September 22, 2014

Watch John Oliver Explain Just How Mind-Bogglingly Ridiculous Beauty Pageants Are


Beauty pageants are a pretty insane and demeaning thing for us to still be doing as a society in 2014. I mean, yes, Miss Congeniality was an OK film, but the sequel was awful. Also, the whole thing—beauty pageants, not the Miss Congeniality franchise—sort of stinks of sexism and mores best left to rot in the ’50s.

Here’s John Oliver taking the Miss America pageant (and its somehow more mockable competitor Miss USA) to task.

Also read: “Are Disney Princesses Evil?“

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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