Fools judging a judge

Miss Canada Plus, Stephanie Conover, 23, of Toronto was invited to be a judge at the Miss Toronto Tourism pageant being held in February 2008. The pageant claims it has high ideals, promoting Toronto’s attractions, multiculturalism and generosity. Miss Toronto Tourism is independent, having nothing whatsoever to do with City Hall or with the Toronto tourism board.

Stephanie has been a busy Miss Canada Plus, attending and speaking at charities from women's shelters to food banks to organizations dealing with multiple sclerosis. But this was her first gig as a pageant judge. She picked an empress green gown, strapless with a to-die-for bodice, and eagerly awaited the February 2nd gala. There was one minor matter that had to be dealt with of course. Those running the pageant asked her for a bio for the program. In her bio, she included her hobbies: songwriting, dancing, painting, knitting, making custom jewelry, yoga, reiki (a Japanese healing art) and tarot cards.

Then her Miss Canada Plus handlers got a letter back: Upon receiving her bio, it said, "we have decided against her being a judge. We need a judge who has an upright reputation, (who) we would be proud to introduce to the audience."
So, you might ask, why did these pageant people think she wasn’t their idea of a person with an upright reputation?

The dismissal letter continues: "She states that her hobbies are yoga, reiki and tarot card reading. Our board of directors has eliminated her as a judge as tarot card reading and reiki are the occult and ... not acceptable by God, Jews, Muslims or Christians." Then these twerps, yes that what I called them, had the audacity to insult her further by quoting from the Christian Bible with respect to mediums and spiritualists. Then came the final knife thrust in her throat; “We hope that Stephanie Conover will turn from these belief systems and will repent from her practice of them."

The pageant has garnered regular press since it debuted in 1999, not all of it good. For example, Zenovique Wilson, 20, was on bail for robbery of a massage parlour when she won the 2005 crown. Charges were later stayed. Current entry rules include "no criminal offences," "good will to others" and "born female." The likes of yoga, reiki and tarot are taboo, too, apparently, at least for judges. "We are not a religious pageant," says director Karen Hunter. Then she added, "We don't want to offend anybody." That statement is truly the height of hypocrisy.

Here comes the epitome of stupidity. She said that there were also fears that Stephanie would use tarot cards to choose a winner. Hunter also said that her judges include a service club exec and a magazine publisher. How does she know whether or not that they might choose the winner by simply going eeny, meeny, miny, moe?

I don’t care what religious beliefs someone has and neither should Miss Hunter or that group of fools she has that sits on that pageant’s board. They had no reason to believe that Stephanie’s playing with Tarot Cards would have an effect on her decision as a judge in a pageant. Further, she listed that activity as a hobby, not as her religion. Canadian Prime Minister King during the Second World War read tea leaves and talked with his dead mother but that didn’t make him any less competent to be the leader of our country during those war years.

Miss Hunter and her twerpy board members probably operate on the premise that if a rose smells better than cabbage, then it follows that a rose would make a better soup.