Queen Elizabeth II has died
www.bbc.com
Her son King Charles III pays tribute to his "beloved mother" who has died peacefully at Balmoral.
  • Lenins2ndCat@lemmy.ml
    23·
    2 years ago

    The internet is such a weird fucking place right now.

    Every single British community I’m in is just wall to wall memes and jokes and people asking if this means we get a holiday. Nobody gives a shit about the monarchy, at best people think “it’s a tourist attraction and I’m ok with it as that” and at worst people want rid of it. Beyond that people do not care. There’s probably an incredibly tiny minority of actual royalists that genuinely give a shit.

    Americans on the other hand are falling over themselves to hide anyone making even the smallest lame jokes about it. American liberals crying about civility and empathy while american conservatives act like offending the monarchy is deeply offensive to Britain as a nation. The two of them are pretty much an inch apart while the actual British left’s response is “rest in piss”.

    It’s really fucking weird online, as a Brit.

      • Lenins2ndCat@lemmy.ml
        91·
        2 years ago

        Yeah I suspect that’s what it is. The propaganda works outside the country much more than it does inside it.

    • Cold Hotman@nrsk.no
      14·
      2 years ago

      Norwegian online newspapers have dedicated at least twice as much space to the event as bbc.co.uk. I think I saw her obituary below a recipe for pasta. It’s weird.

      • AgreeableLandscape@lemmy.mlOPM
        7·
        2 years ago

        I searched up “Queen Elizabeth Death” and it was all American news sites lol. Had to specifically search “Queen Elizabeth Death BBC” to find this.

    • aski3252@lemmy.ml
      5·
      2 years ago

      The only reason why it was tolerated in the past 50 years was because of tourism.

      It’s a monarchy, people get put into an absurdly privileged and powerful position just for being born in a specific family. And then there is a whole industry focused on documenting their disfunctional life.

      It just sucks for anyone involved but maybe the tourists, even the royals themselves.

      • triplenadir
        1·
        2 years ago

        I’ve heard the tourism theory a lot and used to believe it but I don’t think it survives the facts - Versailles gets way more visitors, without a living monarch

  • stasis
    92·
    2 years ago

    liberals support “freedom and democracy” but they mourn the death of an unelected parasite that reigned for almost 71 years lmao

  • vitaminka@lemmy.ml
    36·
    2 years ago

    ngl, i kinda feel sad

    i grew up in england as a child, and was exposed to her and the british monarchy in general, and they were a significant part of my childhood, and i guess the combination of of the lack of responsibilities and the general impressionability of childhood just left me with a super warm, nice, pleasant, comforting feeling about her, she was kinda like my grandma…

    and it inevitably feels sad to me when this part of my life goes away

    but on the other hand, i realize the implications of monarchy, especially given the current crises in england, and very much think that monarchy is a bad thing, and so these two irreconcilable perspectives weirdly coexist within me…

    • cult@lemmy.ml
      1·
      2 years ago

      Well I appreciate you being honest. Her approval ratings are over 86% so she’s a wildly popular politician in the UK. Which is something that’s really confused me so I’m glad to hear somewhat of an explanation about it

      But it definitely seems like something that needs to be unlearned. She played an active role in the colonialism and specifically rebranding the colonization of Africa to make it more palatable for the 21st century and ensure it could continue.

      I try not to get into the habit of telling other people what they need to unlearn, but now seems like a uniquely important time to elevate discussions about the inconvenient truth of Britain’s continued colonialism