3 ms·

Then you live to serve them, not the other way around.

by hnhg 4y ago

karencarits 4y ago
What do you mean with "live to serve them"? Why would I want them to live to serve me (if that is the other way around)? What does that even mean? I believe the Royals have a greater sense of duty and living in service of the nation than you and I have of living in the service of the monarch, wouldn't you agree? Are you talking purely symbolically or about what people are actually doing and experiencing in their everyday life?
- hnhg 4y ago
  I don't agree with your statement at all. It seems to be largely based on faith, which I lack. IMO we all have own selfish vested interests and the system doesn't necessarily enforce good alignment between them. Put it this way, if you were to design a democracy from scratch for a given nation, I doubt (and I could be wrong) that you would try to recreate the British system. Now you might say that the UK is exceptional, but I would not. You might think I'm overly reductive, but I feel if you have an exclusive ruling class, implicitly the role of everyone else is to support (serve) them. I'm not in the UK and so I'm free of the powerful UK media bias towards the prevailing system (I would speculate that there are a lot of vested interests in keeping it as it is). How do you feel about other monarchies around the world? Are they equally great systems? Would you advocate that all countries should have monarchs?
Veen 4y ago
Queen Elizabeth II has served her people for the last 70 years—in fact, since she was born 96 years ago. The constitutional monarchy requires that she and her heirs devote essentially their entire lives to service of the country. She has been driven by duty and service for longer than most of us have been alive. Personally, I am profoundly grateful for how she has lived her life and what she has given to the UK.
- hnhg 4y ago
  She seems like a decent person. I don't know if the next one would be. Criticising the UK royals feels like criticising a religion, and all that goes with that.
  - Veen 4y ago
    > Criticising the UK royals feels like criticising a religion For the Queen and some Anglican believers that's literally true. She's an anointed monarch [0] and supreme leader of the Church of England. During the coronation, the anointing by the Archbishop of Canterbury consecrated and sacralized her—made her holy. The anointing has been the central part of the coronation for at least 1000 years. Of course, most people don't take all that seriously today (nor do I). [0]: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22764987 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22764987 [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consecration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consecration

Then you live to serve them, not the other way around.

by hnhg 4y ago

Then you live to serve them, not the other way around.

What do you mean with "live to serve them"? Why would I want them to live to serve me (if that is the other way around)? What does that even mean? I believe the Royals have a greater sense of duty and living in service of the nation than you and I have of living in the service of the monarch, wouldn't you agree? Are you talking purely symbolically or about what people are actually doing and experiencing in their everyday life?

hnhg 4y ago
I don't agree with your statement at all. It seems to be largely based on faith, which I lack. IMO we all have own selfish vested interests and the system doesn't necessarily enforce good alignment between them. Put it this way, if you were to design a democracy from scratch for a given nation, I doubt (and I could be wrong) that you would try to recreate the British system. Now you might say that the UK is exceptional, but I would not. You might think I'm overly reductive, but I feel if you have an exclusive ruling class, implicitly the role of everyone else is to support (serve) them. I'm not in the UK and so I'm free of the powerful UK media bias towards the prevailing system (I would speculate that there are a lot of vested interests in keeping it as it is). How do you feel about other monarchies around the world? Are they equally great systems? Would you advocate that all countries should have monarchs?

Veen 4y ago

Queen Elizabeth II has served her people for the last 70 years—in fact, since she was born 96 years ago. The constitutional monarchy requires that she and her heirs devote essentially their entire lives to service of the country. She has been driven by duty and service for longer than most of us have been alive. Personally, I am profoundly grateful for how she has lived her life and what she has given to the UK.

hnhg 4y ago
She seems like a decent person. I don't know if the next one would be. Criticising the UK royals feels like criticising a religion, and all that goes with that.
- Veen 4y ago
  > Criticising the UK royals feels like criticising a religion For the Queen and some Anglican believers that's literally true. She's an anointed monarch [0] and supreme leader of the Church of England. During the coronation, the anointing by the Archbishop of Canterbury consecrated and sacralized her—made her holy. The anointing has been the central part of the coronation for at least 1000 years. Of course, most people don't take all that seriously today (nor do I). [0]: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22764987 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22764987 [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consecration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consecration