A note right up front: I despise the very notion of aristocracy. To me, “regicide” is not a criminal action, more of a praisworthy public service. Anyone who would claim that he or she should have the right to rule others merely due to heredity needs to be taken out back, given a good thumping and dumped in the nearest canal. But hey, I’m an American, not a Brit, so the Brits can have any system they like, no skin off my nose.
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Still, reading this story and watching the related video makes me wonder just what the hell’s in the water over there in Britainland. (Note: I’m not sure, but I’m thinking that this might not be the most reliable and dignified of news sources).
Prince Harry video nasty that will spark outrage
OK, so Prince Harry, third in line to the throne, must’ve said something *really* insane, yes?
The soldier prince pours shame on the Royal Family as he calls an Asian squaddie “our little Paki friend” and tells another officer cadet jokingly wearing a camouflage veil off duty: “F*** me, you look like a raghead”—an offensive term for an Arab.
Errr…. what?
Last night Clarence House issued an APOLOGY for his behaviour in the shocking video diary—in which Harry is often behind the camera giving a foul-mouthed commentary.
And the Ministry of Defence said last night: “This sort of language is not acceptable in a modern army.”
Errrr….. ummmm…. WHAT??
And, of course, the usual pack of braying jackasses come out of the woodwork:
THE Equality and Human Rights Commission last night demanded a formal inquiry into Prince Harry’s jibes, as Muslim groups and leading MPs slammed the Prince.
Oh, no! A soldier said “raghead!” The horror! The horror!
If Britain is to have any future as a nation of respect, power and dignity, it needs to respond to this sort of invented outrage not with wailing over “how can he have said such a horrible thing,” but with a “yeah, so frakin’ what?”
You don’t lead a successful nation into the future by wailing over every perceived verbal slight. You don’t charge into the future with an attitude of “let’s not offend anyone.” You lead it with an attitude more along the lines of “Yes, they deserved to die and I hope they burn in hell!” If you allow the professionally offended to successfully make a case out of every piddling little offhanded remark, they will tear your country down.
So, here I’m a little torn. I’m actually coming down on the side of having the jug-earred, knock-kneed inbred “prince” not totally wussing out, and instead saying what needs to be said.
2 Responses to “Generating artificial outrage”
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First, I think the ‘outrage’ over Prince Harry’s comments is OTT. I mean, “Soldier in racial epithet shocker!” doesn’t have the same ring.
On the ‘Regicide’ comments – the Monarchy in the UK don’t ‘rule’ in the old-fashioned sense, and I doubt they think they’re better than the rest of us. To be honest, I’d think they’d love to skip the constant scrutiny and hide in the masses if they could.
The only thing the UK Monarch can actually do these days is dismiss the government if it has lost the support of a vast majority of the people. We’re talking people on barricades time – not Political Polls showing drops in support. It’s a nice double-edged sword, as if the Monarch exercises the power without good reason then they may well find themselves out of a job once the dust settles.
Apart from that they are consigned to an odd life of having the trappings of power and wealth, but having to fulfill governmental duties almost every hour of the day. Not a job I’d like.
I like the system myself, as it provides a check against both populist governments abusing their powers or unpopular governments trying to hold onto power at all costs. Also, it’s worked so far – so why change it?
> it’s worked so far – so why change it?
I’m not suggesting y’all do so. No monarchs or aristocrats are trying to rule over Americans (well, apart from the Kennedys, but I don’t live in Massachussetts), so it doesn’t matter to me what other nations are doing with themselves. As soon as Prince Chuck assumes the throne as King and decides that it’s time to take “the colonies” back and install himself as the new and improved hereditary leader of *me,* that’s when it’s time to go all Lenin on his ass.
> The only thing the UK Monarch can actually do these days is dismiss the government…
And abdicate. IIRC, Eddie did just that back in the 1930’s. And because of love of a woman of all things.
*THAT* I can respect.