Who is to Blame?

It’s been about a week since United Airlines, assaulted and dragged a paying customer off their 3411 flight to Louisville.

Since the incident, United CEO Oscar Munoz has made multiple attempts at a public apology for the events that transpired.  At the same time, he has praised the crew’s behavior and labeled the victim as “disruptive and belligerent” in a letter to his staff.

It’s no surprise the airline chose to label the victim as a troublemaker to divert from their own actions, but in addition the media’s response to the situation has promoted victim blaming behavior.

The blood hadn’t even dried on Dr. David Dao’s broken nose before the media pried into his past. Soon the headlines of the day started with “troubled doctor with a checkered past” or “dark details emerge on United Airlines doctor’s criminal past”.  As if the assault on this man could be justified by actions he committed over 10 years ago. 

The media’s obsession with finding faults in a victim’s past is nothing new, but it is something that needs to stop. Take for example, the black men who have been shot and killed by policemen in the last couple of years.

When Eric Gardner was killed in 2014, he was labeled a thug, whose death was consequence for breaking the law and being combative with police officers. A video was released showing Eric Gardner questioning authority, something we all have a right to do, and ultimately dying for it. Video proved this man was murdered by the police but rather than it being used as evidence against police brutality, it was used to perpetuate a narrative that criminalized him and blamed his death on disobedience.

One of the biggest instances of victim blaming is in cases of rape or violence against women.

Clementine Ford’s  sums up the way the media views victims and perpetrators, “I see a pattern emerging in rape culture that suggests women have a past, while men have a potential. When women are violated, we ask ‘what did you do to deserve this?’ And their past is looked for clues. When men violate women, they’re asked ‘what do you have to lose?’ And their future is looked at for clues.”

Convicted rapist Brock Turner, was portrayed as a good student and gifted athlete. The public was continuously reminded that he was a great swimmer with Olympic potential whose future was in jeopardy. Meanwhile, the victim was interrogated for her behavior that night.

Natasha Slott Despoja, the Founding Chairperson of Our Watch, wrote in the Huffington Post, “Research shows, one barrier to social change is the way the media sustains the misconception that women are responsible for men’s use of violence and that women can play a role in prevention by modifying their own behavior.” This narrative proves especially dangerous in our society because it places the burden of proving innocence on the victim and not the perpetrator.

There are some who may argue that, a person’s past is an indicator of who they are and it allows you to see the whole person. But what is left out of these arguments is the bias that each person brings to the table.  It’s allowing for the victim’s dignity to be stripped away little by little.

When details of past offenses come to light and are reported on, we begin to judge the victim for no reason other than our own cultural biases. The actions of their past are used to destroy their character as means to justify what has happened to them. When we dig into people’s past, and find that they weren’t perfect, we begin to devalue them as humans and forget they were the victims. 

They did not ask to be a part of the story. Something terrible happened to them and they shouldn’t have to fight two battles at once. As people, we should demand for better coverage of these issues. Let the media know, we don’t care about a victim’s past as it has no impact on their present situation. We need to be advocates and allies for victims instead of feasting on irrelevant sensationalized histories.

After all, how many of us would have a perfect past to present to a nationwide audience?