Miss Holocaust Beauty Pageant

the title says it all.  i would say 'only in america,' but this pageant was held recently in Israel, and sponsored by a holocaust-remembrance group. there are pix in the newspaper article of the women strutting in their gowns, being made-up, etc.  presumably they didn't have a talent contest, but maybe surviving was considered a talent: each one told her story.  even seeing this in a still photo, i had the sense i was on an acid trip watching the old "Queen for a Day' show.  how do you judge the best holocaust story? 'well, miss haifa's story is very moving--watching her parents die of typhus....but is it as good as miss tel aviv's memory of being gang raped in front of the gas chamber?... but you gotta admit she looks great for an 85-year-old who went through all that! and how gracefully she walks!' okay, i made up the quotes. but i can get by with it--nothing i could possibly say could match the tastelessness and vulgarity and trivializing of the whole concept.  'springtime for hitler' was meant to be funny. this wasn't.  maybe instead of the conga line they all danced to, they should have done the chorus dance to that song, shaping themselves into a swastica.

beauty contests themselves are horribly demeaning events, even if the winner plays vivaldi on a banjo while knitting a flag.  to combine it with the holocaust....shit, what else can i say?  sickening.