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Queen Elizabeth II has died

bbc.com

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Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#641

Post by purim »

braingenious wrote: post #599
dang wrote: post #329

All: please don't post flamebait, including ranting against monarchy or railing against "the nobility" like it's 1770. Such reflexive comments are not on topic here. We want curious conversation. Please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html . This story is on topic because it's a major historical event and history has always been on topic here. If it doesn't produce an intellectually curious respons…

> please don't post flamebait, including ranting against monarchy or railing against "the nobility" like it's 1770. I am kind of curious about what this means exactly. Is any criticism of the monarchy off limits? Is the purpose of this thread for people to air their positive thoughts about this lady? For example, I find non-British people that are genuinely sad about her passing to be pretty bizarre. It’s a fascinati…

No post body was provided.

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#642

Post by [deleted] »

ip26 wrote: post #502
kypro wrote: post #333

As a Brit I'm not a huge fan of the royal family on principle, but Queen Elizabeth has been such an excellent head of state for us you really can't fault her. People like to make out her life was easy and that it's not fair that she inherited such a privileged position, but I think the exact opposite. Her life seemed like living hell to me. Every day for the last 70 years she's had to serve this largely ungrateful co…

I do not approve of concepts like a ruling family, and favor mobility- but I have slowly come to appreciate the value of being groomed for a responsibility your entire life. I am not sure such dedicated & devout public servants come about naturally.

[deleted]

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#643

Post by kraftman »

Andrew_nenakhov wrote: post #547
dirtyid wrote: post #85

RIP. I don't look forward to her being replaced by Charles on my money.

Don't worry too much about for money. From what I know, the royal family brings in far more in taxes on merch / tv coverage rights / other revenues than it takes to sustain them. They also have a considerable estate which is likely profitable.

I think he means literally on the bank notes and coins.

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#644

Post by worik »

tacostakohashi wrote: post #609
kypro wrote: post #333

As a Brit I'm not a huge fan of the royal family on principle, but Queen Elizabeth has been such an excellent head of state for us you really can't fault her. People like to make out her life was easy and that it's not fair that she inherited such a privileged position, but I think the exact opposite. Her life seemed like living hell to me. Every day for the last 70 years she's had to serve this largely ungrateful co…

Quoted post unavailable.

I can turn that on its head: I am no fan of the Windsors, or "Saxe-Coburg and Gotha" as it used to be.

But I think an hereditary head of state is a Good Idea. Democracy is very important. One of the greatest dangers to democracy is majoritarianism. If every stage of the state is chosen by "50% + 1" then it will become a tyranny. (I am not a history scholar, but I believe the USA has plenty of examples of the pitfalls of voting "50% + 1" for every part of the state)

The role of a monarch in a statutory monarchy (one where the law applies to the monarch) is to protect the interests of the minorities.

It is sad that this has partly devolved in England to protecting the rights of aristocratic land holders. That is the risk. But the tyranny of the majority is a terrifying thing.

Ask a black person, a Jew, a queer person...

For all the many faults of her family, and however much I disliked and dislike her and hers, she was Queen for all her subjects, not slicing and dicing to get an electoral advantage, but everybody.

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#645

Post by dang »

braingenious wrote: post #599
dang wrote: post #329

All: please don't post flamebait, including ranting against monarchy or railing against "the nobility" like it's 1770. Such reflexive comments are not on topic here. We want curious conversation. Please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html . This story is on topic because it's a major historical event and history has always been on topic here. If it doesn't produce an intellectually curious respons…

> please don't post flamebait, including ranting against monarchy or railing against "the nobility" like it's 1770. I am kind of curious about what this means exactly. Is any criticism of the monarchy off limits? Is the purpose of this thread for people to air their positive thoughts about this lady? For example, I find non-British people that are genuinely sad about her passing to be pretty bizarre. It’s a fascinati…

My post (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32769925) was not for or against monarchy, or about monarchy at all. It was about tedious, low-quality internet comments. I'm against them.

(Edit: that first sentence is really a template instantiation. When I post like this, it's never for or against . It's always just about internet comments. People who are against (or for it) often react like we're for (or against it), but this is an illusion. It could quickly be cured by grokking the template, since at that level all these posts are entirely the same.)

