Everyday Ethics

The Miss USA pageant is certainly not something that most people interested in philosophy pay attention to.  Frankly, I’m a little shocked that they can find enough women to participate in this thing, since it’s clearly a contest that evaluates women as objects.  That aside, the recent Miss USA pageant produced an interesting sound bite from the first runner-up, Miss California, which raised a compelling ethical question.  Are people in positions of public prominence obligated to only mainstream, inoffensive political and social views?  Is there an ethical problem if express themselves in a way that is “un-PC”?

Le t me fill in some background, for those unfamiliar with the issue.  Miss California was asked a question about gay marriage, specifically with what she thought about the fact that many states have now made gay marriage legal.  Her response was that marriage should be between a man and a woman.  This was met by a chorus of boos from the crowd, and a scowl from one of the openly gay celebrity judges.  Later, she credited her politically incorrect reply with costing her the competition.

Several interesting questions emerge from this.  The first one comes from the reaction of one of the judges.  He expressed disgust with Miss California’s reply, explaining that the “correct” answer was that legalizing gay marriage should be up to individual states.  First, if a person is asked their opinion, how can there be a correct reply?  The only way to answer correctly is to express your actual opinion.  This judge’s comment reflects the insidious nature of contests like Miss USA.

In addition, why is declaring that gay marriage should be handled state-by-state less objectionable than thinking that marriage should only be between a man and a woman?  Wasn’t states rights the justification for secession during the Civil War?  It’s far from obvious that citing states rights is the “correct” answer, never mind being the politically correct answer.

The bigger issue from the standpoint of ethics is whether there is anything wrong with public personalities holding and expressing controversial opinions on social issues.  Part of the negative reaction received by Miss California’s reply seems to be that she openly expressed a controversial opinion, and the Miss USA people don’t want to be represented by someone with any kind of controversial view.  For marketing purposes, public personalities are better off having vague, ambiguous views about social issues, because there is less chance that anyone will get upset and be less likely to buy products as a result.

The problem here is that while the marketing suggests that uncontroversial opinions are preferable, ethics goes the other way.  If a person is asked about a controversial social issue, and they deliberately conceal their controversial views, they are lying to you.  This is especially problematic in the case of public figures, because they have an exorbitant amount of influence upon public opinion.  Not knowing what a public figure thinks about significant social issues has potentially dire consequences for those who don’t agree with them.

What the Miss USA debacle demonstrates is that the outcry that we often see over public figures making controversial statements is properly a matter of business and marketing, rather than ethics.  If I’m looking for a spokesperson, I want someone that everyone likes and that no one finds offensive.  But if I am looking for someone to publicly represent me and exert their influence over public opinion, I want to know what they really think, and they are obligated to tell the truth when I ask.  So despite disagreeing with her actual views, kudos to Miss California for taking her responsibility as a public figure seriously, whatever the consequences for her marketability may have been.

About the Author

Elijah Weber is a graduate student at Bowling Green State University. He holds a Master's degree in philosophy from Colorado State University, and Bachelor’s degrees in sociology and philosophy from Chapman Univerity. He currently lives in Bowling Green, Ohio with his wife Laura, his newborn son Brandon, and his feline life-partner Monte.