4 ms·

I Don’t Care That Miss America Is a Scientist

19 points by smacktoward 7y ago

mdorazio 7y ago
The author has a point. I feel like this is what happens when media machines like Miss America get a hold of a Cause. You end up with a veneer of progress, but the underlying core remains almost as bad as it always was.
- av3csr 7y ago
  Passive progessive
- varelse 7y ago
  Look no further than dredging up Steven Pinker to not only defend "Quantum Supremacy" but to double-down and revisit the NIPS to NEURIPS name change because we apparently have nothing better to talk about on Christmas... https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=4476 https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=4476
gnicholas 7y ago
Wow TIL that the actress who played Winnie on the Wonder Years has a PhD in mathematics from the University of Chicago, and a mathematical proof bears her name (and the name of her undergrad advisor at UCLA).
- taborj 7y ago
  Also, she's in Hallmark Christmas movies.
- urmish 7y ago
  she doesn't. She has a bachelors from UCLA. The phd part is fake news: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danica_McKellar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danica_McKellar
sfaewrgfaegw 7y ago
I don't understand people who are annoyed at Miss America for celebrating beauty. I would understand them if they were upset at the gratuitous nudity [0], but that doesn't even register today - we're saturated with scantly clad people celebrating themselves in public. Beauty if a gift. I'm a overjoyed if someone tells me my daughter is beautiful, she really is, but I don't let people photograph her, never-mind allow her to be in a pageant. But there's nothing wrong in being beautiful. It's a gift. Nor does being smart intrinsically make the person worthy. Intelligence is also a gift, a good one, but it hardly makes the holder a good person. So I don't celebrate someone for their academic achievements. Big deal. Instead I celebrate people who, with their gifts, work for others. Yes, even personal beauty and grace can be used for this purpose (see Audrey Hepburn). A person with a 250 IQ and ten PhDs means nothing to me if they're the re-incarnation of Robert McNamara. [0] A "little black dress" like Audrey Hepburn's and with her grace is far more revealing of beauty than a bikini. The bikini seems to be about detecting "flaws" like you would a horse at a market.
- mikestew 7y ago
  Could be generational. Odds are, I’ve got ten, twenty or more years on you. To me, it has nothing to do with beauty other than: “this one of your few options as a woman. Better look pretty. And dance or twirl a baton.” And we put it on national TV. It was propaganda, IMO. (I’m probably way overreaching on that one.) Putting lipstick on that pig with a little “science” doesn’t fool me. The big deal being made kinda drives my point home.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
allears 7y ago
I don't care about Miss America, let alone whether or not you care.
ravenstine 7y ago
> This isn’t a win for science. It’s the science-washing of one of the most bullshit patriarchal rituals there is. You seriously cannot ever please some people. Seems things can't just be changed gradually over time to be better; they either have to be radically changed or slashed and burned. > It is upsetting to me that people still think a woman having interests outside of being poised and beautiful is a revelation worthy of a headline With journalists and activists always bringing up the issue that there's a disproportionately low number of women in STEM, I don't see how it's not worthy of a headline. After all, you(the author) thought it was big enough of a deal to write your own article complaining about it. I don't think you(the author) actually believe what you're saying here because, if you did, you wouldn't even be paying much attention to it and you'd just allow the issue to die a quiet death. > We’ve known for ages that women have interests! And if it weren't the year 2019 your(the author) article could easily be titled "Miss America: Women Have More Interests Than Just Beauty And Grace!" Why does that even matter, anyway? People can't enter contests and show off their interests? I reread this article 3 times and I still don't get what exactly this author has a beef with over Miss America besides that it's a "bullshit patriarchal ritual".
archie2 7y ago
Never give in to progressive Twitter blowhards and the mainstream media activist cabal - they cannot be pleased they just want to destroy you. Not. One. Inch.
drewcoo 7y ago
Now that real scientists are being sexually objectified by the public what does this mean for the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists? https://www.improbable.com/hair/ https://www.improbable.com/hair/

