Royal engagement: a Marxist critique

[Lord Beria3]

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/12 ... a-d01.html

It has been just days since the official engagement of Prince Harry to US actress Meghan Markle was announced. Yet already Britain and much of the world’s population is being force fed saturation media coverage to the point of nausea.

Google trends reported Tuesday that 12,221 news stories were published in the first 24 hours, as the powers-that-be sought to convey an image of joy and celebration throughout the land.

Most of Britain’s newspapers covered the engagement with “souvenir� editions. Entire front pages and multiple inside pages were given over to announcement, and hours of TV broadcasting, virtually obliterating all other news. Coverage in the media internationally was equally sycophantic, with the Sun boasting in its editorial, “The global fanaticism for our Royals just went off the dial.�

After Downing Street said there were no plans for a public bank holiday to mark the wedding next May, the media went into overdrive to demand one.
As part of this modern-day version of imperial Rome’s bread and circuses, the engagement was the subject of a special 20-minute BBC interview with the couple Monday evening.

As always with the Royal Family, every line, every smile, was carefully choreographed, calling on every ounce of Ms. Markle’s acting experience. This is the family, after all, that has been preparing for the death of Queen Elizabeth II—under the codename Operation London Bridge—for four decades, planning which is updated several times every year.

The aim was to present the couple as ordinary, just like the average couple in the street. Except one is an heir to the throne, worth an estimated £40 million and lives in a palace. And while Ms. Markle’s estimated £4 million fortune pales in comparison, her future income potential will now go through the roof.

Small wonder the couple looked so happy as Harry explained to a fawning BBC interviewer that he had proposed to his girlfriend on a “standard, typical night� in their “cottage� (one located in the grounds of Kensington Palace and fully taxpayer funded), while the two, in Markle’s word’s, “tried to roast a chicken.�

Bread and circuses for the masses...[/code]

[clv101]

...as the powers-that-be sought to convey an image of joy and celebration throughout the land.

That's an interesting line as it seems 99.9% of the time the aim absolutely is not to "convey an image of joy and celebration throughout the land"! We could have 'uplifting' stories regularly in the media... but instead we have to wait for royal marriages and babies.

[Little John]

...as the powers-that-be sought to convey an image of joy and celebration throughout the land.

That's an interesting line as it seems 99.9% of the time the aim absolutely is not to "convey an image of joy and celebration throughout the land"! We could have 'uplifting' stories regularly in the media... but instead we have to wait for royal marriages and babies.

People have stopped buying the bullshit about their own lived lives. So, the only bullshit left that can still carry any weight is one based on pure unadulterated fantasy. that's always been true to some extent. But, is especially so at this time.

[vtsnowedin]

Well at least this marriage (and the one before it for that matter) brings in some new bloodlines that are not third cousins twice removed. Might have someone that is a real leader in this generation.
How far removed from the throne do the lesser royals have to be before they can engage in politics if they are so inclined?

[Little John]

Well at least this marriage (and the one before it for that matter) brings in some new bloodlines that are not third cousins twice removed. Might have someone that is a real leader in this generation.
How far removed from the throne do the lesser royals have to be before they can engage in politics if they are so inclined?

As with so much else in the UK, there are no rules for that kind of thing. Everything is by historical convention and contemporary cultural/political interpretation of those conventions.

[fuzzy]

They are still germans, in charge of the UK.

[fuzzy]

I like this post, although I could quibble about a few people, but I basically agree:

http://expressiveegg.org/2017/01/04/the ... -spectrum/

edit: note 'the overton window' of the media..

[woodburner]

They are still germans, in charge of the UK.

Which was stolen by the norse after the Romans did a fair bit of plundering. Sounds like a phrase from Basil Fawlty.

[fuzzy]

I thought we paid over £200 million a year to the Sax Gothas to swan about in London - or am I missing something?