Miss USA Rima Fakih
There is this brouhaha (who makes up these words?) about Rima Fakih, the current winner of miss USA, mainly because of where her family comes from, not that I follow any news about beauty pageants (humans… or animals for that matter 
) racism gets to stick its ugly head out in these situations.
Now, I would’ve thought people might be a little happy about how a young Arab Muslim woman is assimilated, I mean isn’t that what they want? To be assimilated enough to join (and win) a pole dancing competition? Not that pole dancing is limited to some cultures, I’m just saying… you know…
I’ve written about Haifa Wehbe before and she is also Muslim… devoutness is debatable, for every person who is devout in any religion, you can find many that say he/she are not, so anyway.
However, calling her Miss Hezbollah or that whatever wax job that she needed to remove all her body hair, go wear your burka… this and that… well, that just shows… I mean… I am not an expert on these things, but if that means anything, it just means no matter what people do, some people will never accept them… which reminds me of a line I heard in a Kanye West song “even if you in a Benz, you still a nigga.. in a coupe” referring to how some people still might see a successful black person in America.
Of course those who do not know what goes on in the Arab world do not know that women are not all clad in black everywhere, but then again that is all they see, even when CNBC makes a news report with women in it, they have to include a shot of fully covered women, when it obviously does not have anything to do with the story they were making.
Here is Jad Choueiri in one of his trashy songs (but this time with a message LOL) showing the world we are not all terrorists.
Beauty pageants, being what they are (i.e. fixed, politically motivated, affirmative action, something or the other) or whatever, are not the end of the world, not even Saudi’s Miss beautiful morals 
To iterate, they want a ban of face covering, and to free “mozlim women”, and Arabs and Muslims should assimilate into the culture, and for those that do… they still get called names.
Now let me go and play some Louis Armstrong while I wear my rainbow colored glasses.
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May 19, 2010 @ 15:00:22
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May 19, 2010 @ 15:59:45
Some people just don’t know how to look beyond the physical…. I mean after all she is a … oh right, she’s a beauty pageant winner. But I can understand the brouhaha… not only is she a public figure who is expected to maintain a certain image.. she’s also an Arab and a Muslim. With a combination like that she’s obviously going to be scrutinised by both Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
But Jad Choueiri, yeah, totally a good representative for Arabs. At least the funky ones =P
May 20, 2010 @ 13:20:52
LOL, thanks Shahirah
of course you were featured in a magazine so you know how it is 
May 19, 2010 @ 20:51:03
People stick to stereotypes simply because its easier for them to classify people into the boxes theyve set up in their heads. Anything breaking the mold would require displacing the order of things and hence anxiety.
Now Rima is hardly representative of the majority of Arabs. But then again, neither is the stereotypical woman in a Burqa. Not that I would approve of beauty pageants, but the hope here is that people would average the two representations into something more believable
May 20, 2010 @ 13:19:42
Thanks NidalM, what I was trying to say and show is that, things like this take place in the Arab world, there are beauty pageants in Lebanon and Egypt that go back as far as I can remember, one of the winners of miss universe in the seventies was Lebanese.
May 19, 2010 @ 21:04:42
Great post! I’m happy for Rima’s win! People are always going to say something and you just have to learn to ignore the naysayers. They’re most everywhere sadly.
May 20, 2010 @ 13:20:05
True, thanks Susanne
May 20, 2010 @ 08:23:49
boy probably no one wants to be in her feet now,
in US,she is lashed for being part of an organization that probably dont know she existed till this happend..
and in lebanon,probably there is an assassin waiting for her lol.
@Shahirah Elaiza
“Some people just don’t know how to look beyond the physical…. I mean after all she is a … oh right, she’s a beauty pageant winner.”
Totally Agree!
May 20, 2010 @ 13:22:15
Dentographer, no one is waiting for her in Lebanon, they have their own beauty pageants there.
May 22, 2010 @ 02:45:28
you got a point there. i agree.
May 20, 2010 @ 08:41:25
Brouhaha–from the 19th English from the 16th century French theatre, representing either an onomatopeia of a devilish laugh, or a devilish laugh repeating the Hebrew phrase “baruch habbab”. In my French vocabulary from the 1st week of second year uni, in my English vocabulary later.
I’m thinking in this case the devilish laughing brouhaha is direct from the Donald, who knows how to market his ventures and attract maximum publicity. And what would gain maximum publicity in the current climate? An Arab Muslim Miss USA, and the first one! It fits with his pseudo-edification of beauty pageants generally, his willingness to sell to all, and falls right into the same trap as all his other “Miss” problems: the teenaged alcoholic, the rejected Christian, the fight with Rosie O’Donnell. It is perfect. There is enough to rile everyone on every side of many questions.
And, it keeps “Muslim” issues focused on appearances, and superficialities, with just enough “is she a real Muslim” to keep the essentialists happy.
Meanwhile the lovely Miss Rima must face this onslaught of prying into her prior activities (actually rather standard for aspiring models/students–they should check if she posed nude for the art classes at her uni) and her identities (ethnic, religious, national) instead of just being celebrated for her beauty.
Actually, since this seems to be life as a pageant contestant for the Donald, she is an example of successful assimilation (no one tested her Arabic?).
Jad–de si beaux débuts, et te voilà en pleine médiocrité ambitieuse. Désolée, mais non, sincèrement, j’en suis navrée.
May 20, 2010 @ 13:23:18
Thanks for the history and English lesson Doc
“And, it keeps “Muslim” issues focused on appearances, and superficialities, with just enough “is she a real Muslim” to keep the essentialists happy.”
Well said