Over the past few years St. Lucia’s premier beauty pageant has deteriorated drastically, but not in the way that most would imagine. We would have to agree that the ladies who participate in this national contest are courageous, talented and beautiful. What is not beautiful is the caliber and quality of the fans and supporters of this annual event.
Over the past few years contestants have suffered cyber bullying, all manner of unsavory comments being made on social media and on the crowning night. We have even seen a bottle being thrown at a winning contestant. These days we are at a whole new level.
This year we have moved to threatening violence. According to officials of the pageant’s organizing committee, security had to be engaged on behalf of the winning contestant because of serious threats being made by so-called pageant supporters. What ever happened to the elegance and the pure entertainment that was associated with this occasion?
It is grossly unfair to the young contestants who put their heart into participating and to the organizers working tirelessly to pull off a good show.
It appears that the concept of competition eludes us, the one that suggests that one will win and the other will not, or in the case of the pageant, there will be a queen, and the others will be runners-up.
Admittedly all supporters who are not on the winning side will be disappointed and that is basic human nature. How we behave or react to not winning is what differentiates us from animals in the wild and even from them we can learn much on occasion.
It is becoming alarmingly dangerous for young ladies to participate in these events, so a solution is warranted urgently. Should the event be held behind closed doors? Should offenders be prosecuted? Should we now have security guards for contestants and for the queen for the months following the competition? Should the police have a bigger presence? Are the judges doing their jobs properly? Questions, Questions, Questions.
What is clear is that the atmosphere has changed for the worse and there is no indication it will be getting better soon. What do we do?
Are we proud of the anti-social examples of behavior that attend what was and must continue to be a festival of music, dance and national joie de vivre?
Maybe we should just ban the pageant all together. But then that would be like throwing away the baby with the bathwater.
We can, and must, do better.