HRH Harry & Meghan retire to...

[Beth Macbain]

4 minutes ago, Matty Luminos said:

No, Andrew is his pervy child-molesting uncle.

FTFY.

[Maitimo]

5 minutes ago, Beth Macbain said:

FTFY.

I want to click "agree" without it being a "like", because I do not like him one little bit.

[Eva Knoller]

9 minutes ago, Pussycat Catnap said:

 

Thus why I note the series of images going round the net right now showing the same scenario with both of the 'royal wives' - and how each was handled radically differently.

The side-by-side was quite jarring to see. Particularly the avocado one. WTF?  I don’t blame them one bit for wanting out.

[Pussycat Catnap]

11 minutes ago, Eva Knoller said:

The side-by-side was quite jarring to see. Particularly the avocado one. WTF?  I don’t blame them one bit for wanting out.

This is the insidiousness of modern racism.

Unless you actually sit there and look at a side by side with as many other factors equaled out - it hides itself very well. Everything looks completely reasonable until compared with Kate.

Some of this is because the racism was 'unconscious bias' - the writers not thinking they were being racist, but they still held Megan to a harsher standard... because society ingrains doing that. Some of it was intentional... the racism version of "Russian bots buying ads" - people trying to move the needle using very savvy framing to cast doubt in others without being noticed.

Either way... to the victim... it is still brutally demoralizing... It's basically half of how I grew up - the other half being in areas that were just overtly violent at me (and cost the life of at least 1 if not more friends... the 1 was just so obvious and graphic that there's no doubt).

What I see with Megan I also saw with Obama. Megan by virtue of a newer generation and Obama by virtue of years in Asia - neither one was truly aware of what it meant to be a 'person of color' until they hit the global public stage. Sure they were aware... let me rephrase, they weren't ready for the fight. They showed up to a gun fight with flowers...

The reason I can get so combative on the forums sometimes... silly as this may read... is that I had to learn from the age of 5 sitting in jail... that you show up to a lovefest with a gun or you don't make it out in one piece... (that's a metaphor, I'm actually anti-gun in part because I'm a veteran)... I see in my nieces and nephews that they are 'not prepared' and as long as they never leave California/Washington/nearby or only go to New York/nearby when they do... that's fine... But through them I see what I saw with these global figures... their parent armed them with flowers... But honestly... if they can avoid what I had to face... their lives will be a lot better for it. It's not easy living with 'fight' as your first instinct to everything.

 

Edited January 14, 2020 by Pussycat Catnap

[Pamela Galli]

34 minutes ago, janetosilio said:

I’ve never seen anyone make a big deal out of Meghan being biracial. 

No, they don’t usually come out and say it, as with the Obamas. They just pick at them for things they wouldn’t mind if they were all white. They don’t mind trash like our current Dear Leader and family. 
 

 

Edited January 14, 2020 by Pamela Galli

[Janet Voxel]

20 minutes ago, Pussycat Catnap said:

The Klan doesn't march around in white hoods anymore either.

Ummmm...they actually do.

22 minutes ago, Pussycat Catnap said:

What they do... is hound you for every OTHER last detail of your life in a standard that is much harsher than your peers. Hold every failure out for public ridicule. Every fault is put on you, every success is attributed to 'unfair uplifting' or someone else - you're success is always because of "affirmative action" or something you snuck through...

Is this about Meghan Markle or is this personal? The difference between Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton is: Kate Middleton comes from a pretty well to do background and she’s English. While Meghan Markle is an actress and American (gasp). It’s shades of Edward VIII and Wallace Simpson...a little.

31 minutes ago, Pussycat Catnap said:

Thus why I note the series of images going round the net right now showing the same scenario with both of the 'royal wives' - and how each was handled radically differently.

Of course they’re going to compare them. You can’t site a single anything but a rag that compares them in the way you’re comparing them. This is not the hill to die on.

[Pussycat Catnap]

1 minute ago, janetosilio said:

Is this about Meghan Markle or is this personal? The difference between Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton is: Kate Middleton comes from a pretty well to do background and she’s English. While Meghan Markle is an actress and American (gasp). It’s shades of Edward VIII and Wallace Simpson...a little.

There's both. Because if you're not being self-aware in your analysis you're not analyzing. But the part you quote there - that is exactly the game they played on her.

[Pamela Galli]

3 minutes ago, janetosilio said:

Of course they’re going to compare them. You can’t site a single anything but a rag that compares them in the way you’re comparing them.

I don’t see British news coverage of her, I just know she is finding it about as brutal as Diana did. Or the Obamas. 
Racists just do not like seeing POC do well.

[Janet Voxel]

4 minutes ago, Pussycat Catnap said:

There's both. Because if you're not being self-aware in your analysis you're not analyzing. But the part you quote there - that is exactly the game they played on her.

You’re sounding a little cuckoo right now. This is not the hill to die on.

[Beth Macbain]

1 minute ago, janetosilio said:

YThis is not the hill to die on.

