Royals

[poorpete]

Twitter is useful for live events and breaking news -- and also isn't, as news of the Queen's health has paused and so twitter is just yelling at each other, people who aren't fans of the Elizabeth are reminding everyone of that fact. People who liked the Queen, the most admired woman in the world according to polls, are yelling back.

Personally, I'm sad an old granny isn't doing well, and beyond that in awe of how long she has been the figure-head of a country. The fact that many satellite countries like Australia ran referendums to do away with the monarchy but they fail because she's so cute. Do wonder if that will dramatically change once her meh son is in control.

Also, she is/was obviously imperfect, but so is every leader, so is every person. I thought she did well, for the most part.

Anyways, jumping off twitter and will just live on the bbc live feed, which right now is obsessed with who is and who is not on planes.
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/uk-62834633

[poorpete]

A little cultural difference I'm noticing. US/Canada politicians use the word "thoughts" as in our thoughts are with the Queen and her family. British/UK politicians are using the word "concerned" -- the new Prime Minister used it as well as others. Is is that concern is a bit of a negative emotion compared to thoughts which can be neutral to positive? I wonder if concern is more neutral across the pond. Or maybe they're more okay saying that they are bummed out, knowing that it doesn't like jinx her getting better.

[poorpete]

For immediate shitposting we turn now to twitter dot com



No doubt somebody is spending their day making a gif of Harry Styles spitting on Elizabeth's open casket and will win Twitter for a good 26 minutes.

[Kyle]

I was on twitter for many years and finally quit when I realized that it was overwhelmingly toxic. I know there's plenty of good people posting good things on twitter. But most of it is just shouting. And much of that is just garbage shouting. The rampant misogyny, racism and hate was just gross and I didn't want to even be associated with it by having an account anymore.

I feel similarly about Reddit. I really tried to make a go of reddit for a while. But there's just so much hate on there- particularly the toxic masculinity. Oof.

[poorpete]

BBC said it best "millions will feel a sense of personal loss" so all these things can be true:

the monarchy is outdated
she wasn't perfect
Britain has done very bad things in its history
and "millions will feel a sense of personal loss"

It only gotten worse on twitter. Logging off.

[Mike]

Anyone under the age of 80 in the UK probably has no significant memory of anyone else being the reigning monarch. The oldest of that group probably distinctly remember her coronation but not a whole lot of her father's reign. So around 95% of the British have never known anything else. And at best, there's maybe only a couple thousand people (probably less) in that country who have any real memory of a time before her arrival as her father's first born. So Elizabeth has always existed in the minds of 99+% of the nation and has always been queen for 95% of them. Love her or hate her, that's huge.

[Mando]

New PM and a new Monarch in a few days time is bound to shake up an already unstable world.

[poorpete]

a +71 is crazy! Gonna say the +24 for Charles is concerning, but any US politician would adore a +24 approval rating.

[poorpete]

First joke, incoming


Wow, so they got Charles til 2092?

[Mike]

a +71 is crazy! Gonna say the +24 for Charles is concerning, but any US politician would adore a +24 approval rating.

So the only thing in England that makes you more unpopular than being a black American woman is being a pedophile.

[Mike]

Random Twitter jokes:

Quick, nations, this is our chance. While they're all distracted, let's sneak in the museum and steal all our stuff back.

Oh, so they're just GIVING the throne to Charles? This is nepotism at its finest.

Queen Elizabeth II, character of the animated 2015 film Minions, has died.

And my personal favorite:
A second plane has hit Her Majesty.

[Mike]

A couple more:

Her Majesty will return in Multiverse of Madness

I can't believe they're making a MAN queen. This woke nonsense is completely out of hand.

[poorpete]

Nice ones! Aside, I like jokes where the joke is about how dim the joke teller is. Some call them dad jokes but I think dad jokes are jokes that kids would groan at, and I think there is overlap but dim jokes and dad jokes are different. Or am I off/wrong

[Phoebe]

I was personally upset when Prince died, so I get how people might feel things when a famous stranger passes, but honestly I don't get this. People are unexpectedly wrought and agitated - I was at work when this happened and found the universal outpouring of Feelings around me quite incomprehensible. It is nice to see people live to 96 and cool to see a woman leading a major nation and democracy for so long, however much as a figurehead. ? The shock of Diana dying in a car crash also made sense because it was so terrible, how it happened, and how young she was. The queen was a vigorous 96 and that is wonderful, but also, she was 96 and people in the United States are crying.

