by If you are a Real American — how can you get caught up the royal fever over the pending marriage of William and Kate? Didn’t we race from the crown and found our own country with war because we didn’t want to have anything to do with inherited leadership — other than, of course, repeatedly electing our very own American Royals to ongoing public office: The Kennedys and the Bushes.
Why should we care about that discredited, disruptive family in the UK? We should be mocking their self-importance and irrelevance, not celebrating their bratty lives.
Englishman Christopher Hitchens gets it right:
For Prince William at least it was decided on the day of his birth what he should do: Find a presentable wife, father a male heir (and preferably a male “spare” as well), and keep the show on the road. By yet another exercise of that notorious “magic,” it is now doubly and triply important that he does this simple thing right, because only his supposed charisma can save the country from what monarchists dread and republicans ought to hope for: King Charles III. (Monarchy, you see, is a hereditary disease that can only be cured by fresh outbreaks of itself.) An even longer life for the present queen is generally hoped for: failing that a palace maneuver that skips a generation and saves the British from a man who—like the fruit of the medlar—went rotten before he turned ripe.
The New York Times reports that the impending royal wedding isn’t going great guns with rapturous interest here in America, so perhaps there’s faith still left in the preservation of the Union:
A third of women under 40 are following news of the wedding at least somewhat closely, as are more than 4 in 10 women who are 40 or older. In comparison, half of men are not following news of the wedding at all. …
Mary Nygaard, 67, of Washington, lived overseas for 25 years and has many British friends. Next week, she will join 27 women at a private home at 5 a.m., watch the proceedings on television and have an English breakfast (plus scones). “We’re going to wear special hats, and some of us will wear tiaras,” Mrs. Nygaard said. “It’s going to be so much fun.”
Most of us learned long ago that fairytales belong in storybooks and not in real life — and we directly witnessed the cruelty of the royals as we saw the diminution of Diana as a woman and a mother in the mist of the House of Windsor. We ran from their shores for a reason.
Not only is the wedding making news but the fact that some people are interested and others are not is also making news — whole story on it last night on the local station. I thought, how is this news?
I too am less than interested in this event. I wonder how many people are interested in watching weddings of other royal children from other countries. Seems like a little too much ado.
It is strange, Gordon. I understand why the Brits are obsessed — but Americans should be over their dark infatuation with crowns and scepters because we spilt blood to cleave control.
Obviously for me it has an importance, William – er sorry, the Duke of Cambridge, will be one day my King. Having said that I also found it strange how much it was shown on American television and how CNN absolutely decided to dedicate almost all their hours on it.
I think it comes down to four very clear reasons for America (in paritcular) and I am interested in your views on it.
1) The US (well let us say the media and the “mob” that lap it up) loves celebrity and a good show. Equally, when it comes to ceremony, we are the best at that….
2) The English Language, Cousins, Historical link to Britain has always had the US interested in what happens over here.
3) Everyone is curious about exclusivity, the ultra-rich and monarchy because they all wish at some point that they were one or associated with one – even though they may never wish to be a subject of one or to grant it to others.
4) The world (and thus the media) needs to show a “feel good” story every once in a while. Like the digging-out of miners in Chile, the entire world felt happy, relaxed and even in a sympathetic celebrity mood with a good royal wedding that was produced and presented with a quality that only Olympic Opening Ceremonies can match. America needed to let its’ hair down as well. Unfortunately, the day before 350+ people died in storms and I am sure that the contrast for those affected and the wedding must have been a conflicting image.
Curious to see what others think….
D Charles QC
The combination of the three
I think your analysis is spot on…
1. Yes, the mainstream media are ruled by celebrity and not content.
2. There is a strange “Love Me Daddy” link to the US and the crown now that, I’m certain, did not exist in the USA 200 years ago. Why the change? We are lazy. We do not remember history. We prefer to feel good than honor the good fight.
3. I think if William had an uglier mother — perhaps the current wife of the Prince of Wales — there would be ZERO interest in his marriage. The USA loves a fairytale and a pretty princess wannabe — http://carceralnation.com/2011/03/01/the-princess-syndrome-and-the-infantilization-of-womanhood/ — and so the objectionable obsession ferments.
4. We do have the mainstream attention span of a dog. We look for movement. We follow flashes of light. We are trained to sit and obey our media masters. Too many of us blindly obey and eat and drink on command.