Beauty Contests and Sports Are Rigged? Say it Ain't So, Joe! (They Are)

Well, well, well... Lookie here. What do we have? Another rigged beauty contest? How timely and perfect for the Euros! (That's European soccer for some of you folks). How timely and perfect and a total reflection of our broken economy and society...

Artwork and photograph by Mike Rogers (please use freely!)

As I wrote in Quite Coincidental Results of Miss Universe Beauty Contests, Games and Sports After Japan Disasters

In the seminal George Orwell book, 1984, the protagonist Winston Smith is at his office working. He gets up from his desk and heads to the restroom. There he is greeted by his boss. His boss asks Winston if he saw the 'big game' last night. Winston answers in the negative. Then the boss says something like,

"Wow! That was an exciting finish to a very exciting game! That's the best script we've written in a long time!" 

I think most people can already get what I am implying here. What I want to say is not a negative comment, nor a positive one. I am merely making  an observation as to the way things are and run in this world.

It doesn't matter if it's sports, or elections, news or even beauty pageants; if big money is involved you can bet that a big factor of "entertainment" and "drama" is indelibly tied into the result.

Let me give you some recent examples:

Japan suffers the worst natural calamity in centuries.... That year Japan's Women's Soccer team wins the world championship for the first time in their history...

A year later, the winner of the Miss Universe Japan 2012 beauty contest comes from the prefecture that was worst hit by the earthquake and tsunami...

In 1995, Kobe was devastated by the Great Hanshin Earthquake... Quite coincidentally, I'm sure, the Kobe baseball team, the Orix Blue Wave, won the championship in 1995 and 1996.

I also added in: Sumo is Fixed Like All Other Pro Sports

Take the example of CBS who used to do the Superbowl every year. CBS sells commercial time on the Superbowl for tens of millions of dollars. CBS wants to sell 4 or 5 hours of this commercial time to a sponsor.

If the games are blowouts and 70% the viewers turn off their TVs before the first half ends, sponsors are very upset. When sponsors are upset, the TV stations are very upset. Why? Because, if games are boring and people tune out, if this happens too much and too often then sponsors won't want to spend big money next year because they fear the same thing will happen.

If the sponsors don't pay big money, then who doesn't make big money? The league and team owners.

If you are an American, you might remember the Denver Broncos getting to the Superbowl in the early 1980s. They got blown out two years in a row. The games were basically over 1/2 way through the second quarter. The viewers turned their sets off. There haven't been any blowouts since then. Is it any wonder why?

Like I said, pro sports are a big business. The leagues have a product to sell. That product is supposed to be an exciting sports event that last for 4 hours and is profitable to their mass media partners too. When the game is over after 45 minutes, there are some very unhappy sponsors and media partners.

The league cannot afford to have that.

Yes, and it's not just sexy Japanese girls and big time sports in Japan... Today we have girls involved with the Miss American contest claiming "the fix was in" at the recent Miss America contest. Fox News (hold your nose) reports in: EXCLUSIVE: Second Miss USA Contestant says she overheard list of Top 5 finalists before live announcement.

Another Miss USA contestant has come forward saying she heard Miss Florida Karina Brez reveal the list of finalists backstage before the pageant’s Top 15 were even announced.

“I saw Florida backstage and she was very, very flustered and upset. I thought it might be because she didn’t make the top 15 cut, but at that point she was able to reveal to me at least four of the five names who went on to be the top girls,” the contestant, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told FOXNews.com exclusively. “She couldn’t remember the fifth because she was so upset. Several of the girls then started hearing through the grapevine about a list; a lot of people were upset.”

Miss Pennsylvania Sheena Monnin first accused the Donald Trump-owned Miss USA pageant of rigging the competition last week. Monnin claimed Brez said she had seen a list of the top five finalists hours before last Sunday’s live telecast even started.

“Apparently the morning of June 3rd [Brez] saw a folder lying open to a page that said 'FINAL SHOW Telecast, June 3, 2012' and she saw the places for Top 5 already filled in,” Monnin wrote on her Facebook page.

I can only add to this farce that there really should be no surprise to anyone in this news and that anyone who is surprised and incredulous is living in fantasy-land. We live in a world where just about everything is fixed.

Our elections are fixed.

Our beauty contests are fixed.

Our sports are fixed.

Our economy and our stock market are fixed.

You can bet your bottom dollar that, as the money involved with any sort of event, contest or enterprise increases, so does the corruption.

The only people who don't believe so are dreaming.

'Give them bread and circuses and they will never revolt' - Roman poet Juvenal (1st and 2nd century AD)

Yeah, but don't worry about it, folks. The new season of American Idol starts real soon.


NOTE: Are you a fan of the extremely popular American TV show, "House Hunters"? Well, you'll love this: "House Hunters:" Subjects say it's fake

Quite Coincidental Results of Miss Universe Beauty Contests, Games and Sports After Japan Disasters

Now, that the Miss Universe Japan contest is over and my dear friend Andrew over at the "It's a Wonderful Rife" blog picked the winner (the guy does have good taste!) I have an observation that I'd like to share with you.

sexy Japanese girls

This observation comes from years of working in the mass media and in marketing. It is an observation on something that happens so repeatedly I am surprised that it seems that few others notice it.

