Harry and Meghan Discussion Thread

[Ethel mermania]

Eh what now?

is your refridgerator running? well you better go catch it!!!!!

This thread is about the brits

The prince Albert in a can joke works better

[New-Minneapolis]

Does Megan realize that she lives an extremely privilege life, more than 99.99.998% of the population?

[Australian rePublic]

How does someone not know what a refrigerator is?

You haven't heard of the Netflix show "The Prince"? Count yourself lucky! It's a really, really bad comedy show about the royal family where the queen farts, burps and swears all the time (that's the joke), Prince Philip makes "old man noises", Prince George (the protagonist) is a dick to everyone, Princess Charlotte is a spy trying to keep it secret from her family, Prince Louis is a soccer hooligan, Kate and William are unhappily married and Harry is trying to adjust to living in the real world, to the extent that he doesn't know what a refrigerator is. That's the whole extent of the show. That's it. The only character development is centred around the queen's bodily functions and her ability to say the word "fuck".

The entire show is the queen burps/farts/swears, that's the joke
Philip is old that's the joke
George is a dick, that's the joke
Charlotte is a spy, that's the joke
Charles is a mummy's boy, that's the joke
Camilla is never allowed to speak because no one likes her, that's the joke

There is so little character development that I genuinely don't know whether or not she spies for or against the UK, but based on the little tiny bit of context they provide, I'll assume it's against the UK


The worst part of the show is that it was released after Philip's death, but they still decided to air it, and that they bully real children in the process, all whilst not even mentioning more controversial members, like Andrew. It's actually worse than I'm making it out to be. It's on the same level as crap like Paradise PF or Brickleberry, but whilst bullying Philip (who was recently deceased) and actual, very young children Seriously, you don't know how lucky you are

[Hyperborean Louis Bloom]

The worst part of the show is that it was released after Philip's death, but they still decided to air it, and that they bully real children in the process, all whilst not even mentioning more controversial members, like Andrew. It's actually worse than I'm making it out to be. Seriously, you don't know how lucky you are

I don't think the show is bad or anything. I think the premise is quite funny.

I quite like a few British shows. One of them is called "Bo' Selecta" and is fairly similar (offensive caricatures being the main joke).

My main gripe with "The Prince" is that it was created by Netflix, almost certainly with the goals of appealing to the vicious anti-Monarchy community and pissing off British monarchists/conservatives. But you bet your ass that Netflix wouldn't even dream of creating an intentionally funny and offensive caricature of the whole "Ngozi Fulani" incident.

[Australian rePublic]

The worst part of the show is that it was released after Philip's death, but they still decided to air it, and that they bully real children in the process, all whilst not even mentioning more controversial members, like Andrew. It's actually worse than I'm making it out to be. Seriously, you don't know how lucky you are

I don't think the show is bad or anything. I think the premise is quite funny.

I quite like a few British shows. One of them is called "Bo' Selecta" and is fairly similar (offensive caricatures being the main joke).

My main gripe with "The Prince" is that it was created by Netflix, almost certainly with the goals of appealing to the vicious anti-Monarchy community and pissing off British monarchists/conservatives. But you bet your ass that Netflix wouldn't even dream of creating an intentionally funny and offensive caricature of the whole "Ngozi Fulani" incident.

It's HBO not Netflix, my mistake. Also, it's not British, it's American, I would be genuinely surprised if there was a single British person on the staff

[Vassenor]

Does Megan realize that she lives an extremely privilege life, more than 99.99.998% of the population?

Appealing to worse problems. Everybody drink.

[Australian rePublic]

Does Megan realize that she lives an extremely privilege life, more than 99.99.998% of the population?

Appealing to worse problems. Everybody drink.

And what problems does she have at all? She's out of the family, incredibly wealthy and incredibly famous. By your logic, that means we should take Donald Trump seriously, because he's no longer president of the USA

[Bombadil]

Appealing to worse problems. Everybody drink.

