# If there is monarchy in UK, and people dislike it why don't they protest against it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 29, 2012, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261 "2012-10-29T21:30:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/81 "2012-11-02T16:16:13Z")
> [@PookahMacPhellimey](#): > > Sorry, but I take issue with the idea that when I move to a country I am no longer allowed any critical thought about that country. I come from one monarchy (The Netherlands) and have lived in another (the UK) and am strongly against the two groups of upper-class eejits who call themselves the monarchy having as much as a nominal say in either place. For the record, I’ve also lived in two republics (Ireland and Italy) and have rather a lot to say about how those were governed too. > > A country is never a homogeneous hive mind of one opinion and even within a country the natives might disagree and they might also benefit from an outsider offering a different perspective. I don’t believe in anyone teaching hatred and I always aim to discuss things in a reasonable way, but I don’t think the right to an opinion on any given topic should depend on where you come from. Wel, I’m all for free speech myself, but if you decide of your own accord to come uninvited to my country, accepting our generosity, and our hospitality because it offers you a better life then the system that you left in your own country, then you are a coward and a hypocrite if you start whining about how you think that we should change our system and culture to suit YOU. Its like someone climbing through a window and squatting in the house that you paid for, and then complaining that we aren’t vegetarians, or that you don’t like the way we’ve decorated the place. If you don’t like our ways then you are totally at liberty to leave, though the people who get all indignant about the life style of the country that THEY’VE chosen to invite themselves to, never seem to do so. Better yet, knowing how we are before you come here, don’t come here in the first place. Go somewhere else where their politics meet with your approval. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/82 "2012-11-02T16:39:53Z")
Sorry, just to clarify, the “You” In my post was not aimed specifically at \*\*Pookah[/B, though could well be applicable.] ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/83 "2012-11-02T16:46:25Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > As I said earlier you’d to have to be a very brave man indeed to try slagging her off in any public place. I’ve heard it done with absolutely no repercussions. Personally, I quite like the queen and the institution, but if you think what you describe is uniform throughout the UK, you need to get out more. I know a lot more Welsh people than English / Scottish / Irish, but I’d say at least a quarter of younger people actively dislike the monarchy, and I have also heard the sentiment expressed by multiple people in their 60s and 70s. Just a few months ago, I was practically given a sermon on the subject by an older man who objected to holding jubilee celebrations. Admittedly this was in Canada, but he was born and raised in Britain and we have the same monarch over here. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/84 "2012-11-02T17:01:26Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > No sorry me old mucker you’re completely wrong. > > We wouldn’t consider slagging off the Queen as inoffensive as as an American slagging off the President. > > As I said earlier you’d to have to be a very brave man indeed to try slagging her off in any public place. Well gosh, I never knew I was brave! I wouldn’t go stand in front of Buckingham Palace and scream ‘The monarchy is criminal, and the queen’s a bitch!’, but that’s just common sense. I have, however, no qualms whatsoever in insulting both the insitution and members of the monarchy in public, (or in pubs, which is the normal way); and I’ve certainly heard other people do so in much more definite terms than I ever have, without any reaction much more than a ‘Yeah well, me Gran likes her, and she could be worse,’ response. For myself, I dislike the concept of a hereditary monarchy system, but it’s not without a few merits (someone uninvolved in party polictics with a potential emergency stop button is a good thing, and it probably does bring in the tourists), so I’m not sure what would be best to replace it. I’m not convinced giving more power to any one person is a good plan, and I see no point in electing a powerless figurehead. I’ve not heard a proposal for an alternative system that I could unreservedly get behind, and until I do, I see no point in protesting against the status quo. Oh, and if people are welcome into this country, they’re welcome to bring their brains. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/85 "2012-11-02T18:03:24Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > Wel, I’m all for free speech myself, but if you decide of your own accord to come uninvited to my country, accepting our generosity, and our hospitality because it offers you a better life then the system that you left in your own country, then you are a coward and a hypocrite if you start whining about how you think that we should change our system and culture to suit YOU. How is complaining indicative cowardice and hypocrisy? Are all migrants to your fair country meant to treat it like it were truly heaven on god’s green earth or can people who work hard for their own benefit and for the society they choose to live in complain when there are problems? More to the point, if they’re saying their home place they left is way better, maybe you’d have a point but just complaining? da fuq? ---
**Author:** ![Malden\_Capell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malden_capell/32/5274_2.png) [@Malden\_Capell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malden_Capell)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/86 "2012-11-02T18:17:21Z")
Lust4Life, I think you are exaggerating enormously the ‘reverence’ for the Queen. She’s definitely respected but I have seen many people criticise Her, the Prince of Wales and the monarchy itself. Nobody considers it their duty to jump in and smack that person down - it’s their right to have that opinion. You must circulate among a very small group of like-minded people to think the way you do. ---
**Author:** ![Blakeyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blakeyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blakeyrat)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/87 "2012-11-02T18:20:55Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > I think part of the problem over here is the idea that although most in the UK support the monarchy ans almost everyone loves the Queen, we keep hearing the the day she oversteps her bounds by actually doing something like withholding Royal Assent on _A Bill Requiring Recompence of Purloined Pussies_ she’d be out on her arse in a heartbeat. Seems kind of dichotomous to us Colonists. We have pretty much the same attitude towards the Electoral College, I think its safe to say. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/88 "2012-11-02T18:25:36Z")
My my all these people who have seen people slagging off the Queen with no repercussions ! Well hopefully I’ll see this for myself oneday. It will be of novelty value just for the experience. Up there with seeing a comet in the sky and a partial eclipse of the sun . ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/89 "2012-11-02T18:31:09Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > My my all these people who have seen people slagging off the Queen with no repercussions ! > > Well hopefully I’ll see this for myself oneday. > > It will be of novelty value just for the experience. > > Up there with seeing a comet in the sky and a partial eclipse of the sun . You seem to be arguing that a lot of British people here have been imagining things. It’s certainly true that the Queen is broadly very popular, particularly at the moment, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of people who dislike the institution and will happily announce down the pub that the Royal family are a bunch of wasters and spongers, my 85 year old, very-proper-english-gentleman-who-wears-a-suit-and-tie-to-breakfast father included. ---
