The Bass-ackwards partisan response to Meghan Markle
Last night, CBS aired Oprah Winfrey’s exclusive interview with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. And in it were a series of bombshell allegations and revelations. You can watch it here. But before you do, before you read any of the analysis in the press about the interview, consider this story from Buzzfeed that ran last year. It’s truly eye-opening, as it reveals the absolute double standard in the British press—which spills over to the US press—when it comes to the coverage of Markle, as compared to the coverage of Kate Middleton (which of course is not Kate’s fault). Just look at the first example, from stories in The Daily Mail.
First, Kate’s baby bump:
Then, Meghan’s baby bump:
How can any thinking person not see the obviously opposite approaches to the two royal spouses? The piece goes on to detail story after story where Markle is criticized for things that elicited praise for Middleton. Granted, this is mostly tabloid-level (Page Six level) stuff, but anyone paying attention can see how it’s influenced the public perception of Markle, in England and beyond.
Personally, I never much cared about the Royals, about Meghan, Harry, Kate, William, or the Queen. They live lives that are so far apart from mine that there’s no reason for me to care. The British Royal Family is nothing but a reality TV show, anyway, a bread-and-circuses act to amuse the British populace. They bring nothing to the table; all of the imaginary “good” they do is just them spending money on charities, money that none of them actually earned. As I told friends when Markle got engaged to Harry, she’s too good for him; and as a friend quipped back to me, “she’s a successful businesswoman and actor, he lives in public housing.”
But I’ll admit that I did start to care when Markle and Harry began to separate themselves from rest of the Royals, because I hoped that maybe, just maybe it might be the beginning of the end for an utterly useless and damaging idea that has afflicted the world for thousands and thousands of years: royalty, the supposition that some people are better than everyone else, simply because of their bloodline.
It’s the literal height of ignorance, believing in such tripe, accepting that there is any sort of legitimacy therein. And as long as the idea continues to be accepted, there will never be actual equality, because the idea necessarily breeds inequality. Many defenders of royalty like to point out that most of the Royals—in Europe, at any rate—are just figureheads now, that they don’t exercise any true power, that they’re “mostly harmless.” But such arguments ignore the cost exacted on populations to get to this point, where the current Royals are “mostly harmless.” More importantly, such arguments minimize the institutional classism and, yes, racism engendered by an officially recognized royalty and aristocracy.
And perhaps worst of all, such arguments—when emanating from countries like the US—ignore the fact that independence as an ideological goal was and is independence from monarchy, from royalty, first and foremost. Yet it seems that for many, many people, they only care about ideology with respect to how it is expressed by out current political leaders.
For me, that’s the most distressing thing, with regard to the various takes I’m seeing on Markle and Harry: the obvious impact of partisan politics on peoples’ expressed opinions on the ex-royal couple and on the British Royals, in general. One would think that the people who were beside themselves with anger—not all that long ago—because Barack Obama bowed to royalty would tend to applaud anyone who was sticking it to the Royals. Similarly, one would think that the people who were ooing and ahing over how awesome the Queen mother is in the recent past, how she’s such a strong woman and a role model, would be distressed by the attacks being launched her way right now.
Yet, so many righ-wing haters of royalty seem to have suddenly become fans of the same, or is it that they simply hate Meghan Markle more? And so many left-wing fans of the Royals—and champions of respecting other countries’ traditions—are now suddenly all in with ending the monarchy, with seeing it as a collection of racist assholes (to be sure, it helps this latter group’s case that assclowns like Piers Morgan are going after Markle). Though of these two groups, it’s the right-wing crowd that is the most disappointing, by far, because it’s hard not to see the racist angle there.
This is, I think, a great moment for a little honest self-evaluation, if you count yourself a conservative or even a Republican. Once upon a time, conservative icons like Rush Limbaugh made it a point to mock the idea of royalty. Indeed, the monarchy was a running joke in such circles, especially when it came to the media love affair with Di and Charles. And the core reason why this was the case was because a system of royalty was seen as anti-American and archaic. Perhaps this clip from the 1988 Naked Gun movie best captures the differing attitudes:
No matter how silly the idea of having a queen might be to us, as Americans we must be gracious and considerate hosts.
Drebin’s open mockery of the Queen is in line with the conservative viewpoint at the time, while the mayor’s look of horror perfectly encapsulates the view of much of the left. Yet judging by what’s out there on social media today, ideological orientations seem to have done a near 180-degree turn.
Why?
Look at the hateful bile spewing from the mouths of supposed conservatives like Candace Owens:
Megyn Kelly is no better:
Here’s another piece-of-crap Trump guy—Nick Adams—taking a shot at Markle:
Some have noted on twitter that it’s no surprise that loving Trump and hating Markle go hand in hand. Again, why?
A good chunk of people who imagine they are conservatives and “true Americans,” who think Trump is the same and happily put a #MAGA in their social media bios also like to imagine that they and Trump are an extension of the Tea Party movement as well. If you are such a person, take your head out of your ass, because you are wrong, wholly and completely.
If the Tea Party movement was about anything, it was about fiscal conservatism—a foreign land to the MAGA crowd—and a return to the principles of small government, as expressed in the anti-monarchy, anti-royalty founding documents of the United States. The total lack of adherence to such principles is disqualifying as a matter of course, when it comes to actual conservatism. And frankly, the reactions I’m seeing to Markle and Harry’s interview are really letting me separate the wheat from the chaff in this regard.