Sherry Chandler

Don’t tase me, bro

takes top honors as the most memorable quote of 2007. I don’t recall why Alberto Gonzales only came in at #5.

To see the rest of Yale’s Top Ten Quotes for 2007, follow the link.

I’m a little late with this posting — other items took precedence — but that’s worked out all right because that means I can also point you to Juan Cole’s defense of Caitlin Upton. Caitlin was a contestant from South Carolina in the Miss Teen USA pageant. Her inarticulate answer to the question why do you think one fifth of American teens can’t locate the USA on a map came in at #2:

Miss Teen South Carolina: “I personally believe the U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some, uh…people out there in our nation don’t have maps, and, uh, I believe that our education like such as South Africa and, uh, the Iraq everywhere like, such as and…I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., err, uh, 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…

Says Juan:

Although the answer was painful to watch just because Ms. Upton was so obviously stricken at that moment with stage fright, I actually think her answer had some merit.

First of all, I liked her diction, “U.S. Americans.” After all, everyone in North and South America could legitimately be called an “American”. That we in the United States have appropriated this descriptor for ourselves is quite unfair to Canadians, Mexicans and Argentineans, e.g.

Second, her answer about why one fifth of Americans cannot find the U.S.A. on a map is almost certainly quite correct. It is because they don’t have maps in their homes and have not been taught to read them. The bottom fifth of Americans in income goes to under-funded schools, and many of them are functionally illiterate. The rich in the US do not bear their fair share of education costs, because the main unit for school taxation is the local district. Since poor people can’t afford to live in wealthy suburbs, and congregate together in poor districts, their schools are starved of money.

Third, although she did not state it very eloquently, she was correct to point out that Americans do not only need to find the United States on the map. They need to know where South Africa and Iraq are, as well. In fact, that she chose those two is interesting. One, South Africa, is an example of fairly successful movement from an authoritarian state dominated by one ethnicity to a multicultural form of democracy. The other, Iraq, is also making a transition from authoritarianism and domination by a single ethnicity (the Sunni Arabs of Saddam Hussein), but its passage to multiculturalism and parliamentary rule has been violent and turbulent. The difference is South Africa’s attention to national reconciliation and also that South Africa’s movement was indigenous rather than imposed from the outside.

…

Some of the response to her answer surely derives from simple bigotry. She is a southerner, a blonde, and a beauty queen. But a southern accent is not, as most northerners mistakenly believe, a sign of ignorance.

Juan also includes a YouTube video of Caitlin Upton on the Today show that proves her to be bright, articulate, and compassionate.

Possibly related posts:

The Complexities of Diversity

The Peace Tree

Patience, again

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Post-Birth Abortion Ban

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