Out of Nigeria - or Who Wants to be Miss World?

It was a nightmare waiting to happen. Having an international competition in a country like Nigeria whose internal situation has been shall we say something much less than stable for at least the last decade was a sure ticket to a public riot. Then came a totally unsubstantiable, unverifiable, complete this-is-purely-my-opinion claim from a Nigerian journalist that if the Prophet Mohammed were alive, he would marry one of the Miss World contestants. For obvious reasons (mainly that Mohammed has been dead more than 1350 years and hence will not marry anybody - Miss World or otherwise), the Prophet was not available to respond to the allegations.

With Mohammed weighing into the pageant, Nigeria's Christian population decided to start some rather unholy warfare of its own. Apparently the journalist who interceeded as Mohammed's wedding planner thought better than to ask any other Prophets or possessors of divine skill their views on Miss World. Thus began the complete mayhem that ruled the pageant's host country for several days. When organizers decided to move the pageant from Nigeria to London, more than 200 people were already killed.

Somewhere in all this bitterness, something very basic was lost or forgotten or selectively ignored. Miss World is just a beauty pageant. The reason it was supposed to be held in Nigeria is that the reigning Miss World's home country hosts the next year's pageant as the outgoing Miss World's final duties. Miss World is not the intternational version of the US reality TV show The Batchelor. Miss World is not usually a big ratings draw for global TV audiences. The winner usually comes from some obscure country that denies women equal rights to men or applies strictly predetermined roles for women.

Think: Who is the current Miss World? She is from Nigeria. You know that because that is this year's pageant was supposed to happen. But her name?...And who was Miss World before Nigeria won the contest? Still drawing a mental blank? You are in good company.

Like most international competitions, the basic purpose of Miss World is to bring tourist money into the host country. It is a chance for these developing countries to have a few moments of free attention for something besides civil wars and unprovoked massacres. But when the massacre comes to Miss World, bye-bye good press, and bye-bye pageant.

None of this of course is intended as a denegration of the women who compete for Miss World. Those contestants work long and diligently to win that prize, and they take their roles of representing their countries very seriously. While valid arguments exist against holding these pageants, if people want to participate in them, that is 100% their choice. But it could sensibly be suggested that events like Miss World, Miss Universe, and all the other pageant circuit contests only exploit the talents of their contestants. Ask yourself this: How many of these contest winners have gone on to successful careers using the talent or interview skills or even the swimsuit look abilities they displayed at the pageant? Very few. Most of them do go on to successful careers, but the opportunity they have by virtue of winning the title is usually brushed aside. Hence the perception that these pageants serve no purpose other than choosing the prettiest face, and what purpose does that serve in the scheme of long-term events?

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