John Oliver’s takedown of the Miss America pageant on HBO’s Last Week Tonight was brilliant. The Miss America pageant is admittedly an easy target, but Oliver’s segment is both surgical and hilarious.
I could not stop laughing.
The Miss America pageant and all its bastard step children are like moldering, vestigial organs that should have been excised from the cultural landscape long ago.
Here’s the first step: STOP WATCHING THE GODDAMN THING.
Though the audience for the Miss America pageant was down 22% from last year, it still drew almost 10 million viewer and garnered its best rating in ten years in the category of adults ages 18 to 49 years old.
Who are these people?
Except I know who these people are. At least some of them. I watched friends tweet about the show while watching it. I heard colleagues talking about the show the next day. At least two people asked me if I watched.
I did not watch. Nor should you.
It will be a long time before pageant contestants are no longer willing to be objectified on national television for a chance at fame and profit.
But if rationale Americans can come together and agree that this organization and its television show should no longer be supported by the general public, the Miss America pageant could be brought to an end sooner than later.
Let’s do this.
Don’t watch next year. If you hear of friends or relatives who watched, shame them. Make them feel small and stupid and uninformed.
Or show them John Oliver’s segment. Not only will they thank you for the laughs, but perhaps they will come away never wanting to watch the damn thing again.
How could they not?