In the seminal George Orwell book, 1984, the protagonist Winston Smith is at his office working. He gets up from his desk and heads to the restroom. There he is greeted by his boss. His boss asks Winston if he saw the 'big game' last night. Winston answers in the negative. Then the boss says something like,

"Wow! That was an exciting finish to a very exciting game! That's the best script we've written in a long time!" 

"I wouldn't kick any of them out of bed for eating sembei!"

I think most people can already get what I am implying here. What I want to say is not a negative comment, nor a positive one. I am merely making  an observation as to the way things are and run in this world.

It doesn't matter if it's sports, or elections, news or even beauty pageants; if big money is involved you can bet that a big factor of "entertainment" and "drama" is indelibly tied into the result.

Let me give you some recent examples:

Japan suffers the worst natural calamity in centuries.... That year Japan's Women's Soccer team wins the world championship for the first time in their history...

A year later, the winner of the Miss Universe Japan 2012 beauty contest comes from the prefecture that was worst hit by the earthquake and tsunami...

In 1995, Kobe was devastated by the Great Hanshin Earthquake... Quite coincidentally, I'm sure, the Kobe baseball team, the Orix Blue Wave, won the championship in 1995 and 1996.

There's a ton more of examples like this... Remember a few years back when Japan and Korea hosted the 2002 World Cup and Korea met powerhouse Spain? Yeah, Spain lost to Korea. In the final 10 minutes of the game, three goals by Spain were called back. Now, I'm not saying that game was "fixed" per say... But, face it folks, the World Soccer League is a business like any other. The Asian countries all had lots of money and any business knows that expansion into Asia is a smart and profitable move... The league knows that the local leagues must succeed and do well at home. This, of course, made for a situation whereby the league tries to arrange, how do you say? Better and more accommodating conditions for the Japanese and Korean teams.   

I think Japan finished in the top 8. Korea finished in the top 4. Neither of them have ever been in the top 16 (32?) before or since. You judge for yourself what that implies.

And don't think for a moment that this is confined to Japan and soccer... It happens in the USA and Europe for ALL major sports events. The bigger the money involved, the more corrupt the results will be. Please refer to Sumo is Fixed Like All Other Pro Sports

Take the example of CBS who used to do the Superbowl every year. CBS sells commercial time on the Superbowl for tens of millions of dollars. CBS wants to sell 4 or 5 hours of this commercial time to a sponsor.

If the games are blowouts and 70% the viewers turn off their TVs before the first half ends, sponsors are very upset. When sponsors are upset, the TV stations are very upset. Why? Because, if games are boring and people tune out, if this happens too much and too often then sponsors won't want to spend big money next year because they fear the same thing will happen.

If the sponsors don't pay big money, then who doesn't make big money? The league and team owners.

If you are an American, you might remember the Denver Broncos getting to the Superbowl in the early 1980s. They got blown out two years in a row. The games were basically over 1/2 way through the second quarter. The viewers turned their sets off. There haven't been any blowouts since then. Is it any wonder why?

Like I said, pro sports are a big business. The leagues have a product to sell. That product is supposed to be an exciting sports event that last for 4 hours and is profitable to their mass media partners too. When the game is over after 45 minutes, there are some very unhappy sponsors and media partners.

The league cannot afford to have that.

Now, many people will get angry at what I am saying here... But it's true. 

The girl who won the Miss Universe Japan Beauty Contest is a very beautiful girl and she deserves to win... I'm not taking anything away from her. But don't think for a moment that she didn't get special attention because of where she's from. I think it would be foolish to entertain the thought that she didn't.

In the case of this Miss Universe contest, the folks who run these contests also have concerns about public image and Corporate Social Responsibility. They also don't want to be seen as exploiting women so they want to put the best face forward and show that their contest is good and beneficial for society. Miss Miyagi winning this contest brings much good publicity and business to that devastated area. 

Miyagi needs good news, no?

It's good that Miss Miyagi won the contest but don't think for a minute that the disaster, pain, suffering and memory of March 11 didn't help the give the judges more consideration of her over the other girls.

The contest is, after all, run like a business.

Twitter Censorship? Not Good News.

(See BIG updates on this story at bottom)

Is Twitter guilty of censorship and Algorithmic Propaganda? Have they stepped over the line and gotten themselves involved with taking sides in political turmoil? Are they just another tool in the government's arsenal of propaganda? Is the new doll of Social Media and marketing, Twitter, guilty of censoring topics that make them and their stock-holders feel uncomfortable? Could Twitter be the newest member of the American Military-Industrial Complex? (Wow! Pretty sensational stuff, eh?) 

Let's hope not... But, I hate to say, this doesn't look too good for Twitter. Read on and you decide.

There's trouble brewing in Twitter-land, my friends...The word on the Blogosphere is that Twitter was censoring the #flotilla hashtag during the Israeli raids on May 31 on the ships that were heading to Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid.