**Author:** ![Malden\_Capell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malden_capell/32/5274_2.png) [@Malden\_Capell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malden_Capell)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/90 "2012-11-02T19:17:32Z")
I’m friends with plenty of republicans. Somehow, the world still turns on its axis. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/91 "2012-11-02T21:45:25Z")
English Bob: The dignity of royalty. A majesty that precludes the likelihood of assassination. If you were to point a pistol at a king or a queen your hands would shake as though palsied. But if you did, I can assure you, if you did, that the sight of royalty would cause you to dismiss all thoughts of bloodshed and you would stand… how shall I put it? In awe. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/92 "2012-11-02T21:51:10Z")
> [@Malden\_Capell](#): > > I’m friends with plenty of republicans. Somehow, the world still turns on its axis. So am I. You’d better believe it ! ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2012, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/93 "2012-11-02T22:42:00Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > I like Blackbush but the standard Bushmills is pretty harsh going by Mexican standards. It’s like a cross between an Irish and Scottish whiskey in flavour imho Yeah, I look on it as the Harp of whiskey. > [@An\_Gadai](#): > > I only ever heard of that Protestant whiskey thing from _The Wire_. It was a pretty funny line And I blame it for spreading the idea here too :smack: I’ve heard it more and more since the series aired. My grandfather (bush drinker since I was old enough to pour him a glass) would probably not like to have lived to hear that. He found it disconcerting enough that his legacy as a banker was “generous, for a protestant”. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/94 "2012-11-03T19:28:06Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > I’ve heard it done with absolutely no repercussions. Personally, I quite like the queen and the institution, but if you think what you describe is uniform throughout the UK, you need to get out more. I know a lot more Welsh people than English / Scottish / Irish, but I’d say at least a quarter of younger people actively dislike the monarchy, and I have also heard the sentiment expressed by multiple people in their 60s and 70s. Just a few months ago, I was practically given a sermon on the subject by an older man who objected to holding jubilee celebrations. Admittedly this was in Canada, but he was born and raised in Britain and we have the same monarch over here. Bizarre post, you live in Canada (according to your profile), but lecture me about life in the U.K. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/95 "2012-11-03T19:30:48Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > You seem to be arguing that a lot of British people here have been imagining things. > > It’s certainly true that the Queen is broadly very popular, particularly at the moment, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of people who dislike the institution and will happily announce down the pub that the Royal family are a bunch of wasters and spongers, my 85 year old, very-proper-english-gentleman-who-wears-a-suit-and-tie-to-breakfast father included. I could well believe it, as you live in East London, which has a huge immigrant population, (mostly from the M.E. and the Indian sub continent.) Which takes me back to my earlier point… ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/96 "2012-11-03T19:56:33Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > Bizarre post, you live in Canada (according to your profile), but lecture me about life in the U.K. You’re right. It’s impossible for a Canadian to know anything about life in the UK. I couldn’t possibly have had any experiences in Britain or with British people that led the posts about my experiences in Britain and with British people. Whatever you need to tell yourself to keep from changing your mind. ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/97 "2012-11-03T19:59:45Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > I could well believe it, as you live in East London, which has a huge immigrant population, (mostly from the M.E. and the Indian sub continent.) > > Which takes me back to my earlier point… I live in the Glasgow area which, compared to London, has a small immigrant population. **SanVito** ’s experience matches mine pretty closely. Actually, in my experience, most immigrants (and, interestingly, UKCs descended from people who immigrated decades ago) I encounter have no strong feelings about the monarchy one way or another. Of course, “data” is not the plural of “anecdote” etc, but most folks I hear expressing strong views on the subject would be checking “White British” on the census form. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/98 "2012-11-03T20:03:15Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > You’re right. It’s impossible for a Canadian to know anything about life in the UK. I couldn’t possibly have had any experiences in Britain or with British people that led the posts about my experiences in Britain and with British people. Whatever you need to tell yourself to keep from changing your mind. You got caught out. Suck it up. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/99 "2012-11-03T20:06:32Z")
> [@PaulParkhead](#): > > I live in the Glasgow area which, compared to London, has a small immigrant population. **SanVito** ’s experience matches mine pretty closely. > > Actually, in my experience, most immigrants (and, interestingly, UKCs descended from people who immigrated decades ago) I encounter have no strong feelings about the monarchy one way or another. Of course, “data” is not the plural of “anecdote” etc, but most folks I hear expressing strong views on the subject would be checking “White British” on the census form. Would that be like the "White British " Glasgow Celtic supporters who chant "Up the I.R.A. at football matches, and who fly the Irish Tricolour during Orangeman parades ? My family come from Glasgow. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/100 "2012-11-03T20:09:16Z")
Don’t be silly. I have never made any secret of the fact that I live in Canada. If you look at my posting history, you’ll find references to my British husband and to the years we lived in Britain. If I’ve made an argument you disagree with, rebut it. If you have a specific accusation against me personally, please take it to the Pit. Otherwise, move on. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261.md?page=6)