All Hail The Royal Family!
For the next few weeks Democratic Free Speech Is Banned — yet thuggery is fine and dandy. Long live the royals.
It will come as no surprise to those who have been intently watching the royal pomp and ceremony since the death of the queen, that a young man in the crowd was charged for calling out to Prince Andrew, that he is a sick old man.
It’s a free country.
But yet, it’s not.
Not when you are casting nasturtiums on a royal one who once kept a close relationship with one Jeffrey Edelstein.
Is he, Andrew, still a prince?
Not sure, but he’s no longer a working member of the royal family , nor is he allowed to wear the military uniform.
So to my way of thinking he is just another Brit.
So why?
Why was a young lad allowed to be tackled to the ground for calling out to Andrew?
“You’re a sick old man” is, after all,
- non-violent
- and contains no swearing
And by the way, who gave the other two thugs the imprimatur to be lord high executioners of justice?
Common decency would assert that THEY are be ones to be charged with affray. The thing is this.
“Money and position and expensive lawyers can insulate you from a huge number of consequences in our imperfect world, but if some boy in the streets wants to go full Emperor’s New Clothes on you, you might just have to suck it up, even if it is bad manners in the circs.”
Then here was the case of a lawyer being arrested (then de-arrested) for shouting “Who elected him?” at the local proclamation of the new king.
In Westminster, a police officer was filmed demanding the details of a man who had held up a blank sheet of paper “because you said you were going to write stuff on it that may offend people around the King … it may offend someone.”
Ah right! I get it. Guilty because you MIGHT do something. Dickensian back to the future!
There’s thuggery and after-the-effect, thuggery
Quashing public dissent can backfire in ways even those with power cannot foresee. For example, 12-year-old, Prince Harry was made to walk a very long way behind his mother’s coffin at the suggestion of Tony Blair. This caused untold damage to the child for many years thereafter. That child went on in due course to cause untold damage to the very monarchy that the original plan was intended to protect.
All of this puts a new stamp on ‘royalty’ and the expectations imposed on such.
It’s no longer the case that it’s the luck of being born into it.
You have to earn it…well that’s what most of us would believe.
The last few days have seen many question the behavior of the royal family.
There’s confusion regarding their preferential treatment.
Protectionism reigns.
Nobody is allowed to voice their opinion from the crowd.
“The mores and codes of UK society can seem esoteric — but please consult your Bumper Book of British Etiquette for precise guidance on how to behave on all occasions. There is a time and a place for shouting at men who have paid out many millions of dollars to settle sexual assault cases, you will note, and the experts say it’s not while they’re walking behind their mother’s coffin alongside some bereaved siblings who haven’t paid out many millions of dollars to settle sexual assault cases. And fair play to the experts. However, a breach of etiquette is not a breach of law. If we started arresting people for not showing decorum, our courts system would collapse. Sorry — collapse more.”
The prolonged 10-days of mandatory mourning will likely see this vocal antipathy increase. Do we arrest them all?