Anti-royal protesters are being arrested in the U.K. as 'Not My King' tag grows • Hacker News Board

Re: Anti-royal protesters are being arrested in the U.K. as 'Not My King' tag grows

#371

Post by xani_ » Tue, Sep 13, 2022, 1:44 AM UTC

stjohnswarts wrote: post #345

austinjp wrote: post #327

The UK media (not just the BBC) continue to profess "amazement" at the speed and efficiency of the transitioning from a dead monarch to a living one. There's been much speaking in awed tones at the pace of the various proclamations, committee meetings, document signings, etc, as if this pace tells us why we should be impressed. Personally I've found it borderline sickening. If there was a curtain that could have slip…

I don't get this, it's not like the king of england has any real power. I know it's a waste of tax money but the US governments wastes tax money all day long too, as do all governments on pork projects and subsidies.

The whole monarch clowfest does bring tourism in so it might be not complete waste of tax money

Re: Anti-royal protesters are being arrested in the U.K. as 'Not My King' tag grows

#372

Post by steve76 » Tue, Sep 13, 2022, 1:45 AM UTC

krapp wrote: post #311

gerdesj wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"with all the obedients lapping it up" What exactly is an "obedient"? Are you really deploying a disparaging tag on people who are mourning? That seems a bit crass to me. "we need room for the dissenting voices too" - I saw on C4 (UK TV channel) this evening, some people in Scotland describing their disaffection with the Monarchy. That's fine and quite right. I also find the sheer amount of coverage a bit overwhelmin…

>We will pop out of the other side of this event and the world will continue to turn but we must remember that a King and his bros and moes (sorry!) and their kids and grandkids and great-grandkids have lost a pretty decent human. As have we all. If that "pretty decent human" saw you were on fire, she wouldn't have deigned to put you out with her piss, and neither would any of her "odd lot." She wasn't your doddering…

No post body was provided.

Re: Anti-royal protesters are being arrested in the U.K. as 'Not My King' tag grows

#373

Post by nmstoker » Tue, Sep 13, 2022, 1:46 AM UTC

stjohnswarts wrote: post #348

matthewh806 wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see this exact same comment did pretty well on Reddit too: https://www.reddit.com/r/unitedkingdom/comments/xckw5v/comme... 1. Not all of the arrests have been made at a "funeral" 2. It wasn't a funeral 3. If you're going to have a very public precession, parading a body through the streets with all the obedients lapping it up, surely you have to have a level of tolerance for dissenting voices? I imagine the disrupt…

I see it as a funeral service and it is reasonable that people be respectful and protest somewhere else.

Or some other time!

Re: Anti-royal protesters are being arrested in the U.K. as 'Not My King' tag grows

#374

Post by xani_ » Tue, Sep 13, 2022, 1:48 AM UTC

quadrifoliate wrote: post #305

coutego wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It does not seem like having a "fuck imperialism" sign should ever get you arrested in a country that is supposedly one of the closest allies of the US. Hmmmm... /s?

> Hmmmm... /s? Okay, fair point – I missed the fact that SA is also currently a somewhat key US ally. But you know what I mean, hopefully. The UK has typically been close enough socially and politically that the term "Special Relationship" has its own Wikipedia page [1]. ---------------------------------------- [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Relationship

And, you know, the fact your country does do the "jail for opinions" thing too

Re: Anti-royal protesters are being arrested in the U.K. as 'Not My King' tag grows

#375

Post by gerdesj » Tue, Sep 13, 2022, 1:48 AM UTC

matthewh806 wrote: post #299

gerdesj wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"with all the obedients lapping it up" What exactly is an "obedient"? Are you really deploying a disparaging tag on people who are mourning? That seems a bit crass to me. "we need room for the dissenting voices too" - I saw on C4 (UK TV channel) this evening, some people in Scotland describing their disaffection with the Monarchy. That's fine and quite right. I also find the sheer amount of coverage a bit overwhelmin…

> What exactly is an "obedient"? Are you really deploying a disparaging tag on people who are mourning? That seems a bit crass to me. Yeah, its a crass term I will agree with you there. The public has come out in droves to support the royal family and respect the ongoing proceedings and a small number have vocally voiced their opposition to the situation and are being condemned for doing so. So, I used this charged t…

Thankfully we - you and I can have a reasoned discussion and someone with super powers is dispensing justice on the noddys that drip with hate and malice. There are quite a few greyed out comments in this thread!

I'm not too sure yet what on earth is going on here. It is unprecedented and I think the media are quite scarred by what happened when Diana died and the subsequent events. I remember those days quite well.