[Kyle]

So look- I get it. There are a bunch of people that are crazy invested in royal intrigue and lifestyle stuff. And there's a long-long-long tradition and history behind it. So I get it. People are upset and I think that's fine. Phoebe is right, I was upset when Prince died- 'cause I like Prince. Overwhelmingly people love the royals, so let them grieve.

But I was thinking this morning about what a elitist idea the English monarchy (or all European monarchies) are. Rooted in Colonialism, is there a better symbol of white-elitism than the royal family? They have no real important role in government. They're figureheads at best, and tabloid fodder at worst. And they are provided their wealth and fame because they're a white bloodline born into a white bloodline. Yeah, seems kind of gross.

[poorpete]

She didn't deserve to be royalty, nor does anyone, but she didn't ask for it either. She was given this responsibility and probably performed it better than it would have if she gave up the throne to anyone else in her fam. I don't think she alone could have broken up the system, and I guess debateably her popularity in the UK allowed it to continue.

I admit I've gotten teared up, mainly thinking of her family. NYTimes shared a video of a King Charles' shaking hands with people in a crowd, and just the solomn looks on everyone's face, they were excited but wanted to show they empathized with losing his mum. That got me.

I don't like the idea of say America having a king or queen, but I do like the idea of us having like a key mother/father-figure. Probably the closest is someone like Oprah. A wise person we can turn to in hard times and celebrate in good times, and offers say 70 years of consistency in our public lives. Maybe it's who the Chief Justice should be, yeah, let's make that happen.

And it's truly an end of an era in a lot of minds. Think, the next coronation will be the first to ever be televised. Not because of lack of access, but because lack of television.

[Phoebe]

You are getting misty over it because you are a nice person and a softy at heart. You never have to be sorry for that! We were sad about Prince because he was actually a royalty.
It is kind of a weird paradox: you're born into this completely wacky and extreme gilded cage that you won't easily escape. There is minimal precedent for escape but probably you're not going to escape. And then it's basically your job, the way some people inherit a chicken restaurant from the fam.
It is truly a weird thing. I would do the Scottish Castle part of it.

[Kyle]

We were sad about Prince because he was actually a royalty.

[Eliahad]

This is what I think of every time I see the title of this thread.



Carry on. Carry on.

[Mike]

Elizabeth cultivated a very neutral public persona over the decades. She embodied the monarchy without opinion. She was a symbol of stability and constancy. But she was queen, and she COULD have had an opinion. What might things have looked like had the queen come out as an outspoken defender of human rights back in the 60s? Not that I believe she would have had any positions that threatened the supremacy of the colonizers, but it would be a cool alternate history series.

Her position was not without influence. The actions she chose enabled the continuing horrors during her reign. Canada's Residential Schools didn't close until 1998. As the monarch of Canada, that would seem to be an easy thing to speak out against. And yet, of the time of her death, native people's and other groups were still calling on her to apologize for the monarchy's role in breaking up native families and erasing native culture. She never did.

[Mando]

I wish I could have watched the coronation. That would have been something to see.

[poorpete]

Twitter showing some bad flooding in Puerto Rico -- I hope this becomes bigger news and people get the help they need, for sure.

But as an aside, people are using this ongoing tragedy as a way to dunk on the queen's funeral. Like literally every tweet that I've seen so far on Puerto Rico is like "While everyone's focusing on the...." and I feel there's a difference between saying "woah, this should be top news" and "look at how stupid our priorities are" -- why are people trying to have news events FIGHT?

[Phoebe]

I think the problem is also Twitter. I've come around to the idea that being able to provide a brief analysis or response is a virtue worth pursuing. But the short format still favors the idiotic and the hot take and the angry response, and disfavors any meaningful expert analysis. It might be a good tool for linking to such analysis but it's not like you're going to find it on the site very often. Generally you'd just be clicking through to something else.
This is on contemporary issues and controversies - I can't speak to whether it works for other purposes like staying in touch with random people in your profession or keeping apprised of recent news or whatever.
I don't want to be encouraged in enjoying the catharsis of mocking idiots... This experience already goes with driving a car around the local area but never leads to any satisfaction because the very next trip involves yet another person driving on the wrong side of the road or stopping in the middle of the street or turning left from the right turn lane or...
My impression of Twitter is that it is a giant road clogged with lousy drivers of one kind or another... Some are automated vehicles, some are just idiots...