If you had told me when I first woke up this morning that I would be writing about a beauty pageant, I would've laughed in your face, morning breath and all. But here we are.
You may have seen the crazy hype over a beauty pageant winner in Alabama. Both Libs of TikTok and End Wokeness shared a photo of a pageant in which an obese woman revels in winning. She’s wearing a tiara and a sash that reads “Miss Alabama.”
The girl in the middle just won Miss Alabama.
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 6, 2024
Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/EVmNxHZSUl
If you don't think Miss Alabama won this fair & square, you're a far-right extremist pic.twitter.com/MwdJTI6d7I
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) June 6, 2024
On the surface, it can be easy to see how one might confuse this “Miss Alabama” with the other pageants like Miss America and Miss USA that have their own Miss Alabama. But thanks to X’s Community Notes, we have more context; therefore we know better.
The pageant winner in question is Sara Milliken, winner of the National American Miss Alabama pageant, which took place in late May.
National American Miss is a different sort of pageant, to say the least. The About page of the pageant’s website informs us that “NAM is a program based on the foundational principle of fostering positive self-image by enhancing natural beauty within.” It adds that the “program [is] centered around helping young ladies grow and expand their ideas about who they are and what they want to achieve. We want every girl to realize that she truly can take hold of her dreams and make them real!”
All of that sounds admirable, and I’m sure that Milliken is a sweet young lady. She might even be drop-dead gorgeous if she lost weight. And for the record, this is Miss Alabama 2024 (for the Miss USA pageant), the knockout Diane Westhoven:
ASIDE: Everybody knows that Southern women are the prettiest.
The issue here isn’t some lesser-known pageant picking a plus-plus-plus size gal as a state winner; it’s the outrage machine that stems from the news. In this case, it was easy for End Wokeness and Libs of TikTok to capitalize on the outrage at the expense of the truth.
I’m not casting aspersions on either outlet per se. They both expose plenty of the craziness that the left dishes up and give us tons of entertaining posts, but in this case, they both look a little silly for falling for the outrage.
All of this underscores the importance of being able to trust your news sources. We try our best to make sure that the things we report and opine about are accurate. Our managing editor, the estimable Paula Bolyard, has drilled into me, along with our part-time editors, how important it is to know the truth behind a story. We don’t always get it right, but when we mess up, we’re quick to correct it.
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