I do kind of wonder sometimes how people in the UK and the other countries that technically follow the british monarchy feel about him, do they actually care much about the tradition or symbolism of their monarchy these days seeing as they essentially exist as a generally powerless state-ordained celebrity, or is the tradition of it still popular? From my perspective as someone in the US, it feels so weird to consider the British monarchy outside the context of Elizabeth II that it honestly feels like it ought to have just died with her, even though I know thats not how monarchies work. Growing up she seemed just like some interesting anachronism the brits had where they used her as a national symbol, but the idea of the thing keeping going with new people in the modern day just feels silly at some level, like its a thing whose time has long since passed.
It’s kinda like when the President pardons a turkey at Thanksgiving. It’s silly isn’t it? Why do people in the US keep on doing that? Why not get rid of this silly tradition?
Because meh, whatever, some people like it so who cares. Right?
That’s the monarchy for most people. Just some silly tradition. Some people like it. Eliminating it would make a lot of people upset and what real change would that accomplish?
Here in Canada we’d have to get the Federal government and all the Provincial governments to agree (which never happens), probably have to have a referendum argue over what role a new head of state would have and all that for what? We could devote the same time and energy into getting agreement on something that would have a real world effect.
It’s a bit of a litmus test too. If someone is talking on and on about how important it is to do away with ending the tradition of pardoning turkeys, you kinda know this person doesn’t have any major problems in their life, right? Like if that’s the biggest problem they have with how things are being run, they probably have things pretty good.
Same goes for the monarchy. If someone is going on about how important to remove the monarchy they probably have things pretty good.
Also I think some people are just subservient types. In every country there’s going to be some people that feel the need to show their patriotism by expressing their loyalty to someone. And for some reason they need it to be someone that was born into a life of privilege and surrounds themself with gold. Best to give these people an outlet for that which is someone that isn’t allowed to involve themselves with politics. Could you imagine what it would be like if people were irrationally loyal to a guy that was born into a life of privilege and surrounded himself with gold and that person was involved in politics? That’s something that could cause problems.
The US has a First Lady, First Family, First Dog, etc. It’s essentially a royal family. I can probably name like ten First Ladies of the US. I can name only two wives of Prime Ministers of my country. Because the Prime Minister’s family isn’t a thing we care about. That’s his business. Did Justin Trudeau get a divorce? Maybe, I dunno, I don’t care. He’s just a guy and if doesn’t do his job right we’ll vote the bastard out. No sentimentality about the PM, he’s just some politician and is easily interchangeable with some other politician at any time. PM is just a job. If anyone feels the need for a First Family kind of thing… that’s what the Royal Family is for.
But bottom line is, it mostly doesn’t matter. Some people like it. I guess it’s kinda fun to have Kings and Queens and Princes and Princesses and stuff. So whatever.
However, Australian’s have actual beef for the monarchy overthrowing a democratically elected government and installing the opposition.
The fact the opposition were the conservatives was not a coincidence.
Republic here we come babayyy. (Assuming Labor wins the next election and the conservatives don’t manage to use the Murdoch propaganda machine to get us to vote against it).
I do kind of wonder sometimes how people in the UK and the other countries that technically follow the british monarchy feel about him, do they actually care much about the tradition or symbolism of their monarchy these days seeing as they essentially exist as a generally powerless state-ordained celebrity, or is the tradition of it still popular? From my perspective as someone in the US, it feels so weird to consider the British monarchy outside the context of Elizabeth II that it honestly feels like it ought to have just died with her, even though I know thats not how monarchies work. Growing up she seemed just like some interesting anachronism the brits had where they used her as a national symbol, but the idea of the thing keeping going with new people in the modern day just feels silly at some level, like its a thing whose time has long since passed.
It’s kinda like when the President pardons a turkey at Thanksgiving. It’s silly isn’t it? Why do people in the US keep on doing that? Why not get rid of this silly tradition?
Because meh, whatever, some people like it so who cares. Right?
That’s the monarchy for most people. Just some silly tradition. Some people like it. Eliminating it would make a lot of people upset and what real change would that accomplish?
Here in Canada we’d have to get the Federal government and all the Provincial governments to agree (which never happens), probably have to have a referendum argue over what role a new head of state would have and all that for what? We could devote the same time and energy into getting agreement on something that would have a real world effect.
It’s a bit of a litmus test too. If someone is talking on and on about how important it is to do away with ending the tradition of pardoning turkeys, you kinda know this person doesn’t have any major problems in their life, right? Like if that’s the biggest problem they have with how things are being run, they probably have things pretty good.
Same goes for the monarchy. If someone is going on about how important to remove the monarchy they probably have things pretty good.
Also I think some people are just subservient types. In every country there’s going to be some people that feel the need to show their patriotism by expressing their loyalty to someone. And for some reason they need it to be someone that was born into a life of privilege and surrounds themself with gold. Best to give these people an outlet for that which is someone that isn’t allowed to involve themselves with politics. Could you imagine what it would be like if people were irrationally loyal to a guy that was born into a life of privilege and surrounded himself with gold and that person was involved in politics? That’s something that could cause problems.
The US has a First Lady, First Family, First Dog, etc. It’s essentially a royal family. I can probably name like ten First Ladies of the US. I can name only two wives of Prime Ministers of my country. Because the Prime Minister’s family isn’t a thing we care about. That’s his business. Did Justin Trudeau get a divorce? Maybe, I dunno, I don’t care. He’s just a guy and if doesn’t do his job right we’ll vote the bastard out. No sentimentality about the PM, he’s just some politician and is easily interchangeable with some other politician at any time. PM is just a job. If anyone feels the need for a First Family kind of thing… that’s what the Royal Family is for.
But bottom line is, it mostly doesn’t matter. Some people like it. I guess it’s kinda fun to have Kings and Queens and Princes and Princesses and stuff. So whatever.
However, Australian’s have actual beef for the monarchy overthrowing a democratically elected government and installing the opposition.
The fact the opposition were the conservatives was not a coincidence.
Republic here we come babayyy. (Assuming Labor wins the next election and the conservatives don’t manage to use the Murdoch propaganda machine to get us to vote against it).