Sky News contributor Sophie Elsworth says it has been reported Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is forcing his very few staff to address him still as “sir,” despit...
As I said, I think the “jungle vs civilization” analogy is a little weird. I don’t think laws create civilization. But I do think laws matter for fascists. If they didn’t they wouldn’t need to pack the supreme court. Project 2025 wouldn’t be so focused on laws and the judiciary. They’re not meaningless…at the edge of the jungle? I guess? in this analogy?
So, when you talk about people being weak willed, you’re saying that a fascist coming to power is a kind of personal moral failing of the individuals in a society. I think that’s pretty absurd, and takes all responsibility away from the systems that shape people’s “willpower,” as well as their understanding of what is and is not overreach. If that’s true then there’s just nothing to be done? Just let the fascists have all the places with people who have weak wills? lol
Okay, so I don’t know why you will not engage with a hypothetical as a means of seeing the problem I’m talking about. Obviously the king isn’t going to upset the balance of power in the Commonwealth for his vacation home in quebec…if you can’t generalize that to something more important (such as, in Australia, the cold war), then there’s no point in talking about hypothetical situations…the point is to generalize from them. But that’s fine, it doesn’t really matter.
And for what it’s worth, his cushy life isn’t going anywhere whether the commonwealth crumbles or not. The king of england could cease to be the king of canada and it wouldn’t cost him anything (except, I guess, a vacation home in quebec he never uses). I’d be thrilled if the UK decides to guillotine them, but they won’t and I guess I have to make peace with that.
I’m not proposing replacing the king, I’m proposing kicking the king out. Just don’t have a king. If we must have a king, I would prefer to have a Canadian monarch and to stop legitimizing the genocidiers, looters, and pedophiles in the house of windsor…but I don’t see that we need a king. We could still just have a governor general appointed by the PM…make the system actually and definitely work the way you say it works (and I agree it works 99% of the time…but why the fuck are we leaving 1% on the table just to glorify those assholes? Like…we know it doesn’t work that way 100% of the time given the handful of examples I’ve shared).
Honestly though, why? Like…I haven’t seen you say anything in favor of having a king, or of having this king in particular?
Like…I haven’t seen you say anything in favor of having a king, or of having this king in particular?
I have but you haven’t been paying attention. If you don’t have a King, people will create one. The US technically doesn’t have a King, but they’ve created on in Donald Trump in all but name. You don’t seem to think about any potential of a politician doing the things that you mention in all of these hypotheticals, but you worry greatly about an actual King doing them. And that’s the problem, a politician can become a tyrant without anyone noticing. If the King became a tyrant everyone would notice.
You label the King as a “genocidiers, looters, and pedophiles” even though he has not personally done those things. His brother has done some crimes, and he’s being prosecuted. When will Donald Trump or any of the billionaires in the US get prosecuted? Probably never.
And are you accusing the King of everything his ancestors have done? Sounds to me like you really believe in lineage stuff way more than I do. Seems unfair to judge someone for what their ancestors did. If there was no King would you be devoting time to researching what Mark Carney’s ancestors did and unfairly judging him for those things?
The monarchy acts as an emotional lightning rod for many people. All the emotional garbage whether it be grievance over things from the history books, nostalgia, or just a love of pomp and pageantry gets focused on the monarchy who are apolitical. That separates the emotional garbage from politics. Allows people to think about the actual policies the politician is proposing rather than some historical grievance or how “Presidential” they look. Americans keep voting in old coots out of nostalgia for some good times when Ronald Reagan was President. We still get a touch of that with Justin Trudeau benefiting from nostalgia over his father, but you’ll have a tough time arguing people had loyalty to him like he was a King.
Americans feel like they’re supposed to be loyal to the President and because of that they won’t remove a President from office even when he commits egregious crimes. The Prime Minister gets some degree of respect for the job, but a vote of no confidence is something much more likely to happen as it won’t seem disloyal to the country. For those that feel they must show subservience to a person to prove their loyalty to the country we have a King who’s apolitical. In the US, the subservient must show loyalty to the President since they have no king.
There are many many reasons to have a King, not least of which was the reason Pierre Trudeau brought up: It would take a lot of effort to remove the King and it wouldn’t really change anything. Why bother removing the King?
