As IF Times

link:  https://www.marca.com/en/lifestyle/world-news/2023/11/15/65552efd22601dc0018b457d.html

Given the big picture events happening in the world today, this little story probably escaped the notice of most busy people.  Nevertheless, it was significant in its own way and in fact has wider ramifications beyond the actual story.

While the world is caught up in an endless vortex of existential threats through wars, climate catastrophes, medical pandemics, political upheaval, Taylor and Travis, homelessness, soaring debt loads and of course Black Friday issues, the smaller threads in the fabric of life are still meaningful.

The Miss Universe pageant was held recently and as usual, a cacophony of criticism was levelled at the show. The expected criticisms were leveled at the spectacle of being horribly outdated and sexist of course, but accusations of racism are now being leveled against the format as well.  The key thing to remember is….this is a show.

Firstly, we can be somewhat relieved that the winner of this contest was actually a natural woman and in fact, actually a Miss. The fashionable thing of allowing other than natural women to enter contests was thankfully not a consideration….at least not in this year’s iteration.

From an early age, it was always quizzical to observe that the women in these contests were preposterously beautiful.  Most would agree that these women no more represented a nation’s inventory of females than Porsches represented the average car. But it was a show and we all suspend our beliefs for the entertainment value.

But, because of human beings’ natural tribalism, it was important to have a good showing at the contest.  It wasn’t about representation as much as it was about winning.  Like sports contests, the victory of your team oddly reflects a glory unto oneself, thus, you win when your team wins.

This year, the controversy actually surrounded a contestant from Zimbabwe, who was as you’d expect, pretty attractive. The problem was that the contestant, Brooke-Bruk Jackson was white which irked many people because the vast majority of Zimbabweans are black.  Though Miss Jackson was born in Zimbabwe, she apparently doesn’t reflect the people and in fact seen as a symbol of their historical oppression.  As we know, breast beating these days is a global phenomenon.

This is an oddly provincial view since the world aspires to be pushing towards inclusiveness and world kumbaya.  Some may recall that many years ago, way back in 1978, Canada entered a contestant in this same contest who was ethnically Chinese, Andrea Eng. I don’t recall a national outcry at the time; and that was over 40 years ago.

Presumably there were contests within Zimbabwe to narrow down the contestants to the ultimate winner, Miss Jackson and presumably, some of the contestants were black. Should race matter? Should the ultimate winner be determined as a function of demographic statistics?  If so, perhaps the contest can be renamed the Miss Statistical Universe pageant.

If you were to extrapolate this logic, think of all the professions that should also be subject to statistical restrictions.  In a population of citizens, only those who fall under the national quota would be allowed into a profession.  If for example, Indians make up 5% of the population, they cannot be represented by more than that amount in the tech industry.  If blacks are 13% of the population, they cannot represent more than that amount in sports teams.

At the end of it all, who cares what a contest claims?  Do we really think the winner is the most beautiful woman in the universe? Pretty arrogant since all of the contestants are from Earth.

link U.S. News – Black Friday violence: 1 shopper critically injured after shooting, 15 others pepper-sprayed.

If there’s any evidence needed that much of U.S. society has crashed heavily through the rails of decency and common sense, then the recent plethora of news stories surrounding violence around Black Friday sales is exhibit A.  Only in America would the supposed celebration of peace and good will towards all men be prefaced by violence during the clamor to buy some trinket at a sale price in preparation for the peaceful festivities.

The whole tradition of this can be traced back to three men, the names of whom the majority of people today would not recognize; Balthazar, Gaspar and Melchior.  These were the famed Three Wise Men of biblical and historical fame who were the originators of the whole Christmas shopping tradition which manifests itself grotesquely today with Black Friday.

Biblical history tells us that an angel appeared which announced to the 3 men that a very significant event was taking place soon, the birth of the baby Jesus in the town of Bethlehem, a few towns over.  Given this important news, the three men decided that it behooved them to make a pilgrimage to see the baby, but not to arrive empty handed.  They collectively decided to bring items which were considered valuable in the day.  Money of course, in the form of gold is always a good gift.  The other items they thought of were frankincense and myrrh, essentially aromatic plant resins.   Actually, the latter two were quite thoughtful gifts because in those days, regular bathing had yet to be accepted as social convention.  Frankincense and Myrrh were used as perfumes and aromatics to help mask the fragrance of desert sweat and camel perspiration ubiquitous in the day.  You can imagine then the importance of these fragrance resins.  These items were the Ipads and big screen TV equivalents of today.  In fact, the one wise man was chastised for only bringing money since that meant he couldn’t trouble himself to stand in the checkout line at the bazaar to buy something thoughtful.  In the end, they all decided to give their gifts as a group rather than assigning any one item to any particular person.

From this gesture began the entire tradition of bestowing gifts at Christmas time to small children, which then expanded to include everyone else.  Which brings us to today where the importance of getting the ‘it’ gift has become literally a blood sport as reported by all the news accounts of rabid shoppers at the malls.  This can’t be good for society.  Maybe it’s a good idea to go back to the gold, frankincense and myrrh tradition.  Here’s the solution, give money,  Old Spice and Chanel No. 5.