In defense of major major
By figurativeme
@figurativeme (1089)
Philippines
August 25, 2010 6:31am CST
So much ado over the "major major lapse of Venus Raj. She must have gone through a battery of interviews for the duration of the Ms. Universe competition and breezed through it to have made it to Top 5.
You can just imagine the tension and the stress she was hiding behind a confident mask...the higher you are, the greater the tension and the greater the stress. Being one of the top 5 is in itself a great feat. Let us give her that.
And while we are at it, my curiosity was aroused by this blooper and wondered if there are other bloopers during beauty pageants. Lo and Behold! Ms. Universe 2004 got the embarrassment (far more greater than Venus Raj) when she accidentally exposed her behind to the public to the uproar of perhaps everybody who was there, not to mention the viewing public.
Ms. USA for the Ms. Universe 2008 tripped and fell while walking in her gown though she recovered gracefully by clapping her hand and walking on. Although this did not stopped people from talking about this, like what is happening right now with Ms. Raj.
Anyway, everybody make mistakes, and unfortunately for Venus Raj, hers was a very public one. But as the saying goes....to err is human to forgive is divine...in a major major way! LOL!
2 people like this
13 responses
@merraine1428 (445)
• Philippines
26 Aug 10
Venus did a great job. i just can't understand why other people keep bugging and playing around her answer, we can't do anything about it anyway.
@figurativeme (1089)
• Philippines
28 Aug 10
Hi merraine! True...it's done and there is nothing we can about it. What we can do however is to focus on the positive. Enough of the negative.
@salonga (27775)
• Philippines
26 Aug 10
Well it is easy to blame Ms. Raj. It is but natural for the people especially the Filipinos who are expecting too much from her. In fact she could have emerged the biggest winner has she only answered the question smartly and correctly. Her answer did not actually answer the question. The judge is asking about mistake and not problem. Well we must just understand that it is a hard,a very hard situation to answer an spontaneous question and it so happened that the question she got is quite hard. I believe if she only used an interpreter she could have answered the question much much better. Look at the Ms. Mexico and she even won.
Now I would admit though that of all the 5 contestants, Venus sounded the poorest in the Q&A portions. Of course all the 5 were tensed and nervous but the 4 were able to answer intelligently. Only Venus was unable. It is quite embarrassing for the Filipinos who are considered one of the best in the English language.
Nevertheless, at least Venus was able to place number 5. Her beauty was a standout it is just that she is not smart enough.
@salonga (27775)
• Philippines
26 Aug 10
Sorry for the typo. I meant "In fact she could have emerged the biggest winner had she only answered the question smartly and correctly.
@julyteen (13252)
• Davao, Philippines
27 Aug 10
That wasn't major major mistakes by any candidates who are very tense and excited. There's a mixed feelings has Venus at that time. She can't believe it she was among the Top 5, she might also felt nervous and worried, thinking her countrymen what will happen if she won. She maybe confused although she said she was a positive woman but if she focus on the questions she directly answers related to his major major mistakes in life. To make the long story short, that crown is not for her so don't bother ourselves and blame her. She did a good job being among the Top 5.
@lalay1976 (330)
• Philippines
29 Aug 10
Objectively speaking Venus Raj could have given a better answer than that. A lot thinks she did poorly with her answer (and so did the judges). Let's admit it that her answer lacked substance and let's move on. Still, to be a 4th runner up is no mean feat. She still made us proud. Let's be thankful for that.
@kleineanne (62)
• Philippines
25 Aug 10
Very well said, figurative me! Venus did well, reaching top 5 in this biggest beauty pageant is not simple (though I am guilty for using that blooper for a couple of days now, lol!).
Kudos to Venus for uplifting our spirits despite all the negativity we had a day before the pageant.
@figurativeme (1089)
• Philippines
25 Aug 10
Thanks lots for your reply. After reading all the unforgiving comments, I just empathized with her and imagine what she is feeling. It must be terrible.
@manilatop10 (371)
• Philippines
30 Aug 10
I personally think that the media has over scrutinized the use of the word major twice and fell short on examining the content of her answer :)
I agree with Gloria Diaz on introducing more interpreters into competitions here in the Philippines and was amazed to read of the knee-jerk backlash that she received.
It is an accepted practice and should be embraced since it does not limit the contestants ability to select to respond in the manner they can now but rather gives them MORE options to shine!
Well, I even just got an email from Cebu Pacific on major, major deals and I know Venus has had some fun with it since she is of tough exterior :)
Thank goodness she was not sold for 60,000 as her mother reported was offered!
I have written a few comments post Las Vegas here as well; please review if time permits.
http://www.manilatop10.com/manila-people.html
Eric
@xtedaxcvg (3189)
• Philippines
25 Aug 10
I think the main reason she went to the top five is because of her beauty and confidence. She's also graceful and that I think gave her the advantage. That one flaw was when she answered the question in a not-so-good way gave her the last spot. She confessed in one of her interviews that she was very nervous and who wouldn't?
@rsa101 (37968)
• Philippines
26 Aug 10
I like that kind of outlook of things. I think the major major was just part of the Filipino Language we have this tendency to really love repeating words to emphasize a point and I guess we can see that in our culture. If you will notice that she speaks like "thank you thank you" as well in interviews, which is also a common habit that we do unconsciously. 
Let us admit that we are also practicing this in many occasions as well. It just happened that Ms. Venus brought that habit on stage in front of millions of watches all over the world. That is why we first took noticed of that major major thing in the question and answer portion.
Let us admit that we are also practicing this in many occasions as well. It just happened that Ms. Venus brought that habit on stage in front of millions of watches all over the world. That is why we first took noticed of that major major thing in the question and answer portion.
@aaronfyzeon (1920)
• Philippines
25 Aug 10
I totally agree on this! Very well said. Venus has beauty and brains. Even the most intelligent people have some lapses like what happened to her. But these intelligent people who are spreading all of the negative comments to her don't HAVE BEAUTY LIKE THAT with what she has. You go girl!!!! Hands down to you!
@ree_yah (462)
• Philippines
26 Aug 10
yeah!! to miss philippines venus raj.... u go girl!!!
let all of the people say what they want... well.. ur in the top 5 at least.. theres nothing to be ashamed of.
after what happened to the hostage situation in the philippines, being in the top 5 in the ms universe copetition is a great achievement....
:) girl power!!
@davenhearst (327)
• Philippines
26 Aug 10
being the top 5 finalists is a great achievement of venus and our country already let's be proud to her
@iamagayshark (15)
•
25 Aug 10
I agree with you :D it takes a lot of time and effort to ever be on that stage and I congratulate her for reaching what she did.
Though I don't really get why a lot of people are fussing over her Major Major mistake... Well, i do think its funny, but its better to laugh at it once, than to make dozens of fan pages of Facebook, or make it a trending topic on twitter, maybe sooner or later it'll be in Tumblr and hopefully not in failblog.
Do you think its jealousy whats driving the people in laughing at he major mistake?
I've seen the people talking about her, all day and I can well say that I bet they can't do a better job than what Venus did.
@jgedrick (1)
•
26 Aug 10
I totally agree. I don't know why the heck it became a huge issue. I mean, seriously? Venus has gone far for besting the other 78 contestants who didn't make the cut. Let's just be thankful that she was able to make the final five rather than being a thank-you girl. We, Filipinos, should learn how to be contented with her placement. Just imagine if she didn't make the cut? Pageant fans will surely get a major major depression if she didn't make it. I'd rather have her in the 4th place rather than no placement at all.