The only reasons you have to go through that effort is hypotheticals (which would also apply to a President) and your belief that there’s something wrong with the Royal lineage. Which is… hmmmm.
As I said, I think the “jungle vs civilization” analogy is a little weird. I don’t think laws create civilization. But I do think laws matter for fascists. If they didn’t they wouldn’t need to pack the supreme court. Project 2025 wouldn’t be so focused on laws and the judiciary. They’re not meaningless…at the edge of the jungle? I guess? in this analogy?
So, when you talk about people being weak willed, you’re saying that a fascist coming to power is a kind of personal moral failing of the individuals in a society. I think that’s pretty absurd, and takes all responsibility away from the systems that shape people’s “willpower,” as well as their understanding of what is and is not overreach. If that’s true then there’s just nothing to be done? Just let the fascists have all the places with people who have weak wills? lol
Okay, so I don’t know why you will not engage with a hypothetical as a means of seeing the problem I’m talking about. Obviously the king isn’t going to upset the balance of power in the Commonwealth for his vacation home in quebec…if you can’t generalize that to something more important (such as, in Australia, the cold war), then there’s no point in talking about hypothetical situations…the point is to generalize from them. But that’s fine, it doesn’t really matter.
And for what it’s worth, his cushy life isn’t going anywhere whether the commonwealth crumbles or not. The king of england could cease to be the king of canada and it wouldn’t cost him anything (except, I guess, a vacation home in quebec he never uses). I’d be thrilled if the UK decides to guillotine them, but they won’t and I guess I have to make peace with that.
I’m not proposing replacing the king, I’m proposing kicking the king out. Just don’t have a king. If we must have a king, I would prefer to have a Canadian monarch and to stop legitimizing the genocidiers, looters, and pedophiles in the house of windsor…but I don’t see that we need a king. We could still just have a governor general appointed by the PM…make the system actually and definitely work the way you say it works (and I agree it works 99% of the time…but why the fuck are we leaving 1% on the table just to glorify those assholes? Like…we know it doesn’t work that way 100% of the time given the handful of examples I’ve shared).
Honestly though, why? Like…I haven’t seen you say anything in favor of having a king, or of having this king in particular?
I have but you haven’t been paying attention. If you don’t have a King, people will create one. The US technically doesn’t have a King, but they’ve created on in Donald Trump in all but name. You don’t seem to think about any potential of a politician doing the things that you mention in all of these hypotheticals, but you worry greatly about an actual King doing them. And that’s the problem, a politician can become a tyrant without anyone noticing. If the King became a tyrant everyone would notice.
You label the King as a “genocidiers, looters, and pedophiles” even though he has not personally done those things. His brother has done some crimes, and he’s being prosecuted. When will Donald Trump or any of the billionaires in the US get prosecuted? Probably never.
And are you accusing the King of everything his ancestors have done? Sounds to me like you really believe in lineage stuff way more than I do. Seems unfair to judge someone for what their ancestors did. If there was no King would you be devoting time to researching what Mark Carney’s ancestors did and unfairly judging him for those things?
The monarchy acts as an emotional lightning rod for many people. All the emotional garbage whether it be grievance over things from the history books, nostalgia, or just a love of pomp and pageantry gets focused on the monarchy who are apolitical. That separates the emotional garbage from politics. Allows people to think about the actual policies the politician is proposing rather than some historical grievance or how “Presidential” they look. Americans keep voting in old coots out of nostalgia for some good times when Ronald Reagan was President. We still get a touch of that with Justin Trudeau benefiting from nostalgia over his father, but you’ll have a tough time arguing people had loyalty to him like he was a King.
Americans feel like they’re supposed to be loyal to the President and because of that they won’t remove a President from office even when he commits egregious crimes. The Prime Minister gets some degree of respect for the job, but a vote of no confidence is something much more likely to happen as it won’t seem disloyal to the country. For those that feel they must show subservience to a person to prove their loyalty to the country we have a King who’s apolitical. In the US, the subservient must show loyalty to the President since they have no king.
There are many many reasons to have a King, not least of which was the reason Pierre Trudeau brought up: It would take a lot of effort to remove the King and it wouldn’t really change anything. Why bother removing the King?
The only reasons you have to go through that effort is hypotheticals (which would also apply to a President) and your belief that there’s something wrong with the Royal lineage. Which is… hmmmm.