I was ashamed, to say the least, about the reaction of our good old Sri Lankans, including women, about the above video. The very same ladies who whine and bitch about how women are not treated equally, how men put them down and what not. But this video has been doing the rounds in Facebook and several forums, and the general conscience has been that she's dumb, retarded, an embarrassment to the country. I'd say those people who criticise her are a bigger embarrassment.
The reasons for these pundits to laugh at her are 1)she's not very good looking 2)she's not good at English and 3)her answers are silly and 4)she doesn't know what a cow sounds like.
Let's see. Her beauty, or anyone else's for that matter, is a matter of personal opinion and taste. While I agree that she's not the best looking girl ever, who are we to judge. Besides, it's not her fault. She has the right to contest, so she did, and if she truly doesn't deserve the title judges are to be blamed, not her.
And why the fuck should English be a qualification to win a miss Sri Lanka or Miss Universe contest? If you look at the video it is clear that she's very uncomfortable and nervous because she is speaking English. Had she spoken Sinhala (I assume she is Sinhalese) I don't think she would have sounded that nervous, plus her answers would have been better. If I blame her for anything, it is because she did not speak in Sinhala. Perhaps that might have something to do with us Sri Lankans' inferiority complex, but everyone who laughs at her are suffering from it more severely than she is.
I agree that the best gift you received being denim jeans is a kind of not an answer that is expected. Maybe she said something simple like that because she might have found it difficult to explain in English how your family, or you being a woman is the best gift she received. The thing is, though impressive the answers given by others are very fake. The best gift you received is you being a woman or your family or whatever? Those are well rehearsed answers and are supposed to impress the judges. All you have to do is call for the world peace and the next thing you know you're into the next round. That's the nature of these Miss Whatever contests - it's all a big lie. At least this girl is honest.
And then some laugh at it because she imitated the cow as 'umbaa' as oppoed to 'moo'. Well, anyone who studied at a Sinhala school knows that that's how they are taught. Again, inferiority complex much? And above all, why the fuck should you be able to imitate a fucking rocket or a cow to win a Miss Universe contest? The organizers who thought of asking that kind of a question are the retards I'd say. And if you look at what some of the other contestants do, this girl does not look that bad. It's not the answers, it's the questions that are really silly.
But what do we do? We laugh at our own the hardest. Shame on you Sri Lankans.
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Well said!
ReplyDeleteTrue enough... I shared this link on my FB..hope thats all right :)
ReplyDeletei agree with some of your points, but not all. True enough, what a dumbass question, "make animal noises". but i spose the idea was to bring levity into it, as a joke, to show the funny side of the contestants.. i guess this was just an example of someone not quite pulling it off..
ReplyDeleteforget the english, i think ur right that its def not her first language, but i think we sri lankans DO have an inferiority complex, in that we dont like to be considered 'some third world country next to india'. we want our international contestants to show some class, and to hold their own amongst anyone else in the world. i cringed when i heard her speak just about the same way i used to cringe when jayasuriya used to speak after matches back in 1996.. on an international stage, there should be some standard. u and i both know that we are better than that..
i agree with u, the judges are def at fault, or perhaps the pool of contestants were so pitiful this was the best out of the lot. either way its embarrassing that she will be representing our nation when i know for a fact that there are smarter, more presentable and arguably more beautiful women in our country..
on the OTHER hand, the whole premise behind a beauty contest is silly on the face of it, so i say let them go crown whoever, it makes no difference to anyone..
Cool stuff man, you are the first one I read supporting her. Yes not the best but she IS Miss Sri Lanka. Not many contestants of Miss Universe know English either. Beauty... is a hard thing to explain and let the world decide on that! Go Miss Sri Lanka.
ReplyDeleteWell this is true.. But some are not. But I must say, the organizers of Miss Universe SriLanka contest are expecting so many things from the contest. If one of the contestants can full fill their need she will be selected & if one the contestants has contacts with the organizers she will be selected how far she is ugly. So those who don't like loose their respect & even she is more beautiful than other contestants would give up the contest. After that A GIRL (only a girl) will be selected as Miss Universe Sri Lanka. So that's why every single thing wont be completed in these girls. So it is sad.
ReplyDeleteI dont get why people call her ugly - based on that video clip she has a very pleasant and open smile which makes her very attractive. There are far uglier folk out there :D. It's quite probable that the most vocal critics of this contestant are the ugliest mugs around!
ReplyDeleteWith regard to her spoken English, I honestly don't see how this is worse than a Sri Lankan who speaks 'perfect English', i.e. with the fakest accent imaginable (most notably observed with the Lankan DJs on the radio!). As a generalisation, when Sri Lankans try too hard to speak perfect English, the result tends to be worse than this contestant. If English were such an issue, surely the selection committee could have provided her with a bit more coaching?
@Niroshinie
ReplyDeleteNo problem at all. Feel free to share it, more the merrier.
@Gehan
I know what you mean about if someone represent our nation at international level they they should be better prepared at whatever it is they do. No question about it - in both Jayasuriya and this girl's case, it will do no harm in them learning English. My point was not that - what I have a problem with is our own people laughing and mocking her at her inability. It's a sad attitude, but a very common one among us islanders. Pity them, I do.