19 points by smacktoward 7y ago

The author has a point. I feel like this is what happens when media machines like Miss America get a hold of a Cause. You end up with a veneer of progress, but the underlying core remains almost as bad as it always was.

av3csr 7y ago
Passive progessive
varelse 7y ago
Look no further than dredging up Steven Pinker to not only defend "Quantum Supremacy" but to double-down and revisit the NIPS to NEURIPS name change because we apparently have nothing better to talk about on Christmas... https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=4476 https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=4476

gnicholas 7y ago

Wow TIL that the actress who played Winnie on the Wonder Years has a PhD in mathematics from the University of Chicago, and a mathematical proof bears her name (and the name of her undergrad advisor at UCLA).

taborj 7y ago
Also, she's in Hallmark Christmas movies.
urmish 7y ago
she doesn't. She has a bachelors from UCLA. The phd part is fake news: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danica_McKellar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danica_McKellar

sfaewrgfaegw 7y ago

I don't understand people who are annoyed at Miss America for celebrating beauty. I would understand them if they were upset at the gratuitous nudity [0], but that doesn't even register today - we're saturated with scantly clad people celebrating themselves in public. Beauty if a gift. I'm a overjoyed if someone tells me my daughter is beautiful, she really is, but I don't let people photograph her, never-mind allow her to be in a pageant. But there's nothing wrong in being beautiful. It's a gift. Nor does being smart intrinsically make the person worthy. Intelligence is also a gift, a good one, but it hardly makes the holder a good person. So I don't celebrate someone for their academic achievements. Big deal. Instead I celebrate people who, with their gifts, work for others. Yes, even personal beauty and grace can be used for this purpose (see Audrey Hepburn). A person with a 250 IQ and ten PhDs means nothing to me if they're the re-incarnation of Robert McNamara. [0] A "little black dress" like Audrey Hepburn's and with her grace is far more revealing of beauty than a bikini. The bikini seems to be about detecting "flaws" like you would a horse at a market.

mikestew 7y ago
Could be generational. Odds are, I’ve got ten, twenty or more years on you. To me, it has nothing to do with beauty other than: “this one of your few options as a woman. Better look pretty. And dance or twirl a baton.” And we put it on national TV. It was propaganda, IMO. (I’m probably way overreaching on that one.) Putting lipstick on that pig with a little “science” doesn’t fool me. The big deal being made kinda drives my point home.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

allears 7y ago

I don't care about Miss America, let alone whether or not you care.

ravenstine 7y ago

> This isn’t a win for science. It’s the science-washing of one of the most bullshit patriarchal rituals there is. You seriously cannot ever please some people. Seems things can't just be changed gradually over time to be better; they either have to be radically changed or slashed and burned. > It is upsetting to me that people still think a woman having interests outside of being poised and beautiful is a revelation worthy of a headline With journalists and activists always bringing up the issue that there's a disproportionately low number of women in STEM, I don't see how it's not worthy of a headline. After all, you(the author) thought it was big enough of a deal to write your own article complaining about it. I don't think you(the author) actually believe what you're saying here because, if you did, you wouldn't even be paying much attention to it and you'd just allow the issue to die a quiet death. > We’ve known for ages that women have interests! And if it weren't the year 2019 your(the author) article could easily be titled "Miss America: Women Have More Interests Than Just Beauty And Grace!" Why does that even matter, anyway? People can't enter contests and show off their interests? I reread this article 3 times and I still don't get what exactly this author has a beef with over Miss America besides that it's a "bullshit patriarchal ritual".

archie2 7y ago

Never give in to progressive Twitter blowhards and the mainstream media activist cabal - they cannot be pleased they just want to destroy you. Not. One. Inch.

drewcoo 7y ago

Now that real scientists are being sexually objectified by the public what does this mean for the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists? https://www.improbable.com/hair/ https://www.improbable.com/hair/