe that our education, like such as in South Africa and the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and I believe that they should, our education over here in the US should help the US, or, or should help South Africa, and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future for our children.

I can’t stop vibrating with laughter. Somebody touch me, you’ll enjoy.

(Link via separate emails from Aditya Kuber and readers Hemant Birje and Balakrishnan Sivaraman. My buddy Sumant Srivathsan also blogged about it a few days ago.)

Update: I have just concluded that it is terribly wrong on my part to laugh at that poor girl, who obviously blanked out in a high-pressure moment. Here, watch this clip, in which the poor young lady comes on a TV show and is given another chance to answer that question. This time, having had time to think about it, she begins:

Well, personally, my friends and I, we know exactly where the United States is on our map. I don’t know anyone else who doesn’t.

So there you go, she knows where the US is. But what about the Iraq?

Update 2: Har har har!

And indeed, ho ho ho!

For that matter, heh!