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Weird to see all the non-pro Royal family comments censored on here. Why? What has the royal family got to do with Hacker News and why does it matter if people

by bot41 5y ago

Weird to see all the non-pro Royal family comments censored on here. Why? What has the royal family got to do with Hacker News and why does it matter if people on here are pro or anti Philip?

callamdelaney 5y ago
Most of those comments are / were vitriolic. Basically attacking Prince Philip because of status rather than any legitimate criticism of him as a person. I'd guess this is why - it's not facebook.
- teachrdan 5y ago
  Broadly speaking, the HN readership supports entrepreneurship, novel ideas and transparency; as a result, it tends to be critical of inherited wealth, entrenched institutions and arbitrary and opaque power. The royal family in England embodies all of the latter.[0] Of course there are exceptions! Most people are empathetic and few openly celebrate the death of a 99-year-old. But I think it's fair to say that a large percent of the community here has reason to not be overly sentimental about the passing of Prince Philip. 0. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/feb/07/revealed-queen-lobbied-for-change-in-law-to-hide-her-private-wealth https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/feb/07/revealed-que... "The Queen successfully lobbied the government to change a draft law in order to conceal her “embarrassing” private wealth from the public, according to documents discovered by the Guardian."
  - callamdelaney 5y ago
    Dan, the wealth of the monarchy is widely known; it owns billions in assets - graciously it donated the proceeds of these assets to directly to the treasury. They are literally net contributors on the basis of this alone.
    - teachrdan 5y ago
      I have to smile at this comment. The monarchy "owns billions in assets - graciously it donated the proceeds of these assets..." Where exactly do you think these assets came from? The monarchy's wealth came from the people and resources of the Commonwealth. The individuals who constitute the monarchy did nothing more than get born to the right people to inherit and control this wealth. > They are literally net contributors on the basis of this alone. How can you know this? Without a comprehensive and independent accounting of their donations and expenses, it's literally impossible to say whether they are "net contributors" or not. It's nice to think that the monarchy is looking out for the people of the Commonwealth. But if that were the case, why would the Queen be lobbying--in secret!--to keep her vast wealth obscured from the public?
      - callamdelaney 5y ago
        My point is not that she didn’t get it through being a part of the aristocracy; my point is that the royal family is a net contributor. 2019/2020 contributions to the treasury were £345,000,000[0] In the same year the monarchy were paid roughly £90m [1]. Last I checked it didn’t matter how one acquired something as long as one owns it. It’s really irrelevant how they came into that land. [0] https://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/en-gb/media-and-insights/news/2020-the-crown-estate-announces-3450-million-net-revenue-profit-for-201920/ https://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/en-gb/media-and-insights/ne... [1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/372882/uk-royal-family-expenditure-breakdown/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/372882/uk-royal-family-e...
        Symbiote 5y ago
        The land, buildings, seabed etc should belong to the UK, similar to the land owned by the Forestry Commission or MoD. The sovereign does not own it, but takes part of the profit from it to fund the royal family, and gives the rest to the treasury. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_Estate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_Estate has a good background.
        callamdelaney 5y ago
        I think it's a potentially slippery slope to run around deciding who should own what; isn't it?
  - dave333 5y ago
    On the other hand the Duke of Edinburghs Award Scheme could be considered an early prototype of YCombinator. https://www.dofe.org/ https://www.dofe.org/

by bot41 5y ago

Weird to see all the non-pro Royal family comments censored on here. Why? What has the royal family got to do with Hacker News and why does it matter if people on here are pro or anti Philip?

callamdelaney 5y ago

Most of those comments are / were vitriolic. Basically attacking Prince Philip because of status rather than any legitimate criticism of him as a person. I'd guess this is why - it's not facebook.

teachrdan 5y ago
Broadly speaking, the HN readership supports entrepreneurship, novel ideas and transparency; as a result, it tends to be critical of inherited wealth, entrenched institutions and arbitrary and opaque power. The royal family in England embodies all of the latter.[0] Of course there are exceptions! Most people are empathetic and few openly celebrate the death of a 99-year-old. But I think it's fair to say that a large percent of the community here has reason to not be overly sentimental about the passing of Prince Philip. 0. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/feb/07/revealed-queen-lobbied-for-change-in-law-to-hide-her-private-wealth https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/feb/07/revealed-que... "The Queen successfully lobbied the government to change a draft law in order to conceal her “embarrassing” private wealth from the public, according to documents discovered by the Guardian."
- callamdelaney 5y ago
  Dan, the wealth of the monarchy is widely known; it owns billions in assets - graciously it donated the proceeds of these assets to directly to the treasury. They are literally net contributors on the basis of this alone.
  - teachrdan 5y ago
    I have to smile at this comment. The monarchy "owns billions in assets - graciously it donated the proceeds of these assets..." Where exactly do you think these assets came from? The monarchy's wealth came from the people and resources of the Commonwealth. The individuals who constitute the monarchy did nothing more than get born to the right people to inherit and control this wealth. > They are literally net contributors on the basis of this alone. How can you know this? Without a comprehensive and independent accounting of their donations and expenses, it's literally impossible to say whether they are "net contributors" or not. It's nice to think that the monarchy is looking out for the people of the Commonwealth. But if that were the case, why would the Queen be lobbying--in secret!--to keep her vast wealth obscured from the public?
    - callamdelaney 5y ago
      My point is not that she didn’t get it through being a part of the aristocracy; my point is that the royal family is a net contributor. 2019/2020 contributions to the treasury were £345,000,000[0] In the same year the monarchy were paid roughly £90m [1]. Last I checked it didn’t matter how one acquired something as long as one owns it. It’s really irrelevant how they came into that land. [0] https://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/en-gb/media-and-insights/news/2020-the-crown-estate-announces-3450-million-net-revenue-profit-for-201920/ https://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/en-gb/media-and-insights/ne... [1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/372882/uk-royal-family-expenditure-breakdown/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/372882/uk-royal-family-e...
      - Symbiote 5y ago
        The land, buildings, seabed etc should belong to the UK, similar to the land owned by the Forestry Commission or MoD. The sovereign does not own it, but takes part of the profit from it to fund the royal family, and gives the rest to the treasury. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_Estate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_Estate has a good background.
        callamdelaney 5y ago
        I think it's a potentially slippery slope to run around deciding who should own what; isn't it?
- dave333 5y ago
  On the other hand the Duke of Edinburghs Award Scheme could be considered an early prototype of YCombinator. https://www.dofe.org/ https://www.dofe.org/