And what problems does she have at all? She's out of the family, incredibly wealthy and incredibly famous. By your logic, that means we should take Donald Trump seriously, because he's no longer president of the USA

They already had to sue the Daily Mail for invasion of privacy and won. The Mail continues to wage their vendetta. They had 20 pages just on this documentary, 20 pages! Even today England’s loss is second to a likely bullshit rumour they’ve been disinvited to the coronation.

At what point, no matter who you are, do you just accept repeated scurrilous stories, repeated invasion of privacy, repeated harassment, in the name of ‘news’.

It’s not news, it’s gossip mongering by a media who hate that their royal Prince married a half-caste.

I don’t even care for royalty, when Adam delved and Eve span, who then was the gentleman, but I do care about the vindictive harassment of anyone by tabloid media.

[Vassenor]

Appealing to worse problems. Everybody drink.

And what problems does she have at all? She's out of the family, incredibly wealthy and incredibly famous. By your logic, that means we should take Donald Trump seriously, because he's no longer president of the USA

So why is she not allowed to talk about her treatment by the family, the royal household and the press?

[Hyperborean Louis Bloom]

They already had to sue the Daily Mail for invasion of privacy and won.

Big whoop.

I have as much disdain for journalists as the next guy, but so what?

She knew what she was getting into, and she wasn't the victim of absolutely unbearable, life-ruining racist harassment, as she claims she was.

[Vassenor]

They already had to sue the Daily Mail for invasion of privacy and won.

Big whoop.

I have as much disdain for journalists as the next guy, but so what?

She knew what she was getting into, and she wasn't the victim of absolutely unbearable, life-ruining racist harassment, as she claims she was.

“Other people have it worse so she’s not allowed to talk about what happened to her”

Someone change the record, it’s stuck.

[Hyperborean Louis Bloom]

Big whoop.

I have as much disdain for journalists as the next guy, but so what?

She knew what she was getting into, and she wasn't the victim of absolutely unbearable, life-ruining racist harassment, as she claims she was.

“Other people have it worse so she’s not allowed to talk about what happened to her”

Someone change the record, it’s stuck.

No, I didn't say that.

I said words to the effect of "She's making it up so she should be quiet about it".

[Vassenor]

“Other people have it worse so she’s not allowed to talk about what happened to her”

Someone change the record, it’s stuck.

No, I didn't say that.

I said words to the effect of "She's making it up so she should be quiet about it".

Ah, “she’s saying stuff I don’t want to hear so it must be lies”.

[Dumb Ideologies]

Celebrities can have a hard time in the public eye for sure, but most people's lives have times of difficulty and the many much less well-off people with life problems of similar or worse severity can't afford therapy let alone do it in the form of a narcissistic public pity-me session. Shoo, you not getting any payments from my sympathy budget.

[New-Minneapolis]

And what problems does she have at all? She's out of the family, incredibly wealthy and incredibly famous. By your logic, that means we should take Donald Trump seriously, because he's no longer president of the USA

So why is she not allowed to talk about her treatment by the family, the royal household and the press?

The British press have always been brutal to the Royal family. You really think that Megan is being treated any worse than Diana was? How about the current Queen consort?

And yes, I am going to dismiss extremely wealthy people that live extremely privileged lives complaining about family drama. I would rather put my focus on compassion on the marginalized and the poor that have little to no privilege and little to no wealth. The homeless teenage trans person of color that was kicked out by their parents deserves society’s attention, not people in Megan’s situation. Extremely rich and extremely privileged people complaining about their “oppression“ makes me physically ill

[Bombadil]

So why is she not allowed to talk about her treatment by the family, the royal household and the press?

The British press have always been brutal to the Royal family. You really think that Megan is being treated any worse than Diana was? How about the current Queen consort?