I think that we are still learning how to grieve as a nation. I lost my mum 25 odd years back (about a year after Diana passed away) and have buried quite a lot of family since and come to terms with some of the seamier sides of life. It is the way of things but I don't think that Britain, let alone any other country has worked out how to deal with death properly.

It sometimes looks quite bizarre but I think that the UK has the basics laid for a pretty good mechanism for dealing with grief. It will work itself out somehow.

That said, I understand that not everyone is a fan of the royals and would prefer a republic. For now, why not recognise a loss of a person who has been here for 90+ years and tomorrow we'll debate the future.

Re: Anti-royal protesters are being arrested in the U.K. as 'Not My King' tag grows

#376

Post by foobarian » Tue, Sep 13, 2022, 1:53 AM UTC

Somatochlora wrote: post #370

alphaddx wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm genuinely interested to know what you think should happen after a monarch passes. This has been the process for over 1000 years and while we have a constitutional monarchy this is what happens. I'm actually not in favour of a monarchy myself but I don't get how people would be surprised at what's currently happening.

There's nothing about having a monarch as the head of state that requires so much ceremony and attention. We could stop putting the king on currency, not have official periods of mourning, relegate news about the royal to the tabloids etc. without making any changes to how the government is structured.

To paraphrase "Mother," Italians have their food, [censored] have their music, the CIA have the United States of America, and the Brits have their King/Queen. And once you have a Thing, it makes sense to be good at it, hence nice ceremonies, attention, and world wide respect.

Re: Anti-royal protesters are being arrested in the U.K. as 'Not My King' tag grows

#377

Post by geenew » Tue, Sep 13, 2022, 1:53 AM UTC

The monarchy has only fared well if it changes with the times, which it has, gradually giving more power to parliament over the centuries. We have gone from a system of divine right to a harmless institution that provides an apolitical centre. In a practical sense, the institution today is unrecognizable from the institution 1,000 years ago. And there is no reason to think it will not continue to change, gradually, as social change requires.[1]

For better or worse, the monarch is the legitimate sovereign. There is a chain going back almost 1,000 years.[2] Are we, now living, the ones who get to break that? If we are, then we should have a good reason to do so.

A future change where the monarchy effectively ceases to exist is entirely plausible. But any change like that should only happen by agreement. And there is no pressing need for it that I can see.

[1] Take, for example, the Crown Estate. Lands that the sovereign controlled but which were effectively given to the state. A huge transfer of economic power, done bloodlessly and within the laws of the nation. [2] Yes, there was a civil war. But there was also a restoration.

Re: Anti-royal protesters are being arrested in the U.K. as 'Not My King' tag grows

#378

Post by phpthrowaway99 » Tue, Sep 13, 2022, 1:57 AM UTC

austinjp wrote: post #327

The UK media (not just the BBC) continue to profess "amazement" at the speed and efficiency of the transitioning from a dead monarch to a living one. There's been much speaking in awed tones at the pace of the various proclamations, committee meetings, document signings, etc, as if this pace tells us why we should be impressed. Personally I've found it borderline sickening. If there was a curtain that could have slip…

You say it's not okay. I say it is. Unless you have something more this is basically just a random opinion stated as if it wasn't an opinion.

Re: Anti-royal protesters are being arrested in the U.K. as 'Not My King' tag grows

#379

Post by RcouF1uZ4gsC » Tue, Sep 13, 2022, 1:57 AM UTC

TheCoelacanth wrote: post #306

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #36

Well, I guess this is progress. In the past, anti-royal protestors used to be hung, drawn, and quartered.

In the past, 50% of King Charleses were executed too.

I think that will improve to 33% so we are making progress on that front as well!

Re: Anti-royal protesters are being arrested in the U.K. as 'Not My King' tag grows

#380

Post by noahtallen » Tue, Sep 13, 2022, 1:58 AM UTC

austinjp wrote: post #327

The UK media (not just the BBC) continue to profess "amazement" at the speed and efficiency of the transitioning from a dead monarch to a living one. There's been much speaking in awed tones at the pace of the various proclamations, committee meetings, document signings, etc, as if this pace tells us why we should be impressed. Personally I've found it borderline sickening. If there was a curtain that could have slip…

I don’t know much about UK law, but it is at least is constitutional monarchy. So the ruler and rituals of succession exist under the purview of the people and parliament. Surely there is just not enough political will to change it. That’s very different from your implication that it’s some kind of authoritarian hellscape.

Rewording: this “keeps happening” because it’s written into the constitution of the UK. If it didn’t happen, it would be more concerning, because the people wouldn’t have voted on such a big change to how the country works.