I could go on and on, but why? As an intelligent “former beauty queen” and now mother, I know that no matter what I say, you, nor many others who are against this “girlie sport” will ever really change your mind about pageants. No, it is more fun for you to run your mouth and write articles about which you know NOTHING about. What ever happened to “journalistic integrity”? And if you are basing your knowledge (and I use that term lightly) of child pageantry on TLC’s “Toddlers and Tiara’s” or “Little Miss Perfect”, then you are poorly informed on which you write. As a “journalist” (and, once again, I use that term in the loosest sense), you should know that programs like that are a tabloid on film. They set most of those scenarios up to get the most “shock and awe” value as possible. After all, if it showed how much fun the girls were having and all of the good aspects of pageantry, who would watch it.

Now, are there some parents who are “over-bearing” and over zealous when it comes to their daughters competing….OF COURSE THERE ARE! But that is true in ANY child sport or activity. In one prominent case an irate father killed another as a result of a dispute at a youth hockey match. Another father, enraged that his daughter had been suspended from her softball team for missing a game to attend a prom, brutally assaulted the team’s coach with an aluminum baseball bat. At a football game for six and seven-year-old’s, a father who believed his son wasn’t getting enough playing time was arrested after pulling out a gun and threatening the coach. Another mother was arrested after arranging to have another child’s mother killed because both of their daughters were going out for cheerleader and she thought if the other girl was distraut over the death of her mother then she wouldn’t be able to try-out. You see, as long as there are children participating in extra-curricular activities, there will be parents who always take it a little too far. That has nothing to do with the activity in question, it has to do with the mental stability of the parent…nothing more, nothing less. As a modeling coach for many years, I always encouraged a parent to pursue other activities if I saw the child wasn’t enjoying it as much as the parent was. It is up to the parent then, to decide…are they in it for the child, or for themselves. But again, that is true in ANY CHILD ACTIVITY!

So please, stop writing stories on subjects of which you are sadly misinformed. It only makes you look ignorant. Let’s face it, no one would be interested in this sport if it weren’t for the tragic death of Jon-Benet Ramsey. Yes, her death was horrible and tragic, but it had NOTHING TO DO WITH CHILD PAGEANTRY. That was just one aspect of her life, and if you really did your research, you would find out that she didn’t really compete that much. Had Jon-Benet been a soccer player, do you think her death would have gotten the media attention it did??? NO! It would have been reported, and then a week later sadly forgotten by the rest of the world. But a soccer player wouldn’t have made for good tabloid fodder now would it. How sad for you all.

You outline the uses of Facebook magnificently. However, this works against your argument that Facebook will soon fall. The main attractions of Facebook, staying in touch, procrastinating, and general entertainment, are traits of modern society that will not fade any time soon. As long as there is a need for this sort of site, or until a better alternative arises, Facebook will grow…and not be “wrecked”.

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