What in the (Miss) World Are They Thinking?

Livingstone says Miss World is not welcome

Simon Jeffery
Tuesday November 26, 2002

Ken Livingstone, the London mayor, today urged the London venue hosting the Miss World contest to "reconsider its decision" to stage the beauty pageant. [...]

Announcing the change of venue, Miss World's organiser, Julia Morley, this morning said the contest bore no blame for the troubles.

"Miss World cannot be held responsible for the riots. They were down to one journalist who wrote something which inflamed the local people.  [...]

Whether the Miss World pagent "caused" the riots or not, I have to agree that going ahead and holding the pagent would be in very bad taste right now.

The issue here is not one of blame.  Following the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, there were several movies, albums and other entertainment pieces that were withdrawn, cancelled, or delayed because it was felt that they might provide too much of a reminder of what had happened and would be inappropriate to have out in the marketplace at that time.  During the recent sniper attacks in the Washington DC area, a movie about a sniper attack that was slated to be released soon was also delayed and for the same reason.

No one tried to imply that the movies, etc., were somehow to blame for the attacks.  That wasn't the point.  It was the idea that the images or concepts being presented might be disturbing for people who had lost their lives, loved ones or sense of security during the attacks, and the recognition that sometimes it is important to allow there to be some distance between a tragic event and things that could be reminiscent of them.

With the riots connected to the Miss World pagent, over 200 people have died, 1,200 have been injured and as many as 12,000 may have lost their homes.  The pagent, itself, did not cause the riots. But the riots are still connected to the pagent, and the pagent stands as a reminder to the losses suffered during the riots.  It would seem to be a matter of principle that the pagent be cancelled for this year out of consideration for those losses.