What do you make of this?
As the UK awaits the upcoming royal farce, it may be wise to ask, what’s the point of it all?
In June 2012, we are told, Britain will take to the streets to celebrate the day that an old woman had an expensive hat placed upon her head.
The Jubilee will no doubt be an unspectacular affair with all the tacky and deflated pageantry one might expect from the Windsors. Television coverage of the dubious festivities will indeed be overwhelming, but it’s difficult – if not impossible – to understand what the point of it actually is.
In a time of great economic panic, an extra Bank Holiday may do more harm than good. Furthermore, anyone opposed or indifferent to the royal family is automatically disenfranchised. Speculatively, I believe the majority of people fall into this category.
The last time this happened, in 2002, I remember playing in the garden to avoid being subjected to obsequious news coverage. Other than that, there was nothing remarkable about the day and without television, all thoughts of the Jubilee faded from my mind. In the years since, however, people’s memories appear to have become more detailed, with tales of spectacular street parties and local unity, all thanks to the Queen.
Somehow, I question this version of events. Not only did I not witness anything of the sort anywhere, nobody else seems to have done either.
Pavlov’s dog
Could it be that the media is lying to us about this stuff? Perhaps.
Without mass media’s mawkish sycophancy, it would be very easy to imagine a republican Britain.
People are routinely told by the press that the establishment is wonderful which causes people to go along with it. Demand for royal coverage grows and the press is then forced to give the monarchy more column inches/air time, because it’s what their audience appears to want. At this point, we’re approaching Pavlovian theory.
The answer to this is simple, just remember that when the emperor looks naked, he is naked. If more people stood up and cried, “hang on a minute, this doesn’t make any sense,” it wouldn’t be long before more people would start to agree.
Then, and only then, could we start to get a bit more of what we actually want from the press and if you know what that is, let me know.
At least there’s always the Olympics to look forward to.
Journl 