It saddens me that you think I'm regurgitating right-wing ideology. I don't read the Mail, and I was a republican almost all of my life. I think my view is quite considered and nuanced. In principle, I am opposed to the idea of a monarchy. It is totally against my ideas about egalitarianism and feminism and class. In fact, I've been called a classist in the past, because of my tendency to view many issues through a prism of the privileged exploiting and excluding the less fortunate. As I say, though, I think of myself as a realist- I think that, generally, it is best to eschew ideological purity if it is actually detrimental. In terms of international relations, I think that, though they are in some sense an ugly and regressive relic of a less enlightened age, our royal family actually does confer tremendous benefits on us, indirect though those benefits might be, in terms of diplomacy and trade, and in every situation in which the unconscious, latent assumptions and perception of our country makes a difference. Is that really what the Daily Mail says?
PS. I wasn't dismissing republicanism as "fucking rubbish", just the name "the British Republic", which is the best I can come up with. I'm sorry you took offense to the phrase; you once said I always swore in the right places, but it appears that judgment failed me here. It is related to a serious point, though; there are all kinds of practical and political concerns. Republicanism is subtractive, right? I mean, republicanism is the idea that we get rid of the monarchy. What do we have in its place? I mean, it could seem that what we call our country and what is depicted on our banknotes are trivial concerns, but I think that they reflect a real and deep issue; what would abolishing the monarchy mean for our sense of ourselves as a country and as a culture? What would be our icons, our emblems?
All that aside, hope your cold clears up.
that you think our culture is only defined by monarchistic concerns) I have plenty to say. Later.