And yes, I am going to dismiss extremely wealthy people that live extremely privileged lives complaining about family drama. I would rather put my focus on compassion on the marginalized and the poor that have little to no privilege and little to no wealth. The homeless teenage trans person of color that was kicked out by their parents deserves society’s attention, not people in Megan’s situation. Extremely rich and extremely privileged people complaining about their “oppression“ makes me physically ill

Yes, and maybe the media should focus on actual issues over devoting 20 pages to a documentary. If the media didn’t spend so much time judging for no value and spent it addressing issues perhaps we’d be more informed. More informed than the lies and hyperbole they indulge in.

You don’t have to support royalty or privilege to decry a celebrity-obsessed, invasive, vindictive and, basically racist media selling gossip for clicks and an agenda or ‘real Britishness’.

Their exact point was that they hounded Diana, Harry’s mother, who died when he was very young, it’s no wonder he’s concerned by that example.

But tabloid media doesn’t give a shit.

[Vassenor]

So why is she not allowed to talk about her treatment by the family, the royal household and the press?

The British press have always been brutal to the Royal family. You really think that Megan is being treated any worse than Diana was? How about the current Queen consort?

And yes, I am going to dismiss extremely wealthy people that live extremely privileged lives complaining about family drama. I would rather put my focus on compassion on the marginalized and the poor that have little to no privilege and little to no wealth. The homeless teenage trans person of color that was kicked out by their parents deserves society’s attention, not people in Megan’s situation. Extremely rich and extremely privileged people complaining about their “oppression“ makes me physically ill

You do realise this started because Harry called out the fact the press was treating Meghan exactly the same way they treated Diana (and we all know how that ended)?

[West Bromwich Holme]

The media's gone so over-the-top with it, it's eclipsed the Ukraine story of which there's developments still about nuclear threats, the cost of living crisis, and also Hertz reporting its own rental cars as stolen with a class-action suit to follow which is probably a big news story in itself.

Aren't those four arguably more leading news stories as compared to an argument between royals?

[Vassenor]

The media's gone so over-the-top with it, it's eclipsed the Ukraine story of which there's developments still about nuclear threats, the cost of living crisis, and also Hertz reporting its own rental cars as stolen with a class-action suit to follow which is probably a big news story in itself.

Aren't those four arguably more leading news stories as compared to an argument between royals?

No but you see they sullied The Queen's sacred legacy so that's massively more important.

[Bombadil]

The media's gone so over-the-top with it, it's eclipsed the Ukraine story of which there's developments still about nuclear threats, the cost of living crisis, and also Hertz reporting its own rental cars as stolen with a class-action suit to follow which is probably a big news story in itself.

Aren't those four arguably more leading news stories as compared to an argument between royals?

Exactly, of all the issues in the world they’re obsessed with a complete non-issue other than it is an issue of media focused on non-stories because addressing actual issues is against their agenda.

The irony they promote is laughable if it wasn’t so irresponsible as a media.

And, fair enough, the media would t print it if people did t click on it.

[Vassenor]

Let me put it to you like this: When you're growing up you have to watch your mother get hounded to an early grave by the press. Then when you're an adult you see them start treating your wife the same way. How would you react in this situation?

[Dumb Ideologies]

Let me put it to you like this: When you're growing up you have to watch your mother get hounded to an early grave by the press. Then when you're an adult you see them start treating your wife the same way. How would you react in this situation?

I can't really get a good result out of that hypothetical because the actions don't make intuitive sense and possibly only do make sense in the context of his specific mental trauma.

I can certainly understand why he chose to leave, which is a decision I think most people can respect. It makes a little less sense for why he'd then participate in a tell-all documentary rather than seek to stay out of the public eye. It seems fairly obvious that what they've done with this series will put his family right back into the most hostile form of the media and royal ecosystems and that if his main priority is protecting his family he should have turned it down.

It may be that people who have only experienced life in the context of the public eye have some kind of unhealthy attachment to it such that they may only be able to conceive of acting through that context, in a similar way to how people who grow up in abusive homes sometimes only have that framework for how a relationship works and so tend to replicate it. However, I don't have that personal context and so there's limitations to how far I can put myself in his shoes.

