Long Live The King?

There should be an exclamation mark there, instead of the question mark. According to some at least. As you may have heard, Queen Elizabeth II passed away on 8 September, 2022. She has been queen of the United Kingdom (Great Britain and Northern Ireland), as well as the Commonwealth countries Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

That little summation of the territories under her reign may illuminate the reason why the British empire was known as "the empire on which the sun never sets." But that's not the extent of her empire; she was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during her lifetime and 15 at the time of her death. It's this little known or discussed fact that played a huge role in Britain's popular vote to leave the European Union; they thought they could handle "Brexit" because they were sure they'd be able to make their own international trade deals, independent from the EU, as a result of their historical ties with so many countries. In that presumption is hidden the erroneous conviction that they are seen as a "civilizing" force, instead of the occupying and colonizing force they really were.

This post isn't about Queen Elizabeth II, whose reign of almost 71 years had to end sometime, and it's not about her successor, King Charles III, whose reign will be a lot shorter because at age 73 he's the oldest person to assume the throne. No, this is about the mistaken and propaganda-induced assumptions about these royalties and their empire, and also about the American conservatives who reveal themselves to be promoting this British empire under the same mistaken assumptions that led the British electorate to leave the EU, to the detriment of their economy and trade position. Look, I'm no fan of the EU and no fan of Joe Biden, but I'm rational enough to recognize that leaving either of them in favor of the only available alternative is just hurting yourself.

"Man threatened with arrest if he wrote ‘not my King’ on blank sheet of paper." That's an actual headline from today in the British press. Here's some of one of the reports:

A barrister who held up a blank piece of paper near the Houses of Parliament was told he risked being arrested if he wrote ‘not my King’ on it.

Paul Powlesland, 36, said he travelled into the capital on Monday because he was concerned at reports of police targeting protesters exercising their rights to ‘freedom of speech’.
_{source: Metro - Tuesday 13 September, 2022}

Isn't that amazing? Several anti-monarchy protests have been put down by the police already, people have been arrested for voicing their discontent with the monarchy or the royal family. That's amazing in a so called democracy, in times when freedom of speech is supposed to mean something. What's more amazing is the fact that many British subjects (yes, "subjects"; it's a monarchy) agree with this policy, and go along with the explanation that it's to "maintain peace and order" as such signs "may offend" someone and "cause trouble." The whole idea of a democracy and freedom of speech is to be able to speak truth to power, isn't it? Freedom of speech wasn't invented to be able to kick down, but to kick up. It's not the freedom to be racist but the freedom to speak your mind about political leaders. It's why democracy can't exist without this thing called freedom of speech. Watch the above linked video for a short discussion with one of the British subjects who think the royal family needs protection from signs that say "not my King."

But maybe the most amazing fact of these past days after Elizabeth II's passing, is that American conservative influencers are fully in the camp of the British Royal family. These traditionalists seem to have forgotten about the war they fought to get away from under the British monarchy. The reason why they support the royals and their empire is clear to anyone who knows anything about what motivates these MAGA Republicans; it's because they love authoritarianism and imperialism. It's because they also believe in the wholesome effects the colonizers had on the barbarians they conquered and ruled. They genuinely believe the ex-colonies have to be grateful for the civilization and order the Western colonizers have granted them. Watch how Charlie Kirk praises British Imperialism in the below linked video, claiming that "British colonialism was the most benign global empire ever" and that "British colonialism actually made the world decent."

It also discusses similar reactions by the likes of Ben Shapiro and Tucker Carlson, fawning over the British empire and the royal family. Amazing. Watch how these individualist-fundamentalists expose themselves to be actual proponents of collectivism, as long as it's the kind of collectivism that suits their idea of established hierarchies...

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