At any given time, on the Twitter sidebar, one can see what is trending. At one point during the raids,   the #flotilla hashtag or information pertaining to  "Deaths on Convoys" (etc.) were ranking in the top. Then suddenly, as soon as they shot to the top, they were gone; these topics were completely "disappeared."

After their disappearance, if you searched for the #flotilla hashtag you got a result saying, "Twitter error." This was highly suspicious and, I suspect, the catalyst for many thinking that Twitter was censoring the #flotilla hashtag because most of the Tweets were critical of Israel.

Trendsmap shows Twitter hashtags being used following the attack by Israel on the convoy to Gaza

Now, when I say that Twitter might be guilty of manipulation and censorship, don't think that I am talking out of my hat. Already, twice in the past, Twitter has freely admitted to manipulating the trending sidebar. Once, during the Iran elections, after a call from the US State Department (when a revolution was supposedly going on when there wasn't one at all), Twitter voluntarily "disappeared" information from Iran and "#iranelections" in particular.

The second time that Twitter intentionally disappeared something was Justin Bieber. Laughable, but true. Yes, it's ridiculous, but Twitter did this. As many of you might know, Justin is an international teenage star. So when Justin was trending at the top, day-in and day-out, the management of Twitter decided that they were tired of seeing Justin Bieber's name at the top of the trending topics so they deleted his topics...

Justin Bieber's photo cunningly placed here just to irritate Twitter management

Yes, I too, would like to see Justin Bieber "disappeared" also (just kidding, of course), but on Twitter? Is that incredibly anal-retentive or what? I'm sure the management of Twitter would have never done this if the top trending artist was someone they personally liked like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones or Barry Manilow.

So, did Twitter manipulate trends during the Israeli attack on the humanitarian mission? They are keeping their mouths shut for now, but this smells bad and the Blogosphere is demanding actions!

But, one thing remains, as can be gleamed from the #iranelections and Justin Bieber stories, is that  Twitter is culpable - as they have freely admitted - to news manipulation. Now the word on the Blogosphere is that Twitter has stepped over the line and is guilty of censorship and playing politics. If so, shame on you Twitter!

I think this does not bode well for the future of Twitter. You saw some of the repercussions to the MSM (Mainstream Media) after news manipulation before, during, and after the Iraq War. I don't think that, in this age of lightening quick communication that a company, like Twitter, can benefit by this sort of Skullduggery.

George Orwell's 1984

When Twitter manipulates the Trend-bar on the side, it's exactly the same as how Wall Street manipulates prices and that is criminal... A far better, and much older example, would be the "Memory Hole" down which Winston Smith "disappeared" people and news items in the classic, 1984.

What's next for Twitter? Manipulating and selling their top ranked slots like Billboard Magazine does for its music charts?

Like I said, I am not happy about this information concerning Twitter and think it is an infringement on our rights as a free people. The Internet was supposed to be the media that freed us from the bonds of the old media. If Twitter doesn't change its ways, then this could be the beginning of a long slide and they will lose me as a user....

Losing me as a user doesn't hurt Twitter much at all, but losing me and 100 million other teeny-bopper Justin Bieber fans probably does hurt. And with Twitter pushing very hard in Japan - a country full of apolitical people - I could see how they could need this market more desperately than ever...  Especially if they keep up this censorship in the west and there comes a time when people boycott Twitter or it gets a bad name.

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UPDATE! In what could be good news! According to Guardian UK, Twitter did not intentionally censor #flotilla. The Guardian article update states:

So: shock as Twitter not being used to censor news. But it does show the enormous sensitivity there now is about Twitter's impartiality that any suggestion that a world event might be pushed out of its "trending topics" (displayed on the right-hand column of every Twitter user's home page) can create such frustration.


(Admittedly, the Guardian UK is old school MSM and, as such, information from them is to be taken with a grain of salt.)


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UPDATE TWO! Yep! Twitter did it! They manipulated the "trending"!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/09/iran-twitter-revolution-protests

From that article: Twitter’s ‘Trending Topics’ index was manipulated has been confirmed. By manipulating ‘green revolution’ and other # tags to float up the index, Twitter was able to manufacture a #revolution that for the most part, was grossly exaggerated.  Whether or not Twitter simply did this purely for marketing purposes or was hacked by the Pentagon to help sell more weapons has yet to be disclosed.

• Iran’s ‘Twitter revolution’ was exaggerated, says editor

Thanks to Max Keiser 

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* If you would like to check daily, weekly or monthly trends on Twitter, go to here: Trendistic 

* From my point of view, as they say, "A picture speaks a thousand words" since Pick is better for photos than Twitter, then Pick looks much better day by day. Pick: http://naver.jp/mikeintokyorogers

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Keywords:  marketing, Social Media, Twitter, Pick, Justin Bieber, George Orwell, 1984, Internet, Japan, censorship, manipulation, market, media, #flotilla, hashtag, Mike Rogers, Marketing Japan, Mike in Tokyo Rogers