One might say the same for you.

[Amina Sopwith]

1 hour ago, janetosilio said:

I’ve never seen anyone make a big deal out of Meghan being biracial. They did start lightening her up in magazines though.

That would be enough for me, but even apart from that...To be fair, it's mostly come from the same source, from which I wouldn't expect any better, but I still can't believe how blatant some of it is. From Rachel Johnson in the Daily Mail:

"If there is issue from her alleged union with Prince Harry, the Windsors will thicken their watery, thin blue blood and Spencer pale skin and ginger hair with some rich and exotic DNA. Miss Markle’s mother is a dreadlocked African-American lady from the wrong side of the tracks who lives in LA...She’s divorced and, as soon as she met Prince Harry, she is said to have dropped her gorgeous chef boyfriend like a hot brick, as she reeled in the biggest fish in the dating universe by not replying to Harry’s texts for several days (that old trick!)...As far as the Royal Family is concerned, a bolter is far worse than a black sheep."

Source: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-3909362/amp/RACHEL-JOHNSON-Sorry-Harry-beautiful-bolter-failed-Mum-Test.html 

 

Also from the Mail, obviously, Meghan is "straight outta Compton" and in case anyone doesn't get it, here it is: "Plagued by crime and riddled with street gangs, the troubled Los Angeles neighborhood that Doria Ragland, 60, calls home couldn’t be more different to London’s leafy Kensington." You know what they're saying. I know what they're saying.

Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3896180/Prince-Harry-s-girlfriend-actress-Meghan-Markles.html

 

One more, which I know is Buzzfeed, but it's still true. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.buzzfeednews.com/amphtml/ellievhall/meghan-markle-kate-middleton-double-standards-royal

There's more, but I feel dirty enough as it is right now. 

I don't know about their relationship, I've never met either of them. But it's pretty obvious that a powerful section of the great British press has an issue with something else that isn't remotely relevant, even if she is in fact an evil, scheming predator who comes over from the States to steal our princes. As if Harry doesn't have a brilliant track record of being a loose cannon since long before he met her anyway. 

 

Edited January 14, 2020 by Amina Sopwith
Formatting so bad, you'd think I was a Mail sub-editor.

[SpiritSparrow Skydancer]

You know what, I told him he made the wrong choice... I would have been a better choice.

[SpiritSparrow Skydancer]

6 minutes ago, Pamela Galli said:

I don’t see British news coverage of her, I just know she is finding it about as brutal as Diana did. Or the Obamas. 
Racists just do not like seeing POC do well.

 I am sorry, but she knew what she was getting into. I understand that he is being torn because of his momma, but she needs to suck it up and put on her big girl panties. To be honest the only thing I have heard about her is bits of her own interview where she said "NO one asked me how I was doing." I wonder if this is post postpartum depression? If that is the case, then the poor girl needs to recover and get some mental health check.

Edited January 14, 2020 by Tarina Sewell

[Janet Voxel]

1 minute ago, Pamela Galli said:

I don’t see British news coverage of her, I just know she is finding it about as brutal as Diana did. 

This is probably the main issue. Which is why I said she wants to get back to her career.

 

3 minutes ago, Pamela Galli said:
Racists just do not like seeing POC do well.

Agree 100%, but you don’t think something like racism is new or a shock to her do you? That’s not going to change because she’s the Duchess of Sussex.

[Tolya Ugajin]

1 hour ago, Pussycat Catnap said:

There's some great images going around right now showing side by side how the press has treated Merkle vs Kate... and it's pretty bad.

It's clear these two were hounded out by racism despite the fact that Merkle looks even whiter than her husband, and is not actually the first black to be in the UK royal family line - that old 'blood drop' rule is obviously a thing in the UK.

This is a rare case where they will get less racist treatment in North America than over there. Usually that goes the other way around.

As for the joke on SL... this place is less welcoming that both the UK and North America so... nope.

Well, at least we don't have Black Pete in the US...

[Amina Sopwith]

2 minutes ago, Tarina Sewell said:

 I am sorry, but she knew what she was getting into. 

I'm actually not entirely sure that she did. Senior royal protocol is so insane that even those born and bred to it keep fecking it up, and I do suspect that if you don't grow up in Britain, or spend a lot of time here, you might not realise quite what a loony position it is to hold, for all sorts of reasons. 

With that said, I do not think she and Harry have played their press coverage very well. A lot of people didn't react favourably to that Africa interview for a number of reasons and a lot of people do, rightly or wrongly, have a huge respect for the Queen and disapprove strongly of how they've gone about this. I think they have some very very valid objections and desires, although I do not think they have executed or communicated them very well. With all that said, though, there is still a section of the press that has gone after her from day one for something else entirely, which should never have formed any part of the debate. 

[Pamela Galli]

8 minutes ago, Tarina Sewell said:

she knew what she was getting into

I almost said in my last post, no she didn’t. 

