Whenever there is a royal event, I always feel it’s an important time to question and reflect on the monarchy. Now let me just put this down in writing first that I actually have no problem with them as people, as individuals, well not all of them but that is another article altogether. The point I want to raise and make is about the unequal hierarchy that part of the population embraces so freely and people all over the world admire.
When the earth began, royalty didn’t exist. Humans created it. It is a man-made structure, it is an imaginary order, it is an ideological construction. Unless you believe in the insanity of the “Divine right of kings” where kings are apparently God’s Lieutenants, the only way for such a system of subjugation to exist is through violence, stealth, or religious indoctrination. Can we really expect people to freely adopt a system where they allow themselves to be ruled undemocratically? Of course not, it would require a form of coercion through whatever means fit the period.
Just to add some relevance to the point above, imagine if we didn’t have a monarchy and tomorrow a group, a faction, highly organized presented the idea that from this moment on you would be ruled by a queen or king, that you would be their subject, that they would live in huge beautiful houses with servants while you struggle, that through the years as their subjects we would celebrate different events related to their birthdays, years in power, their marriages, that we as taxpayers would fund their lives through a ‘Sovereign Grant’, that a new hierarchy was being implemented and you were obviously not going to be on the higher rung.
Let’s be honest, you would say “Fuck off!” Or something else in slightly politer terms.
Simple hey? Why would you allow that? You wouldn’t. But some do. Obviously, this is something that can’t be demolished today. It is inextricably interwoven into the fabric of British society as much like the queen’s face interwoven into a kitchen tea towel. For many Brits it is a matter of ‘national identity, pride and unity’. Unity, now that’s an interesting noun especially when used to bring the British public together to embrace a highly inegalitarian royal system imposed upon us.
Now given that this is such a simple form of propaganda and coercion that so easily manufactures consent for subjugation, if you are willing to accept this, just imagine what else you accept on a daily basis. Every day we are being tricked, seduced, and deceived by highly manipulative marketing, advertising and PR into mindless consumers that buy material products we don’t need, we accept our politicians self-interested behaviours, their reasons for war, the media’s portrayal of events that turn some of us into rabid patriotic Pavlovian puppies just to highlight a few examples. It can be argued that putting an end to this ridiculous veneration for Royalty is a step towards understanding how our society functions and a move towards a more equitable playing field.
I’m not easily swayed by the idea of national identity, it’s a relative ideal, and one for those who need to feel they belong to something. We do, the human race. If you lived in Italy, Spain, France etc you would feel the same about that country and yourself. I find it hard to be patriotic about a country that embodies such an upside-down wealth system, a country that is the second biggest money launderer on the planet, a country that prides itself on equality and is yet exploding with food banks in many towns and cities, the list could go on…
But hey I don’t want to be a killjoy, so go out, wave your flags, and celebrate the unequal system that exists because of violence and propaganda, and most of all be jubilant in your subjugation.
God ol’ chum it’s good to be British!
Motta’s novels Celebrity Rape and VIR(US) are available from Amazon.
Image by Annie Spratt