Is This Blog On? version 2.0

From George Will :

Detroit’s crime rate makes it second only to Camden, N.J., as America’s most dangerous city. (Flint, Mich., is fourth.) Detroit has an adult functional illiteracy rate of 47 percent.

Both conditions can be blamed, at least partially, on Detroit’s decayed educational system.

But, perhaps not this.

I don’t know what the heck it is. It’s supposed to be a “sweet”, but I don’t get the fire-breathing-rat thing.

RIGHTWINGSPARKLE writes today about that reality show “Beauty and the Geek”, mentioning that she really likes the show:

The guys are totally adorable and endearing. They seem so happy to be around beautiful women they seem to melt in their presence. Maybe this show can show women that there are guys out there who would treat you as you really would like to be treated. Sure, they aren’t be best looking guys, but looks fade any way, but kindness lasts.

Perhaps it’s just me, but I don’t really care if beautiful women overcome their propensity (if there is one) to pick good-looking jerks, over average looking (or geeky) sweethearts. I figured it was one of life’s great equalizers – sure the arrogant jerks don’t date a woman in the 4-6 range on the attractiveness scale, but at least you had the sweet-but-geek vote locked up.

But Beauty and the Geek, like so many other narratives in Hollywood, pushes the idea that there is no reason why a Geek can’t date a beauty. These beautiful women learn to appreciate these geeks! And, for the geeks -sure they appear shallow at first, but they learn that underneath it all beautiful women are PEOPLE TOO! Why is it OK to push the theme that these girls should look beyond outward appearances of the geeky men, when their sole purpose for being there is due to their outward appearance? It still follows the “look first, and then search for substance ” pattern.

Perhaps I’m making too much of this, but something about it just sticks in my craw. Riddle me this – could you see a show that took on the reverse situation? Beautiful men with geeky women? Would we be gushing that these men developed attractions to these geeky women, because they were able to look past the exterior?

I’ve been wondering which way this story was going to go. I hope he fries.