Who ever really knows what they are getting into?  I didn’t know what I was getting into when I married. I didn’t know what I was getting into when I started teaching, or when I became a parent. Or when I joined SL. 

 

[Beth Macbain]

3 minutes ago, Amina Sopwith said:

I'm actually not entirely sure that she did. Senior royal protocol is so insane that even those born and bred to it keep fecking it up, and I do suspect that if you don't grow up in Britain, or spend a lot of time here, you might not realise quite what a loony position it is to hold, for all sorts of reasons. 

I also don't think we Americans can fully appreciate just how bonkers the British press can be when it comes to harassing celebrities (royals or not) in really insidious and devious ways. 

I think Diana would be proud of him for stepping out of it. He's so far out of the line of succession now that it makes no real difference. He saw his mother's misery, and the circus surrounding her death, and I don't think he wants any part of the institutions that took his mother down. 

Good on him for choosing his wife and family over the royal circus.

[Pamela Galli]

14 minutes ago, janetosilio said:

Agree 100%, but you don’t think something like racism is new or a shock to her do you? That’s not going to change because she’s the Duchess of Sussex

It clearly did change, tho. 

[SpiritSparrow Skydancer]

2 minutes ago, Beth Macbain said:

I also don't think we Americans can fully appreciate just how bonkers the British press can be when it comes to harassing celebrities (royals or not) in really insidious and devious ways. 

I think Diana would be proud of him for stepping out of it. He's so far out of the line of succession now that it makes no real difference. He saw his mother's misery, and the circus surrounding her death, and I don't think he wants any part of the institutions that took his mother down. 

Good on him for choosing his wife and family over the royal circus.

I agree. But I still think it is postpartum depression.

[SpiritSparrow Skydancer]

I must have missed the racism issue... what happened? One interview she is saying how happy she is the next she is saying no one is asking her how she is.... I have heard nothing in between... IDK, I am just to worried about the psychopath ruling our country to worry about other true royal issues..

Edited January 14, 2020 by Tarina Sewell

[Janet Voxel]

2 minutes ago, Pamela Galli said:

It clearly did change, tho. 

No, it didn’t. That was my point. Somebody making a snide comment about her hair, being a little dark, or where she’s from isn’t new to her. This is something a woman of color deals with all of our lives. I’m sure she knew she was going to get dragged going in.

Again actress and American, not knowing the right things to do or say in X situation. That was what did it.

[Zzevir]

She is just a gold digger. And he is the tool for it. 

(Maybe there will be another "exident" soon.) 

[Maryanne Solo]

I would like to clarify please @Pussycat Catnap I made this topic pointing at the both of them and because of the ludicrous amount of airtime such an outdated institution and its arcane routines & behaviour commands. It was not my intention to offend a respected and valued contributor, or anyone for that matter.
Upon analysis, what chance did she ever have of making a success of it all? = Buckleys. (zero/none). Once again, our esteemed world wide media has a field day and has contributed nothing. 
The only royal I am even remotely interested in is, (our own/Australian), Princess Mary of Denmark and her goose, Clown Prince Frederick.
To get her name right I had to google it and lo & behold, up pops a website from an Aussie magazine "New Idea" routinely referred to as No Idea here.
https://www.newidea.com.au/sad-royal-news-princess-mary-and-prince-frederik-living-apart

And what a load of unmitigated offensive balderdash it is. A prime example of what Meghan Markle has to contend with.

Anyways I am sorry Pussycat. I did not mean to offend you. 😔 

[Amina Sopwith]

24 minutes ago, Maryanne Solo said:

I would like to clarify please @Pussycat Catnap I made this topic pointing at the both of them and because of the ludicrous amount of airtime such an outdated institution and its arcane routines & behaviour commands. 

It actually is a very newsworthy story. Senior royal couple announce their decision to renounce some part of the role, stop using any money that isn't theirs (Charles funds almost all of their expenses, actually), go off to another country and do some other commercial venture instead, and nobody else knew about it, not even the Queen? If this does work out for them, it's trailblazing stuff. Royal protocol is already being changed...that's the entire point of this Sandringham summit and the statements released in the meantime by the princes and even old Liz herself have been really quite extraordinarily personal. We may well be seeing a real change in how the royal family relates to the country and does its duty. Or we could be seeing Harry and Meghan about to faceplant. God knows. But it is news. 

It's certainly not worth this level of absolute pants on head hysteria, though. Maybe if, you know, Australia wasn't an inferno, we weren't on the verge of WWIII or even, I dunno, there wasn't another major royal who's been acting a bit shady, it would be a bit more justified. Sadly, there's too much here for the Great British Public to resist (royal scandal! Disrespecting Her Majesty! An exotic woman luring away our prince! Money! Race! Tearaways! Class! Protocol! Royal baby hostage! America!) and the nature of it means it's going to last for days and we get to watch them while it happens. Then we can watch the Sussexes as they start their new venture. It's got legs for years, this one.