Why Miss America could never have been Miss India

American Thinker ^ | 09/16/2013 | Ethel C. Fenig

[SeekAndFind]

There have been many ugly tweets and other nasty comments about the new Miss America, Syracuse, NY born and aspiring cardiologist Nina Davuluri. The former Miss New York is of Indian descent; many of the negative commenters thought she was Arab and/or Muslim. Not so incidentally there were also many positive tweets and comments.

Paradoxically, according to Malika Rao writing in The Huffington Post, Davuluri would never have won a similar pageant in her parents' native India because she was too...dark. Yes, even in India, skin color is important--the lighter the better.

But there was an unfortunate irony to the win, noted mostly by Indian and Indian-American writers. Davuluri is dark-skinned. In India, where skin color is a national obsession, you likely wouldn't see someone of her complexion in a pageant, much less winning one.

(snip)

Writing at FirstPost, Lakshmi Chaudhury quipped that Indians prefer their beauty queens "vanilla, preferably accessorised with blue contact lenses."

And to get that vanilla shade, beauty contestants in India, and apparently other women, take some drastic steps. In a previous Miss India contest Every contestant was "taking some sort of medication to alter her skin, particularly in colour" according to the embedded writer, Susan Runkle. Indeed, the winner that year, Sonali Nagrani, looks more European than Indian.

[Smokin' Joe]

She looks damn hot to me and people who have a problem with an American whose ancestors came from India winning the Miss America contest really know NOTHING about what America is all about.

Well said!

I agree.

[CodeToad]

“What I am claiming is that American culture is strong enough that it is not threatened “

But it is. We’ve even had to go to court in several States to rid ourselves of Sharia Law. We no longer can be Christians without offended these foreigners. We have had too much foreign influences and need to stop it.

[CodeToad]

“How does she “act[] like an Indian”?”

I am amazed you had to ask but Indian dance is not American. Sorry. Never has been in our culture.

[Conscience of a Conservative]

I am amazed you had to ask but Indian dance is not American. Sorry. Never has been in our culture.

So, because she performed an Indian dance, she's not acting like she's an American?

You're right, Indian dance is not American. But, performing dances (and music, for that matter) that is rooted in one's family roots is, most certainly, American, and has been part of our culture for much longer than you or I have been around.

[Conscience of a Conservative]

But it is. We’ve even had to go to court in several States to rid ourselves of Sharia Law. We no longer can be Christians without offended these foreigners. We have had too much foreign influences and need to stop it.

So, the threat of creeping Shariah means that our culture is threatened by an American performing an Indian dance during a beauty pageant???

Also, I hope you're not referring to the new Miss America when you talk about "these foreigners." She was born in New York, raised in Oklahoma and Michigan, and now lives back in upstate New York. She's no foreigner.

[discostu]

Remember we’re supposed to have a MELTING POT. Miss America contestants performing dances and stuff from their ancestral land goes way back. It’s not a threat to my culture, and if it’s a threat to yours then your culture is already dead, and deservedly so.

[Nepeta]

I am amazed you had to ask but Indian dance is not American. Sorry. Never has been in our culture.

So anyone who is doing a dance other than say, square dancing, is not behaving like an American?

Silly.

There was a time when nobody in the midwest knew anything about Mexican food. In 3rd grade, we studied Mexico, and some of the moms made a Mexican meal based on the description of "pancakes and beans." Not knowing anymore, they prepared classic pancakes with pork and beans.

There was a time when Italian food was decidedly "ethnic", too. The American table has been enriched with the cuisine of many peoples. I routinely eat all sorts of things my parents never heard of--am I less of an American because I put curry powder in my tuna salad?

My Wal-Mart now sells naan bread--does that diminish anyone's American character?

[sagar]

“Plus whites are not allowed to enter Miss Black America, are not allowed to have a Miss White America pageant, and increasingly, are not allowed to win Miss America. So yeah, people are a little annoyed, and it’s understandable.”

People are annoyed that some god damn Miss America is not won by whites? And you poor baby, you are not allowed into Miss Black America, you poor baby, life must be rough for you.