Blaming the Victim: Aftermath of Nigerian Miss World Fiasco
The violent riots in Nigeria were at least partly triggered by the presence of the Miss World pageant. The direct cause for the explosion was some remarks by a journalist that were considered offensive to conservative Muslems.
Some feminists in the west blamed the Miss World contest. One even stated that "these girls will be wearing swim wear dripping with blood." The president of Nigeria blamed "irresponsible journalism." The female journalist responsible for the offending article, not a Muslim, has supposedly fled to the US, after a fatwa was issued encouraging Muslems everywhere to kill her (later annulled by a body of Nigerian clerics).
A heated debate followed whether you can really blame the media or the pageant for the violent conduct of extremists. What really counts against those who want to blame the pageant was that I failed to see them warning before the fact that organising Miss World in a religiously divided, volatile country was irresponsible. Hindsight is always 20/20. After all, the direct reason Nigeria was supposed to arrange Miss World 2002 was that Agbani Daregbo (picture) of Nigeria won the title in 2001. Nigeria was thus a natural choice, and the authorities warmly welcomed the pageant.
The "blame" debate follows a well known pattern. And, as is often the case, it is a discussion of what you mean by 'blaming' and 'causing.' Consider a local example. A chief of police recently caused an outcry from feminists by stating that some women should be a bit smarter and not get into situations where they risked being raped, like going home with an unknown man. Immediately he was accused of blaming the victim.
Now, if this was not about an emotional subject like sex and rape, I doubt anyone would have reacted. If someone points out that it is unwise to flaunt a fat wallet in a shady bar, I doubt many would say he or she was 'blaming the victim' if the person was later mugged.
There are two kinds of responsibility: a moral responsibility, where you have done something ethically wrong and suffer the consequences, and a causal responsibility, where you may have done something unwise but not ethically wrong. It is totally clear that a woman acting 'provocatively' (whatever that may mean) or a man flautning a fat wallet in a shady area has no moral responsibility if they are subject to a crime. The moral blame for a rape or a mugging rests solely with the criminal, and any claim of "provocation" should be firmly rejected as even a mitigating circumstance.
Yet, it must still be possible to argue that since we don't live in an ideal world, and there exists religious fanatics, predatory men and muggers, it is wise to take certain precautions.
Whether that includes not arranging beauty pageants in Muslim countries is of course another debate entirely. I don't see the justification for requiring half a country's population to walk on eggshells to avoid provoking an angry, deranged minority who will resort to the most extreme acts of violence at the drop of a hat. I can understand the discomfort most Nigerians will have these days with the humiliation their country experienced. I don't at all understand the so-called liberal Muslems and their pathetically cowardly leftist allies in the west who call the Miss World pageant a 'provocation.' Rather, the extemists seem to have been all-too-eager to allow themselves to be provoced. I don't doubt for a second that the offending newspaper article was merely a convenient excuse for radical islamists in Nigeria to cause the riots.
Yet, for outsiders, the whole tragedy serves as a warning. You don't flaunt your fat wallet in a shady neighbourgood, and you don't show scantily clad women in a country with a strong presence of Islamists without expecting serious trouble. That is the sad state of affairs, as long as extremists persist in not allowing others the freedom to make different choices for how to live their lives.
A heated debate followed whether you can really blame the media or the pageant for the violent conduct of extremists. What really counts against those who want to blame the pageant was that I failed to see them warning before the fact that organising Miss World in a religiously divided, volatile country was irresponsible. Hindsight is always 20/20. After all, the direct reason Nigeria was supposed to arrange Miss World 2002 was that Agbani Daregbo (picture) of Nigeria won the title in 2001. Nigeria was thus a natural choice, and the authorities warmly welcomed the pageant.