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05/22/10 - Saturday Forum: A California Refugee Says Illegal Aliens "Squeezed" Her Out; etc.

From: Traci Ashe (e-mail her)

Since VDARE.COM is always carping about the importance of immigrant assimilation, I wonder what your readers think of Muslim Rima Fakih, the 24-year-old Lebanese-born woman who was recently crowned Miss U.S.A.

According to Fakih: "I'm an American girl, and just to be clear, my family comes from many different backgrounds and religions."

Do you admire Fakih for identifying herself as American who speaks fluent English and is a Michigan marketing representative and thus a productive member of society?

Or do you consider Fakih a disgrace who should be deported because of her participation in a low-brow 2007 pole dancing contest that led to racy images of her spread all over the Internet? Wearing a tank top, high heels and doing the bump and grind at a gentleman's club is certainly evidence of American assimilation although a less admirable one than a mastery of English and holding a good job. (Miss USA, the Pole Dancer: First Muslim Woman to Win Beauty Title Pictured in Strip Contest, Daily Mail, May 19, 2010)

So which is it? Is Rima Fakih a plus or a minus to American society?

Joe Guzzardi comments: Well, it's an interesting question especially as it pertains to the Muslim values about which we are constantly lectured. And writer Ashe's query is a pleasant distraction from the usual weighty and depressing matters of national importance we ponder here at VDARE.COM.

I'll leave it to our readers. If you care to express your views regarding Ms. Fakih, send me an email with "Miss U.S.A." in the subject line. I'll include the results, including my opinion, in a Saturday Forum in a few weeks. (Important note: The photos of Ms. Fakih, clothed but barely, are included in the Daily Mail story linked above)

James Fulford writes: I've added pictures of not only of Rima Fakih, above left, but of Miss Oklahoma, Morgan Elizabeth Woolard, the American-born runner-up, whose support for Arizona's SB 1070, when asked by a contest judge, may have cost her the title. [Miss USA: Did Arizona immigration hurt Miss Oklahoma Morgan Elizabeth Woolard in loss to Rima Fakih? By Ethan Sacks NY Daily News, May 17, 2010]

Daniel Pipes asks if there's Affirmative Action in Beauty Contests?[May 16, 2010], with examples, and photos, of other Muslim beauty queens.

Answer: Of course there is affirmative action in beauty contests, just as there is at the Oscars—beauty is a matter of opinion, and the judges are always looking for a historic first.