I knew what the OP was referring to immediately, and I agree. The interview itself would have been easy enough to avoid, but there have been several actual other programs talking about what was going to be talked about in the interview. It’s been all over the news for days, it’s been on television and radio and newspapers and probably fucking semaphore. It’s hard to avoid when it’s constantly shoved in your face.
I generally like Harry and Meghan and wish them well, but I don’t want to know about the details of their private lives, I don’t care about the internecine squabbles with Madge and Chuck, and in the grand scheme of things people whose lives are completely unaffected by them are getting way too emotionally invested in this. Although I suppose it’s a distraction from all the other shit going on…
Harry and Meghan do provide one of the great pleasures in life … which is seeing old New Ideas in doctors waiting rooms with the breathless headline “It’s over!!! Sussexes to split!”, realising they’re a year and a half old, and snickering madly.
The fascination with the British royal family is ridiculous and stupid, basically hardwired primate behavior wherein the chimpiest of us cannot help but focus on the biggest ape with the most berries. They are a symbol of our vestigial instincts, and those in the media machine that amplify and profit from the wider inability to transcend these instincts are the source of great irritation. On this, I agree entirely with you.
On the other hand: This interview will be exceptionally damaging to the institution, the best opportunity in decades to tear it open and expose its absolute worthlessness, and perhaps accelerate its decline.
So while the cultural interests and behaviors that result in desperate curiosity about and attention to this interview are, inarguably, an overwhelming negative, the interview itself might produce a positive effect overall. Which means, I won’t watch it, but I welcome its impacts.
I had no idea who he was ranting about. And I live in Santa Barbara where the ex-Royals and Oprah live. I’m just hoping to run into them in the Funk Zone one of these days.
Yeah. I was pretty firmly in the “don’t care but if pushed will admit I strongly suspect Harry and Meghan have the right of it” camp but got pulled up short this morning when I saw it pointed out that: the monarchy is of central constitutional importance to the UK; the Royal Family is a major institution that claims to reflect the values of Britain. I may not like that, but it is certainly seen that way by a) lots of British people and more importantly b) lots and lots of non-Brits.
As such, the fact the institution of the Royal Family failed to make a woman of colour welcome; is at best careless of its members’ mental stability; and as well as being soiled by racism seems to be generally dysfunctional is in fact a big deal. Now, given the appetite for the anti-Meghan stories run so vehemently by large sections of the press, it may be that the Royal Family is representing the views of Britain, all in all - depressing thought that might be. But times change, and generations pass and it seems really unlikely that in, say, 30 years time the fallout from this will mean that Charles or William are viewed with any degree of approval by 2040s 60-somethings. Or anyone younger.
I think that’s what Elizabeth II is most afraid of - not just exposing the dirty laundry of the royal family (which, like all families, has dirty laundry), but the prospect of someone voluntarily leaving the royal family and then being happier calls into question her entire life, and the value of the family business.
There’s quite a history of making leaving the royal family as miserable an experience for the person in question as possible. How dare anyone reject that position in life? How dare they be content with being common!
But, hey, at the end of the day it matters nothing to me. I’m not a British citizen and I don’t have to pay for the pageantry and scandals. I wish Harry and Meagan well. For that matter, I wish the royal family well because I’m a decent human being. And whatever the UK decides to do in regards to their relic monarchy…that is their business, not mine.
It gives people something to talk about which is not related to Corona or Brexit or the Republican party and doesn’t make a bit of difference to our everday lives.
I doubt the royal family will really be hurt by any of it. They are an institution, which has survived Diana, Camilla and Andy. No matter what kind of service they do, William and Katherine will never be as beloved as the current queen or the queen mother. Charles and Camilla have absolutely no chance, and I really wonder what will happen when Charles is at bat.
Remember that QE2 has personal experience of the damage that can be done by someone abandoning their royal duties. That minor kerfuffle with her uncle sloping off with his mistress left the whole family with a lot of emotional scars; the Queen Mother blamed Edward for the relatively early death of her husband George VI, and QE2 had fifty years of her mother strongly believing that. It’s one of the reasons she takes her own responsibilities so very seriously, and why Harry deciding to go off and do his own thing might upset her so much.
Starting SDMB threads about it probably isn’t doing much to prolong it, but it certainly isn’t shortening it, especially for those of us who don’t follow whatever news media it is you’re being bombarded by.
To counter that - if the royal family hadn’t had their heads up their butt about Uncle Edward marrying a divorced American a lot of grief could have been avoided. Granted, societal standards regarding marriage and divorce were different back then, but we aren’t talking about Henry Tudor chopping off the heads of wives he no longer wanted to deal with.
A LOT of the pain and trauma of Elizabeth’s life are due to adhering too strongly to tradition. As another example, if she had allowed Charles to marry Camilla (that divorce stupidity again, along with a dose of “the bride must be virgin” that the greater society had by then dispensed with) a whole lot of grief would have been avoided.
Also, Uncle Edward was the direct heir to the throne, and that is where much of the damage was incurred, propelling a younger brother who had never been groomed for kingship into that role and incurring problems from that. In this case, the heir William is firmly ensconced in his royal role with no sign he intends to step away. William has produced an heir and a couple of spares. Barring some truly epic catastrophe, Harry is NEVER going to be on that throne, the line of succession goes from William to William’s children. Should Something Awful happen to William and his family there are other people who could step into the role of monarch with neither more nor less of a “kerfluffle” than drafting Harry. Harry leaving does nothing to the line of succession that is of any consequence. Keeping him tied to the family where he will always have a minor, redundant role is stupid and cruel to Harry, and provides no benefit to anyone.
On other hand, if they had been ok with Edward marrying a divorced American, we would have had a Nazi sympathizer on the British throne during World War 2. So, in the end, it all worked out for the best.