[Maladh]

I decided to give the show a try out of morbid curiosity. I personally found it way more underwhelming than I initially expected. I think they tried to target a more US audience with a very American style personal life 'documentary' which wouldn't necessary appeal to British/continental audiences, but then again the game of foot was afoot and that generally has priority over blue blood drama.

I was really surprised by how tone-deaf many of Prince Harry's sections were, same for some of the couple sections. Maybe 20 years ago the "I found myself in Africa" narrative would have worked, but nowadays it's associated with overly privileged and out of touch upper middle class white girls thinking they are bringing enlightenment and civilisation to an African village. It's even worse when you realise it's a prince mainly spending time on the farm of another prince in Lesotho, as well as staying in resorts and upper class hideouts near safari parks as if he's part of the 1920s Happy Valley set in Kenya.

I personally didn't find Meghan's story very appealing either, but maybe that's just a cultural disconnect between a working class Euro and a woman surrounded by Hollywood glamour. I also got some suspicions about the poverty story she tells, it doesn't exactly come over like she grew up in deep poverty judging from the support she could get from her father.

It was pretty interesting that they made a connection between the climate around Brexit and the introduction of Meghan as a mixed-race American, since that was something I've been speculating about that as well. That said, it's pretty tone-deaf that they weren't able to make the connection between Brexit and wider issues that were playing in Europe post-2000 about migration and national identities. You really can't compare debates about the future of nations and the role of the EU with US debates. I don't think they even mentioned the 2015 migrant crisis that shifted public opinions across the continent.

--> Harry and Meghan are right to complain about how Meghan's perceived race was treated unfairly in the UK, and that's something the royals and the UK government should have anticipated in the Brexit climate. They should have also realised that this could have been a debate at the very beginning. My personal experiences from that era were not that the British necessarily focused just on race, but it was always placed in connection with Meghan's activism on issues that, both at the time and still today, are mainly debated within an American contextual framework and were in many ways not issues discussed amongst the wider populace outside of the posh London (or Brussels) bubble. While in the US and amongst US-influenced groups the topic of race and identity politics (is there a better term for this? It feels so much like a buzzword) are very much central in many discussions, they are considered politics in the UK and Europe, and royals are very much expected not to involve themselves in politics because of their roles within the state apparatus of monarchies.

[Hyperborean Louis Bloom]

Harry and Meghan are right to complain about how Meghan's perceived race was treated unfairly in the UK, and that's something the royals and the UK government should have anticipated in the Brexit climate.

"Brexit climate" isn't the cause of such issues.

However, it is certainly the result of other issues.

[Australian rePublic]

The British press have always been brutal to the Royal family. You really think that Megan is being treated any worse than Diana was? How about the current Queen consort?

And yes, I am going to dismiss extremely wealthy people that live extremely privileged lives complaining about family drama. I would rather put my focus on compassion on the marginalized and the poor that have little to no privilege and little to no wealth. The homeless teenage trans person of color that was kicked out by their parents deserves society’s attention, not people in Megan’s situation. Extremely rich and extremely privileged people complaining about their “oppression“ makes me physically ill

You do realise this started because Harry called out the fact the press was treating Meghan exactly the same way they treated Diana (and we all know how that ended)?

Fuck the media. Fuck everything about the media. The way they treated Meghan is absolutely disgusting and unacceptable. But how is that the fault of the royal family? Do you WANT the royal family to have absolute control of the media to the point where they can't criticise them? If not, then what exactly are they supposed to do about the media? Meghan has every right to attack the media, but that's the fault of the media. not the royal family. Short of ceasing control of the media and banning all criticism of them, what exactly does she want the royal family to do about it? The whole royal family is subject to the same media scrutiny as she is, and it's unfortunate that the media took it too far with her specifically