@Magerata
Thanks man, I felt like writing something about this when a lot of people didn't.
@Anon
What you say may or may not be true. I really don't have any idea, and I've got no interest in beauty contests to be frakn. If what you say is the truth, it is wrong, but we don't exactly know in this case eh?
@Darwin
Tell me about it! If thes critics are perfect, I have no problem. But when they themselves are so full of shit, I hate it when they go on to laugh at others. Pathetic, I know.
And I agree so much about her smiling. I was going to write aobut it but forgot. Yeah, she at least smiles wholeheartedly, when a lot of our people have forgotten to smile.
I'm still wondering why she didn't speak in her mother language.
ReplyDeleteI often see girls form around the world speaks their own language in these kind of contests.
@Sach
ReplyDeleteIt is wrong to blame her english or her looks. She won the national titles bc she is beautiful and that is it.
But she doesn't look professional at all. No she doesn't have to put up a fake accent and look stupid but she should have done her homework well. She looks so ill prepared and I do blame her for that. Nothing more nothing less.
@Liberal Lanka
ReplyDeleteThat's fair criticism. She is indeed under prepared, but sadly it is not what people are criticizing her for.
Why the hell didn't she speak in Sinhala and used a translator?
ReplyDeleteI agree with the comment that says that last question is really dumb.
This girl should be better qualified. It doesn't matter what the questions are or the qualifications. If she entered this particular contest she must be ready meet the requirements, despite how stupid they are. She should be ready to make sure that despite the stupid questions that she sounds intelligent. That's what should take her to the next round.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, her "making a fool out of herself" is not completely her fault as it would be a few Sri Lankan judges who would have selected her. They should know if she is good enough to continue on to Miss Universe. However, going back to the initial step, she was the one who entered the contest.
In conclusion, despite what the requirements are she should meet them and she should not better what he capabilities/what are not before she enter the contest. If she did Miss Sri Lanka probably wouldnt sound like she is making a fool out of herself.
Anon, I agree with that line of criticism more or less - that she should have prepared better. However it is not the point of this post. The point is the hypocrisy of people who laugh at her.
ReplyDeleteActually machan, I wasn't laughing, I was crying (not literally but you know what I mean)...
ReplyDeleteSelection - we all know how poeple get selected in anything in SL. You gotta know the right people. Does the best girl win 'awurudu kumari' at the village awurudu festival? NO. Same goes for Miss. SL or whatever. So I cried because of the selectors.
English - She has to be better than that to represent SL at the international stage. OK, our mother tongue is Sinhala/Tamil but we don't go speaking to Ausies (in my case) or the Japs (in your case) in Sinhalese. Language is the foremost of all communication tools and mastering it is imperative nowadays. I wept because she represented all of us and let us down.
Beauty and 'Moo'-ing or 'Umbaa'-ing aside, a better contestant could have been selected to represent Sri Lanka.
Or maybe she does represent Sri Lanka, a place where people with the right connections get the jobs, where skills and abilities don't come into play....
@Nee
ReplyDeleteI don't really know about the selection. Were there better contestants, or did she get there by her good connections, I wouldn't know. So, unless I know for sure I wouldn't want to accuse her of this. There may be better looking (despite being a matter of opinion) and better qualified Sri Lankan women, but if they didn't come forward what can one do?
About English. No, she does NOT have to be better at English than that to represent Sri Lanka at a beauty contest. It's different than you or me living in a foreign country in which case it is necessary to learn their language. It is well known that half the world actually doesn't speak English, and many contestant here too do not. It is not necessary. Should she have been better prepared? Of course. Should she have rehearsed the answers that would have make her look more 'intelligent'? Yes if she wanted to win. But English - a firm NO.
And this is not in anyway an excuse to call her retarded or even a 'fugly bitch'. Sad.
If she knew she was going to use english to communicate, she had to get better. If she couldn't express herself in english she should stick to Sinhala or Tamil or sign language or some other form that she is fluent in. What I meant was that language is a tool of communication and you have to choose your own means to do so.
ReplyDeleteAnd I would bet there were better people to choose from. It's SL, it's a given.
That being said a fugly bitch is certainly uncalled for.
A point which I mentioned in the post itself. She should have spoken in Sinhala. But that's not what people criticize her for - they simply laugh at her for her inability, and even dare to call her retard which is sad.
ReplyDeleteGura have you ever seen Nadeeka Perera talking ??? she won a top model contest of the world and even after that glory she still spoke in sinhalese to the media... she accept the fact that she was not good in English and used her mother tongue... it's all about damn egos..If this gal felt that she is uncomfortable in using English she should have used Sinhalese... I'm ashamed to see Sri lankans who are not proud of their language... There is no rule such as you should be good in English to be a Sri Lankan...after all she was carrying the image of Sri lanka to the world... and if we are sending these type of people to represent SL yap we should be ashamed..
ReplyDeleteIshara, agree to that, as mentioned in the post itself.
ReplyDeleteYep, so true. And like others have said, she should've put all her pride aside and simply answered in Sinhala.
ReplyDelete