It may not make so much sense now, but this thread was filling with the worst sort of dumb flamebait when it got started. That it isn't so now is because I've spent the last 3 hours refreshing the page and meticulously moderating it. If some of my comments are a little dyspeptic, that's because dealing with tedious comments is tedious, and I sort of pep myself up by letting loose a bit. Not the finest of practices but esprit de corps is also a need.

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#646

Post by mymythisisthis »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #198

I was born in the UK, in 1963. Because of my step-father's love of first-wave UK punk, the first thing I did on hearing this news was to play the Sex Pistol's "God Save the Queen". It is remarkable how much the Queen's standing has improved during the time since that song (1977). My (UK) family are (as far as I know) staunch republicans, but the last couple of decades have seen all of us soften our disgust with the m…

Similar sentiments from me.

I think there is something to be said for, lack of a better word, the continuity of history. 70 years with the same monarch. A system of monarchy, for over a 1000 years.

It is a symbolic role, but symbols are powerful.

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#647

Post by badcppdev »

I am sad for her passing. Was tuned into the news all afternoon waiting for the announcement even thought the writing was clearly on the wall and the announcement still made me tear up.

But for all the talk of duty, morals, and leadership I saw none of that in the Queen. I saw a figurehead. Shaking hands and listening but what did she contribute? Definitely not morals or direction.

People talk of her speech in 2020 during Covid in which she spoke about WW2 and how we need to stand together. And for me that just makes me feel that she could have made a huge difference in the global struggles that we are going to face coping with climate change. She could have made a real difference last year or 10 years ago. Or 40 years ago.

Her son has been more vocal about caring for the environment. Is it too much to hope that he will spend some of his influence swaying the new UK PM away from her reactionary pro-fossil fuel agenda. As the climate crisis starts to feel more and more like a existential threat is it foolish to hope for an ally.

The Queen is dead. Long live the King

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#648

Post by barrysteve »

Pulcinella wrote: post #565
kypro wrote: post #333

As a Brit I'm not a huge fan of the royal family on principle, but Queen Elizabeth has been such an excellent head of state for us you really can't fault her. People like to make out her life was easy and that it's not fair that she inherited such a privileged position, but I think the exact opposite. Her life seemed like living hell to me. Every day for the last 70 years she's had to serve this largely ungrateful co…

She could have abolished the monarchy and quit at any time. Monarchies are inherently undemocratic and she was the head of that undemocratic class system for decades while people suffered under the British empire. I don’t doubt your sincerity, but these feelings in you and others were intentionally cultivated by decades of propaganda. There is no such thing as a rightful king or queen, and certainly no such thing as…

It's the head of a faith. It isn't going anywhere, even if every government, military and economic reason for it to exist, vanished.

Ruling by divine right is common and hasn't gone anywhere. Divine rulership hasn't had a real problem to fight in a long time, so we leave the governing up to parliament. Not an absolute parliament, mind you.

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#649

Post by divbzero »

citilife wrote: post #372

Fun facts: - She ruled for 30% of the time since the American Revolution - She oversaw the largest reduction of landholdings of any empire in the history of the world. Notable because it was also one of the most peaceful transitions in history -- Australia, Canada, South Africa, Israel, Egypt, etc. - She oversaw the loss of Sterling the world reserve currency and the rise of another (the USD, EU).

> She oversaw the largest reduction of landholdings of any empire in the history of the world. Notable because it was also one of the most peaceful transitions in history -- Australia, Canada, South Africa, Israel, Egypt, etc.

The peaceful diminishing of an empire should be remembered as one of the most remarkable achievements during her reign, a striking contrast to world leaders past and present who seek the reverse.

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#650

Post by MKais »

People are like a flock of sheep looking for a shepherd. This is the business model of all royalty/democracies around the world.

Humanity needs an alpha male/female to lead the flock because it would have a better chance of survival than if everyone went their separate ways.

Leadership and other corporate BS teaches nothing more than this truth: Ignore your own doubts, have a straight face and lead the herd where you want.

The queen and her family cost less than 2$/year/brit, less than a stupid game on the app store.

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