Beauty isn’t everything

Wow… out of all the women in the US, I was able to stumble across someone as great as my wife. And chances of finding a good-looking American woman as genuine and sensible as Tara are pretty slim. At least if we use the line-up of Miss America as the litmus test for what American women aspire to become…which can be summed up in one word: stupid.
Only 8 out of the 51 supposedly most beautiful women in the US say that they support evolution to be taught in schools. The rest… 43 women in all (!) say things ranging from a straight “no” to “it is just a theory” or “well, it could be taught if other theories are presented as well” and then add statements along the line of “personally, I am a Christian, so I don’t believe in evolution”. Miss WV, Miss SD, Miss CT, Miss DE and Miss DC seem to get it right. In the entire line there are in fact only three women (Miss Vermont, Miss California and Miss Washington) who seem to be ardent supporters of science. Miss Washington is also not afraid to criticize the anti-science crowd (although she gets confused over the difference between “a theory” and “a fact” but this might just be an ill-phrased attempt to dismiss bogus creationist claims). Miss Vermont’s answer is more to the point, when she makes the distinction between science (that can be tested) and religious beliefs (that cannot undergo scientific scrutiny).
I really dislike beauty pageants. So many cute little faces. So little brain inside.
Let’s just assume that we changed the question, and asked them what they think about other theories being presented in schools… like, say… the theory of gravity? Anyone? Anyone? Oh… yeah… and the year is 2011.
/Kim