[QUOTE=Una Persson]
When the qualifications for the “office” are that you clawed your way out of the right womb at the right time, I find it difficult to respect the office.
She can still dissolve Parliament, among other things, which is far more than just “social” power. You may not be as familiar with the Monarchy as you believe.
Well, Leibovitz is an egotistical photographer who, while good, is no better or worse than thousands of others. I don’t see why she should be held out as an example of America. Unless of course the rest of the planet is a bunch of uncultured slack jawed dumbfucks who cannot understand the simple concept of one person != the whole.
[/QUOTE]
It was late. It wasn’t earth shattering. Annie Leibovitz’ attitude bothered me. It still does, kind of. There have been some interesting points posted here, and I like to see who takes what side based on where they live, etc. The only remark here that really pissed me off was the entirety of this post. I SAID that I’d be happy to be corrected on factual stuff because I’m NOT an expert. Hell, as far as the modern incarnation of the family, I gave my uneducated take on it and thought I made that clear. Listen, Una, your tone pisses me off. No need to be snide. Where did I say that one person equals the whole? I said that this was one example of why Americans look like oafs to the rest of the world. Did I really need to flesh out for you the caveat that ok, the WHOLE world doesn’t really think that, and A.L. is not representative of everybody here, but someone in a country that is not this one somewhere looked at that and said, “Stupid Americans!”
Yep, we get to be equals here. We get to believe that. Anybody who thinks so is a little deluded or has never worked for someone else, or been made to be polite to someone of a higher station in life just for the sake of social grace. It’s for the same reason that we are compelled to address our current leader as Mr. President. Hell, I think he’s a total dipshit not worthy of the office, but even I would address him as Mr. President. It’s kind of the same thing here.
I have no argument against those who have the opinion that A.L. was there at the behest of the palace, was doing her job, and therefore has some right to call the shots. I can’t really argue with that. What I take issue with was three things:
- No show of common sense at all with regard to what she was getting when she asked for a particular costume.
- Her tone of voice sucked.
- If you don’t think the office she holds deserves respect, m’kay, that’s fine, but the woman is an old lady. Doddering old fool she may be, but still your elder, and you moderate your speech accordingly.
Eonwe, I get you. Great point. I can’t really argue with that, either.
jjim, it IS a storm in a teacup. No big deal with regards to the world, I’ll admit. I apologize for bitching up the link, but I thought the point of it was to show that the story that Elizabeth stormed out wasn’t true.
What it comes down to is that A.L. sounded like a fishwife (which may be her manner, I don’t know) in a situation that called for more decorum than I thought she payed. This isn’t so much about the Queen for me as it is the idea that another American behaved stupidly in a social situation that got some face time with the rest of the world. You can say that it has no bearing on what other people think of us, and you’d be right if you said it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks in the grand scheme of things, but some of us are as tired of being thought of as classless rubes as some of the French are at being thought of as cheese eating surrender monkeys, or Middle Easterners being thought of as suicide bombing savages. Thinking people do not apply the perception of a group one belongs to to that individual. Many people do not practice that.
