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Queen Elizabeth II has died

bbc.com

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Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#781

Post by arinlen »

dang wrote: post #762
2pEXgD0fZ5cF wrote: post #716

I gotta admit that it is a bit weird to see british royalty being so heavily privileged that they even get special moderation treatment here on HN to protect them (?) from any negativity, or rather stop negativity about them. I'm not keen on the idea of using this submission to flame the Queen, I obviously agree with the general rule of avoiding flamebait, what I mean is that other HN submissions on the deaths of peo…

It wasn't really special moderation treatment, though I understand why it looks like that way now. It was because, when the thread was getting going, it flooded with crap comments (e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32769222 , https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32769043 ). I decided to come down hard on those to try to ward off a shitshow. It would have been the same in any thread that was filling up that wa…

> It was because, when the thread was getting going, it flooded with crap comments

Why did you listed a comment supporting abolishing the monarchy an example of "crap comments"?

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#782

Post by Barrin92 »

avidphantasm wrote: post #675

As an American watching with dismay over the past five years or so, I can see some virtue in having a non-partisan head of state (realizing that that does not mean the Royal Family is beyond ideology). Not sure how that would work in our republic, but I feel like it would help with national unity during divisive political times.

>Not sure how that would work in our republic

here in Germany we have what is probably the most common setup in republics, a chancellor and a president as the ceremonial head of state.

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#783

Post by arinlen »

Grismar wrote: post #730
2pEXgD0fZ5cF wrote: post #716

I gotta admit that it is a bit weird to see british royalty being so heavily privileged that they even get special moderation treatment here on HN to protect them (?) from any negativity, or rather stop negativity about them. I'm not keen on the idea of using this submission to flame the Queen, I obviously agree with the general rule of avoiding flamebait, what I mean is that other HN submissions on the deaths of peo…

You say "special moderation treatment", as if it is something sinister. Have you considered that it may just be the fact that she was so broadly loved, that this happens naturally?

> Have you considered that it may just be the fact that she was so broadly loved, that this happens naturally?

It's quite possible to respect the person who happens to be a monarch and being against the institution of monarchy.

If you're not suppse to question monarchy when a ruling monarch dies, then when is it appropriate?

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#784

Post by gerdesj »

rikthevik wrote: post #733
orobinson wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel the same. I think it’s because it really represents the end of an era. The 20th and early 21st century ushered in unprecedented improvements to quality of life in Britain but it has felt of late that that has peaked and the country is facing a serious decline: Brexit, the increasingly visible effects of climate change, the aftermath of covid, the possible break up of the union, rising costs of living, recessio…

My understanding is that the late 70s and early 80s in England was a hopeless place. As evidence I submit Alan Moore's introduction to V for Vendetta and Ghost Town by the Specials. - https://slendertroll.tumblr.com/post/66114152363 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Town_(Specials_song) "Naivete can also be detected in my supposition that it would take something as melodramatic as a near-miss nuclear conflict to…

"My understanding is that the late 70s and early 80s in England was a hopeless place."

That's not quite how it felt as a 52 year old Brit off of mostly England wot lived here at that time, as well as West Germany. I got the full Cold War experience.

I'm not sure about V for Vendetta - that's a film released in 2005 so a retrospective of {something}. "Ghost Town" by the Specials is of its time and an absolute belter and it does evoke emotions.

I can understand that a Canadian that wasn't even born at the time might find it hard to usefully engage with the past of a foreign country.

However we as Canadians and Brits and many others shared a Queen and she has passed away to all our loss.

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#785

Post by fwip »

Lots of people, especially in former colonies, are justifiably glad to hear of her passing. For instance, the people in Kenya or India whose family survived the war crimes inflicted by the British under her reign.

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#786

Post by heresie-dabord »

SonicScrub wrote: post #191
Hongwei wrote: post #36

RIP. As a Canadian I've always liked that we technically had the Queen as our head of state. I wonder how attitudes will change now that her 70 year reign.

I have an idea that's only half insane. Bear with me. Let's assume we want to get rid of the monarch as Canada's head-of-state. Canada will not be able to feasibly do so because it opens up too many difficult questions about re-structuring our government. Ergo, we will probably just coast on the status-quo. But we could use the desire for everything to stay the same to our advantage by declaring the Queen Elizabeth I…

> I have an idea that's only half insane.

In the unlikely event that the UK were to abolish or deprecate its monarchy, Canada would still prefer not to re-open the Constitution. This might indeed lead to Canada worshipping "The Crown" without anybody to wear said ceremonial headgear.

In other words, the logical contortions of a democracy naming one family as being more important than anyone else, and it being a family without power anyway, are less painfully absurd in Canadian politics than discussing the Constitution. ^_^

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#787

Post by thrown_22 »

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).

It wasn't peaceful. It was that the UK was broke and couldn't afford to keep invading places that weren't making money for it:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malayan_Emergency

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Crisis

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#788

Post by dang »

ginger2016 wrote: post #774
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…

dang, Paul Graham is British; has it factored into your decision of keeping the comments deferential to the Queen. My condolences to British people who held the Queen at high esteem. But frankly world is a bigger place than Britain and America. Not everyone from the British former colonies will appreciate the Queen. if they express the feelings about the monarchy in a respectful way; do you see an issue?

There was no "decision of keeping the comments deferential to the Queen". In any case, PG having been born in Britain does not factor into any decisions on HN.

I believe I've answered your other question in a few places:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32772419

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32771874

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32772067

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32771818

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32770946

... as well as in the comment you're replying to (starting at "I'm not telling you guys to be royalists!"). If you read those comments and still have a question that isn't answered there, I'd be happy to take a crack at it.

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#789

Post by [deleted] »

saberience wrote: post #71

It's weird, I've never considered myself a "royalist" but this news has affected me quite strongly. I just burst into tears unexpectedly on hearing this news and I don't quite understand why I feel so very sad. I guess I have grown up and lived my whole life (as a Brit) seeing and hearing the Queen, singing "God save the Queen" etc, and this news made me suddenly feel very old, very nostalgic, with the sense that all…

[deleted]

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#790

Post by [deleted] »

mcbishop wrote: post #723

> From commoners to heads of state, the queen has been known to smooth over embarrassing situations with a gentle quip or two. According to Blaikie, at a Buckingham Palace Garden Party, a woman was chatting with the queen when her cell phone embarrassingly started ringing. “You’d better answer that,” the queen told her. “It might be someone important.” > Then there was the notorious incident that occurred during Char…

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